246 The Pytchley Hunt, Past and Present. 



uninitiated was to cry 'Wes " in a very loud voice^ or to 

 say sometliiug in broken English, but on one occasion a 

 victim was heard to reply ^' o\x\, o\n/' as if that amount 

 of a language other than English would meet the 

 difl&culty. In addition to the ready fingers,, pencil and 

 paper were always at hand to assist those who were not 

 well instructed in finger- talking. So forgetful did ner- 

 vousness make many people of the deficiencies of their 

 lively neighbour, that they would write upon his tablets 

 questions of the most absurd description. A lady whom 

 he had taken in to dinner on one occasion at Overstone 

 Hall confessed to having written " Have you heard Jenny 

 Lind ? '' and received the harrowing reply, '' I cannot 

 hear anything at all.''^ This was paralleled by a friend 

 of Mr. Folj ambers of Osberton, who, long after he 

 had lost his sight, offered him a candle on going to 

 bed. 



During all his early life it would have taken a very 

 good man across country to beat the Ecton Squire. 

 Between him and the parson of his village, the Rev. J. 

 Whalley, there was not much to choose in this respect ; 

 and it was a moot point which was the better man of the 

 two. The Squire, however, had always this advantage 

 over the parson, that knowing he should not be wanted 

 on the following Sunday, he had no fear of a congre- 

 gation before his eyes. Always well mounted — on nothing 

 did he go better than on a one-eyed grey horse, which he 

 purchased from the well-known " Dick Garratt,"*' of Great 

 Harrowden. 



His three ^' RV' ''Reindeer,'' "Rejoicer,'' and ^^ Re- 

 former,'^ all children of his favourite *' Rosebud," are 

 fcftill green in the memory of some who love to think of 



