332 The PytcJiley Hunt, Past and Present. 



MR. JOHN PHIPPS. 



Mr. John Phipps, another malt-lord — now a ''lost 

 chord/' with many a Northampton Institution — was 

 rarely to be seen on a horse of inferior stamp ; and gave 

 many a proof of his right to be attached to the '' not- 

 afraid " division. 



MESSRS. RATCLIFFE, EADY, AND HARRIS. 



One of the partners — Mr. Ratcliffe — of the '^ Lion 

 Brewery/' by a pretty frequent attendance at the Py tchley 

 Meets, still maintains the continuity of the sporting 

 instincts of the " Guild ; '' and, by the excellence of the 

 commodity in which he deals, does his best to uphold its 

 reputation. To him the witticism will never be applic- 

 able, which a London brewer, famous for the weakness of 

 his beer, was once made the victim of. Having unfortu- 

 nately lost his life by tumbling into one of his own huge 

 vats, Jekyll — one of the great wits of his time — upon 

 hearing of the accident, remarked, ^' Oh, poor fellow ! 

 then hemust be lying in his own watery bier ! '' 



Neat as this may be, its utterer may well have envied 

 the cooper's boy, who, when asked at a Board School 

 examination to give a definition of " nothing/' replied, '^ a 

 bung-hole without a barrel round it ! " 



The Ram Hotel had for several years for its host 

 a Sportsman — Mr. Eady — and the same spirit is 

 still to be found in his representative of the present 

 time — Mr. Harris — one to whom a day's hunting appears 

 to be a class of enjoyment to which nothing else on 

 earth is comparable. 



