34^ The Pytchley Hunt, Past and Present. 



about his farm, lie smilingly sajs_, ^^ Ah, but I should 

 be there oftener than I am, if I were not a little troubled 

 with fever in the feet/^ With a memory for business 

 and other matters quite unimpaired, he loves to talk of 

 the many runs he has seen across the grass-fields around 

 him, and will talk of the ^'^P.H/'' days, from Lord 

 Althorp up to the current year, as if they were events of 

 yesterday. The general love and admiration for Mr. 

 George Payne burn no less strongly within him than it 

 did when he followed his hounds ; and to any friend of 

 that idol of the Northamptonshire farmer, it would not 

 have been alittle gratifying to have heard his aged admirer, 

 when referring to him on a late occasion, emphatically 

 exclaim, "" Ah ! that was a splendid man, indeed ! ^' 



For many a year, a near and kindly neighbour, Mr. 

 Henry Philip Markham of Sedgebrook — himself a keen 

 hunter in days gone by, and now represented by a son, 

 who, lawyer as he be, takes ^^ deeds, not words '^ for his 

 motto when crossing a country — has sent his aged friend 

 on each recurring birthday two bottles of the best wine 

 his cellar holds, to drink the toast " Success to all my 

 friends, and may they live as long as I, and know as 

 little of sickness and ill-health.''^ That this toast may 

 often be repeated by the recipient of the friendly gift is 

 the hearty wish of all who have the pleasure of knowing 

 Mat Warren, the oldest follower of the "P.H.'' 



MR. JOSEPH HUMPHREY. 



Some may still remember the dark but not uncomely face 

 of Joseph Humphrey, another Clipstonian, whose keenness 



