Letters fro77t Sir F, B. Head. 367 



"I was surprised to read an advertisement lately for a 

 Huntsman for the Pytcllle3^ I should have thought it impos- 

 sible for any stranger to your brooks, rails, canals, &c., &c.j to 

 lead the Field to anything but grief ! " &c. &c. &c. 



8. 



" January 28th, 1874. 



" As my doctor has pulled me off my horse, and will not let 

 me walk ; having been accustomed all my life to rush through 

 the air, I have set up a Swing on my lawn, which I work my- 

 self by hand-ropes. I send you a photo showing its con- 

 struction ; which I found admirably adapted for Gout, or any 

 accident that confines the sufferer to a hot, fusty bed. In my 

 Swing I enjoy both air and exercise ; and really I look for it, 

 as I used to look for my daily ride. 



" I often think of you and the ' Firm of Sy well "Wood & 

 Co.' In the Saturday's advertisements in the Times, I have 

 lately read the appointments of, apparently, two packs of Pytchlej^ 

 Hounds. What does it mean 1 Do you hunt on the same day 

 with both % " &c., &c. 



9. 



[Last Letter, 1875.] 



Here follows the last letter — written about five months before 

 his death — which the author of this volume was privileged to 

 receive from his kind and gallant old friend. 



"January 23rd, 1875. 



" Your kind note fed me with savoury dishes such as I like. 

 As Kob Roy said to his old wife, Helen, ' The Heather we trod 

 on wdien we were young, shall bloom over us when we are dead ' 

 — so although that whipper-in Time has driven me out of the 

 hunting-field, it cheers the declining hours of my life to learn 

 that ' the Pytchley were never in a more flourishing condition 

 than in the Year of Grace 1875.' 



" Your description of tlie efficient management of its ^Master 

 (Lord Spencer), an English Nobleman and a noble Englishman, 



