178 STAG-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 



nothing of larger traits of a generous nature. Nature, 

 however, cannot be expected to be prodigal of her Myttons, 

 and it might not be easy to string together a long chaplet 

 of true Mytton lustred pearls. Here, however, are two or 

 three merely average selections. 



' Nimrod ' relates how a Mr. Stanhope who was staying 

 at the time with Sir Bellingham Graham, being already in 

 a more or less maimed condition from previous exploits, 

 was stretched for dead early in the day. He was taken to 

 Bosworth and blooded ; three ribs being found to be 

 broken. Mr. Stanhope, however, resisted these insinua- 

 tions of the faculty, and came out again two days later. 

 The field were hindered by some high rails which were 

 being pulled down, when Mr. Stanhope insisted on ' having 

 a try,' with the result of another heavy fall. ' You are a 

 good one, by G ! ' exclaimed his host ; but as he pro- 

 bably did not wish to have him laid up in his house all the 

 season, he added, ' You shall ride again no more,' and Mr. 

 Stanhope, to his great annoyance, was sent in a post-chaise 

 to Leicester. This fall accounted for two more ribs and his 

 breast bone. 'Not a bad sort to breed from,' is the chro- 

 nicler's appreciative comment. 



Upon another occasion, a Cheshire whipper-in pleases 

 ' Nimrod ' very much by this account of his injuries : * Three 

 ribs broken one side, two on tother, both collar bones, and 

 been scalped.' It further appeared that his horse ' Valentine,' 

 whom, it is true, he calls a ' dunghill brute ' for lying on him 

 half an hour, when he did get up, kicked him on the head till 

 the skin hung down all over his eyes and face. ' And do you 

 know, sir ' — this was the part of the story which appealed 

 most to ' Nimrod's ' best feelings — ' When I gets to Wrexham, 

 I faints from loss of blood ! ' Only a Blackburn Rover could 

 stand this sort of thing in these days. As a pendant to this 

 undefeated hunt-servant may be cited the gay stoicism of a 



