MR. HOLYOAKE GOODRICKE 157 



dilate freely at his own fireside. This rite was 

 solemnised after a good run ending with a kill, "when," 

 as he affirmed, "all the colts were obliged to offer up a 

 bowl of punch as a libation to Diana, stirring it with the 

 victim's pad " — a truly nasty operation. 



Like many another good sportsman who lived to a 

 ripe old age — Mr. Ellar was seventy-two when he died — 

 he was forced to exchange the saddle for wheels, and 

 his intimate knowledge of the country enabled him to 

 see a good deal of the sport. In the month of January 

 before his death a fox was found in Munday's Gorse, and 

 Mr. Ellar was the first to view him away. He stood up 

 in his gig and gave a right good halloa, which quickly 

 brought hounds on the line. At that moment up rode 

 Colonel Cheney, a Waterloo man, and so delighted was 

 he to see an old brother sportsman that he grasped Mr. 

 Ellar's hand with considerable fervour. Whether it was 

 owing to the warmth of handshaking, the restiveness of 

 Colonel Cheney's horse, or the fact that Mr. Ellar forgot 

 that he was not in the saddle is not known ; but at any 

 rate the gig turned over, and Mr. Ellar was underneath. 

 Although the fox had gone away, a number of men 

 remained behind to extricate the veteran sportsman from 

 his dangerous position, and one and all were delighted 

 to hear him exclaim from under his vehicle, "Zounds, 

 colonel, if you charge me so again, you will send me to 

 Davy's locker, as you did those French Invincibles." 

 The victim was happily unhurt, and when he again met 

 the hounds a few days later he came in for quite a shower 

 of congratulations. 



Mr. Ellar had, however, one foible. By virtue of 

 being about the oldest member of the Hunt, he con- 

 sidered that he always had the right to be noticed in the 

 field, and if at any time he considered that he had been 

 slighted in this respect by any one, he immediately 

 turned his horse's head towards home, declaring that his 



