Scarlet. 2 7 1 



and moats had long passed away before Sir John 

 Vanbrugh numbered Eastbury Park House among 

 his triumphs. A natural wall of laurel, laburnum, and 

 lime trees flanks the stable-yard on one side, and joins 

 on with that belt of plantation which encircles the 

 park, and amid which, undisturbed by traps and 

 strychnine, many a gallant fox-cub has been reared 

 in its day. The house itself — near whose back-dooi 

 three or four hogsheads of old and pale ale had begun 

 to know no rest from pilgrims before noon — is only a 

 solitary left wing ; and the remainder of it, which 

 passed through three or four families into Mr. Far- 

 quharson's hands, has long since disappeared. The 

 deserted wine-cellar, with its prostrate door, its rusty 

 gratings, and its mouldering ceiHng, under whose now- 

 battered and led-coloured rose many a stoup of Bur- 

 gundy or Canary must have been drained dry, alone 

 remains to testify to the hard-drinking spirits, who of 

 yore wound the reveillee for the roe-hunt from Grange 

 or Houghton Woods, and killed the yellow-breasted 

 marten for the hem of the robes of their dames or 

 ladye loves in the pleasant purlieus of Cranbourne 

 Chase. 



We care not to go into the details of that day. The 

 Life has already told how the Dorsetshire men sat 

 cheering on the wall, and ejaculating '^ Hyde for ever .'" 

 as Mr. Radclyffe formed the new pack ; how they 

 assured Mr. Arkwright publicly, when he bought the 

 Banker lot, that Jie '' zvoiildnt leave a mouse in covert T 

 how they conjured Mr. Scratton " to mind and take 

 care of Rosamond — shes an uncommon good bitch — 

 I know her well ;'^ and how that gentleman was seen 

 to obey the mandate by taking her tenderly back to 

 Essex with his own hands. Mr. Osbaldeston strolled 

 up in the afternoon, to see the horses sold ; and old 

 Percy was there, looking over the lots in the stable, 

 and recalling many a recollection, as we sat on the 

 corn-bin together, of the triumphs of the " red and 



