A Week at Melton. 29 



visitor for upwards of forty seasons ; Sir John Lister 

 Kaye^ Messrs. Fruen^ Tompkinson^ Baltazzi, Captain 

 Starling, and three Australian gentlemen, the Messrs. 

 Russell, who have come over, bringing their horses 

 with them, to gaze on the glories and partake of the 

 pleasures of Melton ; and though Captains Olifant 

 and Atkinson have recently retired, their places have 

 been filled up, and the inexorable official pronounces 

 our doom. I have ^^ to move on,^^ like Jo. It did not 

 occur to me to ask if I could have a shelf in the pantry, 

 after the fashion of a deceased frequenter of Limmer^s 

 in the olden time, who received me on one occasion in 

 that wise, and whilst seated in the position usually dedi- 

 cated to spoons and forks, discussed with calmness, if 

 not perfect indifference, the affairs of one of his chosen 

 friends and boon companions, who had come to much 

 grief through indulging in the pleasant and congenial 

 sports so affected by the frequenters of that once 

 rollicking hostelry. 



So I move on until I reach that far-famed place of 

 entertainment described some forty years since by 

 " Nimrod " as ^^ that excellent inn called the George 

 Hotel," where I received a cheerful welcome at the 

 hands of Mr. Childs, the popular proprietor, who 

 maintains the reputation of the house fully up to the 

 standard of olden times, as my subsequent experi- 

 ence proved. But then my tastes are so simple, re- 

 quiring only the best and plenty of it, with the 

 proviso that the. little wine I take shall be dry, so 

 that but slight difficulty was found in supplying 

 my wants; and when I found that these quarters 

 had been selected by Major and Mrs. Why te -Melville, 

 Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Chaplin, Messrs. Lubbock, 



