PRACTICAL JOKING i37 



posted in the town during a contest in tlie '40's, 

 which announced in displayed type — 



LORD HUNTINGTOWER FOR EVER ! 



SIR JOHN POLLEN IN THE RIVER ! ! 

 CATCHING FISH FOR HIS LORDSHIP'S DINNER ! ! ! 



History does not satisfy us on the point whether 

 or not those furious partisans carried out their threat ; 

 or whether, if they did, their victim afforded good 

 bait. 



This Lord Huntingtower was the eldest son of the 

 late Earl of Dysart, and a well-matched companion 

 of the late Marquis of Waterford. Koaming the 

 country-side on dark nights, mounted on stilts, with 

 sheets over their clothes and hollowed turnips on their 

 heads with scooped -out holes for eyes and mouth, 

 and lit with candles, they frightened many a timid 

 rustic out of his dull wits. In daytime they played 

 practical jokes on the tradesfolk of Andover. For 

 example, entering a little general shop in the town. 

 Lord Huntingtower asked for a pound of treacle. 

 ' Where shall I put it ? ' asked the old woman who 

 kept the shop, seeing that the usual basin was not 

 forthcominof. 



' P-pup-pup-put it in my hat,' said my Lord, who 

 stuttered in yard-lengths, holding out his 'topper.' 

 The pound of treacle was accordingly poured into the 

 Lincoln and Bennett, and the next instant it was on 

 the shopkeeper's head. 



This was the manner in which Lord Huntingtower 

 endeared himself to the people — those, that is to say, 

 who were not the victims of his pleasantries. 



