[Chap. XII] SHROPSHIRE AND JACK MYTTON 171 



in the surrounding country. These seemed to me exceed- 

 ingly well done and effective, and, of course, my brother 

 praised them, but, as I thought, only moderately, and as 

 " very good work for an amateur." I reproduce his sketch 

 on a reduced scale as showing his delicacy of touch even in 

 hasty out-of-door work, though, owing to the old yellowish 

 paper, the pencil marks come out very faint in the process 

 print. 



While travelling by coach or staying at country inns in 

 Shropshire, we used to hear a good deal of talk about Jack 

 Mytton, of Halston, who had died a few years before, and 

 whose wild exploits were notorious all over the West of 

 England. He was a country gentleman of very old family, 

 and had inherited a landed estate bringing in about i^i 0,000 

 a year, while having been a minor for eighteen years, there 

 was an accumulation of ;^6o,ooo when he came of age. In a 

 few years he spent all these savings, and continued to live 

 at such a rate that he had frequently to raise money." 

 All the grand oaks for which his estates were celebrated 

 were cut down, and it is said produced £"70,000. About 

 half his property was entailed, but the other half was 

 sold at various times, and must have realized a very large 

 amount ; while in the last years of his life, which he spent 

 either in prison for debt or in France, all the fine collection of 

 pictures, many by the old masters, and the whole contents of 

 his family mansion were sold, but did not suffice to pay his 

 debts or prevent his dying in prison. From the account given 

 by his intimate friend and biographer the total amount thus 

 wasted in about fifteen years could not have been much less 

 than half a million, but from the scanty details in his " Life " 

 it seems clear that he could not really have expended any- 

 thing like this amount, but that his extreme good nature and 

 utter recklessness as to money led to his being robbed and 

 plundered in various ways by the numerous unscrupulous 

 persons who always congregate about such a character. 



For those who have not read the account of his wasted 

 life one or two examples illustrative of his character may 

 be here given. Once, before he was of age, when dining out 



