184 
MR. T. SOUTHWELL ON FALCONRY IN NORFOLK. 
March . . . March . . . went to seek his fortune in the United States 
[p. 310]. John Dawson Downes, the senior partner, a man of 
great intelligence, was the second son of the Rev. James Downes, 
rector of Stratton Strawless, by Mary his wife, sister of Gibson 
Lucas, Esq., of Filby.” lie was therefore well descended on both 
sides, and doubtless spent his early days in the parish, rendered 
famous as the home of Robert Marsham (the friend and cor- 
respondent of Gilbert White), whose contemporary he was,* and 
from whom it may be that he originally imbibed the tastes which 
in after life became a passion. In a foot-note to the same page 
Palmer gives the following additional particulars: — “Downes was 
a man of singular skill in breeding of domestic animals, the 
cultivation of fruit trees, and the training of birds. On retiring 
from business he took up his residence at Gunton Old Hall, near 
Lowestoft, where he was most earnest in his endeavour to revive 
the once famous pastime of hawking. Here he was visited by 
Lord Rivers, Colonel Wilson, Sir John Sebright, Mr. Brigg 
Fountaine of Harford, and other gentlemen who took an interest 
in the same pursuit. In his walks he was usually attended by a 
tame Heron. He proved satisfactorily that the same Swallows 
revisited the same places annually, and usually on or about the 
same days. Downes was an open, plain-speaking, matter-of-fact 
man, firmly attached to the Protestant faith, and a fine specimen 
of what was then called a ‘ Church and King ’ man. He possessed 
a good library, containing, among other rare books, some curious 
old Treatises on Hawking. He had also a few good paintings, one 
being by Sir Joshua Reynolds. The whole were sold by auction 
after his death, which occurred at Lowestoft in 1829, at the age 
of seventy-one.” 
In the ‘Addenda,’ at p. 387, vol. iii., Palmer, referring to the 
above, adds the following note: — “Hawking — Dibdin in his ‘Tour’ 
(p. 388), says, ‘ At Yarmouth, for the first time in my life, I saw 
the diversion of hawking,’ which he describes at considerable 
length and in a most graphic manner. Lord Orford’s falconer, he 
says, attended with a cast and a half.” This will be found in 
Yol. I. of Charles Dibdin’s ‘Observations on a Tour through 
almost the whole of England and a considerable part of Scotland ’ 
* Downes was born in 1758, and Marsham died in 1791. 
