gave a horse-dealer, named Clarke, of Meole, in Shropshire, an order to purchase for him some carriage horses. Putting one of them into a gig, tandem, to see, as he expressed himself, "whether he would make a good leader," he asked the dealer, who sat beside him, if he thought he was a good timber-jumper? On the dealer expressing a doubt, Mytton exclaimed, "Then we'll try him"; and a closed turnpike-gate (at Hanwood) being before him, he gave the horse his head, and a flanker with his whip at the same moment, when he cleared the gate in beautiful style, leaving Mytton and the dealer, and the other horse, all on the nether side of the gate; and fortunately all alive, although the gig was much injured. He once had a horse that would rear up in his gig, at the word of command, until the hinder part of it absolutely touched the ground; and, although he was much given to display this dangerous accomplishment, no accident was the result. I was myself once passing through the town of Oswestry, only two hours too late to have witnessed a most singular performance of a team of coach horses of his, which he had been exercising in a break. Finding they had gotten the better of him, he contrived to quit the carriage without injury, and the horses being at liberty, ran at full speed into the town of Oswestry. Unfortunately a gateway presented itself, into which they dashed, and now for the finish. The said gateway led into a parallel street, but, narrowing as it lengthened, there was, towards the further end of it, room for the horses but not for the carriage to pass. The consequence was, the four horses, breaking all their harness by the shock, tumbled head over heels into the street, and strange to say, not one of them was killed. So much for his exploits in harness. Perhaps the most awful accident that ever happened to this most extraordinary man, was on his return, after dark, from a race-course, in his travelling carriage and four. The postboys mistook an old road, which had been stopped up, for the right one; and entered it, down hill too, at the rate of fourteen miles in the hour, when they came suddenly in contact with some fallen trees, which were placed across it as a barrier. The force of the shock may be imagined; the carriage was broken to pieces; the servant was pitched from his seat to a very considerable distance, sustaining a fracture of the skull from the fall; and Mytton was a good deal hurt-any other man, perhaps, would have been killed, as he was fast asleep at the time. The fate of the horses and the boys I do not at this moment recollect; but the servantwho by good conduct was promoted by degrees to the post of valet de chambre to Mr. M. from being a boy in my stable-has, I fear, never recovered from the effects of this dire mishap. But Mr. Mytton appeared, at least wished to be supposed to be, indifferent to pain. A very few days after he had had so bad a fall with his own hounds as to occasion the dislocation of three ribs, and was otherwise much bruised, a friend in Wales, unconscious of his accident, sent him a fox in a bag, with a hint that, if turned out on the morrow, he would be sure to afford sport, as he was only just caught. "To-morrow, then," said Mytton, "will we run him"; and although he was lifted upon his horse, having his body swathed with rollers, and also writhing with pain, he took the lead of all the field, upon a horse he called "The Devil," and was never headed by any man, till he killed his fox, at the end of a capital hour's run. He was very near fainting from the severity of this trial; but I remember his telling me, he would not have been seen to faint, for ten thousand pounds. Upon another somewhat similar occasion, he showed |