returning to town after dinner, and as they have been kind enough to press us to stay, and as it will probably be my last visit here before I sail for the Mauritius, and as the bill of fare includes eels stewed, spitchcock and plain, flounders in water zuchet, a boiled round of beef, roast pork "-Cannon's face brightened up-"besides," continued Hook, Botham has promised some of his magnums of port: but you are right, I suppose we must be off. I fear we shall be too late for our engagement with B--; but we can always get a chop at the Piazza." Dinner's ready, gentlemen," said the waiter, as the landlord, attended by three or four "helps," appeared in the passage with sundry tin-covered dishes. The fume of the edibles was more than the hungry Dean could bear, and he at once yielded to his friend's suggestion, and in a few seconds was seated on the right of H- -, whom we had voted to the chair. Hook was on his left, and the rest of the party formed the circle, in that most sociable of all boards-a round table. The dinner went off admirably; mirth-moving jest, repartee, anecdote, prevailed. Theodore, who was at that time the pet of the performers, told us stories of the green-room; while Cannon repeated the sayings and doings of the rising son, the Prince Regent, with whom he was then upon the most intimate terms-we say then, for shortly afterwards a breach took place, more in this instance owing to the fault of the reverend gentleman, than to the caprice of the heir-apparent to the throne. The Prince was passionately fond of music, and was one day accompanying with his voice the Dean, who was at the organ, when the former trumpeted forth his own musical powers, in a manner a leetle too strong for his sometimes captious protégé, who replied in a manner that so offended the royal ears, accustomed as they were to fulsome flattery, that Cannon was never again invited to the Pavilion. To do the Prince justice in this instance, he did not allow any vindictive feeling to influence his mind; for some time afterwards, when the poor old man shattered in health, nearly ruined in fortune, addressed his former patron, then George IV., a reply, enclosing a cheque for £100, was forwarded by return of post. Cannon did not live many years after this act of generosity had been extended to him; but to his latest hour he spoke of it with tears of gratitude. In the church-yard of Ryde, in the Isle of Wight, the scene of many of his chequered days, a simple tablet appears To the Memory of The Reverend EDWARD CANNON, Who died March, 1834, It was at the Bugle, at Ryde, that Cannon passed many of his happiest hours. It was on the jetty, that under the soubriquet of the Pier Gun, he amused himself in his later days teaching his parrot to sing a verse of Bold Robin Hood, a song of his earlier years, and which he had made his own; and instructing a foreign dog, of the genus turnspit, whom he called Count Sitonstern, to sit up and beg for crumbs of bread. "Alas poor Yorick !" Would that we could add to his epitaph, the well-known lines"Here lies the good Dean reunited to earth, Who mix'd reason with pleasure, and wisdom with mirth." To return to our dinner at Salthill. Theodore Hook was brilliant; at that period he had not suffered (as he facetiously remarked to the late Lord Charles Somerset) from "a complaint in his chest," alluding to the untoward affair that occurred to him when treasurer in the Mauritius; not a word that was uttered escaped a happy reply from him; but these flashes of merriment told better in conversation than they do in recital, still we cannot refrain from recording them. "Well, Hookems," said the "Dean of Patcham," as Cannon was familiarly called, from the village of that name being close to the Royal property at Brighton, and which, during his "short reign, and a merry one, with the Prince Regent, Hook had always told him would be formed into a deanery for him, "have you seen the Eccaleobion; or the shop where breeding is made easy to the meanest capacity ?" 66 Egstatic thought!" responded Theodore. "But where is it?" we all inquired. "Next to some book shop in Pall-Mall," responded Cannon. "Ah," said Hook, with his most winning smile, "The Eggaleobion, where by heat, Dean of Patcham, By Chickenerie fowl, birds by dozens they hatch'em, Is next to a book-shop, the address never mind it, For failing a't Eggs, you at Hatch-hards* will find it. During the evening Cannon was scarcely less brilliant than Hook, though more censorious and captious in his mood, for when the waiter by one of those unlucky accidents that will occur in the best regulated families, brought him a dish with a small portion of coal dust that had fallen from the fire into it, the Dean begged that "the dirt might be brought in on one plate, and the dinner in the other." He also made an unfortunate hit by saying, with respect to a briefless barrister, that he never condemned a man without a cause; and when, in an oblivious mood, Cannon had failed to pass the preserved currant tart to Sanders, who had "snubbed "him for his dulness, Cannon quietly, though bitterly, replied, "Dull? oh yes! in some societies I always pass current for a fool;" and suiting the action to the word, he passed the dish to the crest-fallen lawyer. Happily a quotation from Alderson, "O, jest unseen, inscrutable," gave a happy turn to the conversation; which was followed up by Hook, spouting after the manner of John Kemble, "The thunder of my Cannon shall be heard." "True," responded the stage-struck hero, determined to have the last words of his favourite author, "I have seen the Cannon when it has blown its ranks into the air ;" and giving a look at Sanders, as much as to say "keep out of the range of his fire," changed the conversation by alluding to the topic of the day-Napoleon. 66 "Don't admire that critter," said the Dean, who imbibed the national prejudice that happily now no longer exists against our continental neighbours. Buonaparte, a descendant of an obscure family in Corsica, was only a major when he married Josephine, the daughter of a tobacconist creole of Martinique. "Never mind his origin," responded Hook; "there have been many other great people, low-born men, of parentage obscure,' as Master Betty has it, who have raised themselves by their talents. Confucius was a carpenter." * Tegg and Hatchard, two booksellers of that period. A chip of the old block," interrupted the Dean. "Cincinnatus a plough-boy." "A curly-headed plough-boy, who conquered the Volsci," continued Cannon, humming a popular ballad of that day. "Mehemet Ali was a barber." "At shaving and toof-drawing," again chimed in the Dean, singing a verse of Dicky Gossip's song, after the manner of Suet the comedian. "Oliver Cromwell was a draper; Bernadotte, King of Sweden, a serjeant in the garrison of Martinique, when our forces took that island; Madame Bernadotte, a getter up of fine linen at Paris; Franklin, a printer; Catherine, Empress of Russia, a camp follower; with many other names too numerous for this advertisement,' as the playbills and the newspapers term it." 66 You are getting too larned, Hookems," said the Dean; "you are quite a living chronological table of remarkable events." 66 "You are down upon me, as the candle said to the extinguisher," continued Hook, quoting one of those sayings originally introduced by that popular writer and wit Beazley, in his farce of the Boarding House. Sam is a clever fellow," responded Cannon; "I'll back him to build a theatre quicker than all the architects in the world put together; and to knock off a play, farce, interlude, song, occasional address, epilogue, or prologue, better and in a shorter space of time than any of his contemporaries. Approbation from the Dean is praise indeed," answered Hook. "And it is not more than Beazley merits." These eulogiums have been fully verified since the period we write of, for the talented architect has, without the aid of Aladdin's wand, raised up castles, mansions, villas, theatres, squares, and crescents, and has furnished some of the most popular plays and pointed epilogues and epigrams of the day: one of his latest good sayings will well bear being recorded" Just returned from Theobald's," said the wit, entering the committee room of the Garrick Club, "I have been putting up a new stairs for Sir Henry Meux, "-pronounced muse "I call it the Gra dus ad Parnassum." 66 But to return to our dinner; Beazley, the inventor of the saying quoted by Hook, and which he afterwards brought out in one of his farces, had told Theodore of the idea, and the latter for the next half hour, ran the changes upon it. Thus when Cannon urged him to sing a few extempore verses, he replied; "You are so very pressing, Dean, as the filberts said to the nut-crackers. Pray pass the wine, Mr. President," he continued, "though I'm sorry to trouble you, as the pin said to the periwinkle." "Bravo, Hookems!" shouted the Dean, "you must throw over the Mauritius, we cannot afford to lose you." "Oh, it will be all the same one hundred years hence, as the American aloe said when it came into bloom." "But your song, Hook; only a few verses.' "You really reduce me to extremities, as the rat said to the trap which cut his tail off. I don't know a stave; but I'll try my best, and see if I cannot come off with flying colours, as the English general said when he ordered his niggers to retreat. Hook sang a few verses on the subject we had suggested, the Eton Montem, in which he intro 66 duced a considerable quantity of Attic salt. The landlord's bottle and the bill had been brought, when Theodore proposed to toss up for his share of the amount. Heads I win, as the man said when he turned phrenologist; tails I lose, as the dog stealer remarked when he docked the puppies." As a matter of course we declined allowing Hook and Cannon to share the expense. Our shawls and wrappers were now sent for, and the Dean, who was never very particular in his dress, encased himself in a very ill-shaped, ready-made-looking, great-coat, a regular "reach me down," from a slop shop in St. Mary Axe, which gave Hook an opportunity of saying "the snip never took your measure, as the tailor did when he stole his neighbours half bushel." "Who's for a weed?" asked Cannon, bringing forth his cigar-case. "We'ed rather not," responded Hook. "Waiter, a light," continued the Dean. "The fire's out." "Still you have a grate prospect," interrupted Theodore, "as the prisoner said when he looked out of his cell window." Botham now made his appearance, when Alderson, determined to get in edgeway a quotation from his favourite author, remarked, “I would rather live on cheese and garlic in the Windmill, than feed in any other house in Christendom." Mine host was at a loss to understand what the allusion meant; but taking it as a compliment, expressed his grateful acknowledgments for the honour conferred upon him. The waiter now informed us that there was one "inside and one "out" in the Exeter, and three "outsides" in the Bristol mails, at our service. Secure them all," exclaimed Hook, singing a verse from one of the late Charles Mathews's coaching songs, and imitating the horn in so admirable a manner, that the guards, who had come to the door to receive our orders, fancied he was playing upon a real instrument. "Book one in and four out to Newbury;" continued Theodore, The Dean wishes to try Botham's port, and to be introduced to his Bishop." "Nonsense, Hookems, you're mad," responded Cannon. 66 66 "Besides," proceeded Hook, "after so pressing an invitation from our young friends at the Grove, we can't refuse. "Bravo!" exclaimed H, Horace Beaufort, and myself, simultaneously. "Oh, at the Grove, sans blarney, You'll find such jovial fellows." chaunted Hook, as he pressed his reverend, and not unwilling, friend into the mail. "Dreadful fire last night, sir, at Exeter," said the guard, "Theater burnt to ashes." 66 Quite dramatic," remarked Hook, "Enter a fire, exit a (Exeter) theatre." Wishing a hearty good bye to H's college friends, and shaking Alderson and Sanders by the hand, we took our our respective places. "Next month," shouted the stage-struck hero, "To London all, And more such days as these to us befall." "All right," said H-, handling the ribands of the Exeter; while Hook, Horace Beaufort, and myself, seated on the Bristol, lit our cigars, and enjoyed as merry a drive as ever fell to the lot of mortal men; but the account of our journey must be reserved for another chapter. A LAY OF ENGLISH FIELD SPORTS. BY COLONEL CHASSE. "Nec fortuitum spernere cespitem leges sinebant.” -HORACE. Reflections of Father Time-The Druids-The Romans-The Danes-The SaxonsWilliam the Conqueror-Wild animals of the olden time-The hart's bell-Forest outlaws-Robin Hood: Description of his tryst-The Friar of Orders Grey: His sentiments-Propensities of the Abbots-The Reformation-May-day in the time of Queen Elizabeth-The quintain-Garland dances-Bowls-Fox-huntersSportsmen of the time of Sir Roger de Coverley-Modern hunting, introducing a few of the crack packs-Coursing-Stag-hunting-Deer-stalking-Otter huntingGrouse-shooting-Salmon-spearing-Duck-shooting-Fishing-Pheasant-shooting -Partridge-shooting-Hurdle-racing-Modern steeds and jockies-CricketFoot-ball-Boat-racing-Steeple-chacing and its heroes and heroines, from Grimaldi to Peter Simple-Newmarket and its ancient supporters-Conclusion. Old Time oft loves to linger, leaning on his scythe the while, He must think of bearded Druids and their orgies round the oak, Here the imperial trifler on the sea beach gathered shells, Then the Saxon's loved Valhalla, (2) as shadowed in his creed Next 'gainst the northern William, Harold made his last advance, Uttered its piercing death bray, at the twanging of his bow. Then the peasant homeward wending, nigh his osier cottage gate, Heard the barking of the dog-wolf and the answer of his mate; Viewed the wild-cat 'mongst the hollies and the tawny crouching fox, As it watched the rabbits bounding down their burrows in the rocks. |