As we
said before, he generally appeared at large woodlands, into which he would
ride with the hounds, plunging through the stiffest clay, and forcing his
way through the strongest thickets, making observations all the while of
the hazels, and the hollies, and the blackthorns, and, we are sorry to say,
sometimes of the young oaks and ashes, that he thought would fashion into
curious-handled walking-sticks; and these he would return for at a future
day, getting them with as large clubs as possible, which he would cut into
the heads of beasts, or birds, or fishes, or men. At the time of which we
are writing, he had accumulated a vast quantity--thousands; the garret at
the top of his house was quite full, so were most of the closets, while the
rafters in the kitchen, and cellars, and out-houses, were crowded with
others in a state of _deshabille_. He calculated his stock at immense
worth, we don't know how many thousand pounds; and as he cut, and puffed,
and wheezed, and modelled, with a volume of Buffon, or the picture of some
eminent man before him, he chuckled, and thought how well he was providing
for his family.
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