When Sir Harry was on a
drinking-bout they were shut up altogether; and the huntsman, Tom Watchorn,
late of the 'Camberwell and Balham Hill Union Harriers,' an early
acquaintance of Miss Spangles--indeed, some said he was her uncle--used to
go away on a drinking excursion too. Altogether, they were what the country
people called a very 'promiscuous set.' The hounds were of all sorts and
sizes; the horses of no particular stamp; and the men scamps and vagabonds
of the first class.
With such a master and such an establishment, we need hardly say that no
stranger ever came into the country for the purpose of hunting. Sir Harry's
fields were entirely composed of his own choice 'set,' and a few farmers,
and people whom he could abuse and do what he liked with. Mr. Jogglebury
Crowdey, to be sure, had mentioned Sir Harry approvingly, when he went to
Mr. Puffington's, to inveigle Mr. Sponge over to Puddingpote Bower; but
what might suit Mr. Jogglebury, who went out to seek gibbey sticks, might
not suit a person who went out for the purpose of hunting a fox in order to
show off and sell his horses.
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