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Flourish and Sprightly also backed the argument of Turf; and Makemoney was ultimately persuaded to mount old spankaway as a worn out hunter; who would want the whip to make him go if required; and that no spirit was left in him to become a starter! The old hunter in his day had never refused a leap, and could clear a five barred gate with the utmost ease and safety.

The old Citizen, like most persons who were unaccustomed to riding; or who had acquired from practice how to manage a horse; had not travelled above a mile or two before he found himself rather awkward in his seat, and went much faster, bobbing up and down upon the saddle, than the animal on which he rode. And to add to his discomfiture, unfortunately for Makemoney, the hounds were out, and the full cry of a musical pack came across the ears of old Spankaway, and off he went like lightening, to join the chase, before the old Citizen was aware of it, and giving the 'go-by' to his brother Pilgrims. The situation of Makemoney was truly ludicrous in an instant, something after the manner of Johnny Gilpin :—

His horse, who never in that sort,

Had handled been before,
What thing upon his back had got,
Did wonder more and more.

Away went Money, neck or nought,
Away went hat and wig;

He little dreamt, when he sat out,
Of running such a rig!

His brother Pilgrims could not help laughing heartily at the sudden start made by old Spankaway, and the instinct he displayed to be in at the death, and compelling, as it were, the old Citizen to join the hunters, whether he would or not; but they soon checked themselves, and became alarmed for his safety. Makemoney tried all his strength to stop him, but he had no more power over the mouth of the horse than a fly, and the first ditch that came in his way, over he went, with the utmost speed, and strange to say, Makemoney kept his seat, to the astonishment of his friends, who expected every minute to behold him prostrate on the ground. Turf clapped spurs to his horse, and rode after the old Citizen with all the speed he could make, to render him all the service in his power; but on old Spankaway joining the huntsmen, and the hounds being at fault, he was stopped by Makemoney, without much difficulty.

Makemoney was not long before he dismounted, and never felt the ground under his feet half so pleasantly in his life, and upon recovering his wind, for all the breath was nearly out of his body; what with the fright and the speed he had gone, he congratulated himself that it was no worse. And with a smile upon his face, "Miracles will never cease," said he, "to think that an

old fellow like me, should leap over a wide ditch, and not fall into it. I shall place it amongst the extraordinary incidents of my life!"

"My dear uncle," observed Sprightly, "to behold you once more safe and sound, has made me more happy than I can express: I dreaded the worst consequences to occur when I saw old Spankaway take the leap! It is truly astonishing to me how you kept your seat. But your life is saved, and I am grateful for it!"

"To me also," said Flourish, “it is a high gratification that you have been restored to us without injury; and it will be a memorable circumstance, connected with the source of old Father Thames, that you hunted it out! Ha! ha! ha!"

"You may depend upon it, my dear Turf," said Makemoney, "I will never be seen as a rider any more; and in the 'character of a fox-hunter, or follower of the hounds, one pill is a dose. And old Spankaway may live in retirement for the remainder of his days for me; nor, no more leaping of ditches, or pantaloon tricks. It is true I might have been in at the death!"

"I am glad to find you so jocular on the subject," replied Turf," at all events you have verified the old system, that a man never knows what he can accomplish, until he tries the experiment. With all your discretion, you cannot aver you looked before you took the leap! Ha! ha! ha!"

"No person can regret more than I do," remarked Sir Tally-ho, "that the old horse should have bolted with you; I could have betted twenty to one such an occurrence could not have taken place. I thought all the fire and speed had long since been taken out of Spankaway; but I suppose he is like an old coachman, that likes to hear the smack of the whip. But we must endeavour to forget it over a bowl of punch."

The Pilgrims had a jolly night of it with the old baronet, before he would suffer them to take leave of Foxhunter's Hall. The windings of the Thames, the object of their pilgrimage, once more became the point of consideration, and like surveyors of an estate, they left not a spot, or a creek, that could illustrate the argument in any shape whatever.

"I have it," said Flourish, in ectasy, "Oxford, illustrious Oxford, will be in our path home; and a day or two spent with my friend at that celebrated seat of learning, may give us a little more information respecting the source of the Thames, than otherwise, we might acquire. The Oxonians ought to know something about the matter from their opportunities of research; but yet, I believe, the scholars, in general, could give a much better dissertation upon the qualities of different wines, than any thing like a grave description of water; the latter article is not their forte, I am aware. Be that as it may, I propose that we Pilgrims call upon my intimate friend, Stephen Giltleaf, Esq., one of the jolliest fellows upon earth; if the musty, fusty rules

of the College, have not sobered him down to propriety itself! However, I have been told he is rather an altered man, and sees things in a different point of view, to what he did, before he entered, as an inmate, the College of No matter. The

name of the institution, is not at all necessary to my purpose, and for the respect I bear, and shall always entertain for that veneral seat of eruidition and classical knowledge, prevents me from offering any thing, in the slightest degree, that might be construed into a slur upon any of its members !"

"Excellently well said," replied Makemoney, "boys will be boys, and some of them never obtain the character of men. I need not be told that learning is one thing, and conduct in life another. Oxford scholars, it is admitted, read well, and better, perhaps, than most persons; but whether they think and act with more propriety than persons in different stations in life, is a question I am not called upon to solve at this moment, but I shall be happy to visit Mr. Giltleaf. I remember his old father, he died very rich and left his son a large fortune. He was a general merchant, lived near the Tower of London, and dealt largely in rags, to supply the paper mills. Old Giltleaf, was considered a very ignorant man as to education; but was anxious to make a bright fellow of his son, therefore, nothing that could improve his mind, and send him forth into the world as a scholar and a gentleman, was neglected: the ambition of the old man was such, that he would have liked to have seen his son fill the office of prime minister, if such chance ever came within his grasp. I hope the son has entered into all the views of his father, who, notwithstanding, the deficiency of scholarship, was one of the best calculators in the kingdom, and one of the greatest adepts, in the commercial world, at turning pence into pounds!"

"Should he ever arrive at that honour," observed Sprightly, "he will not be the first tradesman's son who has filled that high and important situation."

"Giltleaf is no pedant, I am sure," answered Flourish, “and I should think nothing of the Dominie Sampson character, will be found attached to his character-enveloped in books of the black-lettered school; although, I have heard, he has obtained a degree or two. However, I am sure he will make all of us heartily welcome."

"That is the only token we want," remarked Turf, "and he is welcome to keep every word from the Alpha to the Omega, to himself. We do not seek learning, but friendship!"

A rich man, like at every other place, does not long remain in obscurity at Oxford: learning, it is true, has its admirers, and is in great repute on this classic ground; but money, that all powerful coin, carries every thing before it, and GILTLEAF was pounced upon, without any trouble.

The Pilgrims immediately upon their introduction discovered

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