Page:Letters of the Late Lord Lyttleton.djvu/95



LETTER XXI.

MY DEAR SIR,

I OBEY your commands with some reluctance, in relating the story of which you have heard so much, and to which your curiosity appears to be so broad awake. I do it unwillingly, because such histories depend so much upon the manner in which they are related; and this, which I have told with such success, and to the midnight terrours of so many simple souls, will make but a sorry figure in a written narration. However, you shall have it.

It was in the early part of ——’s life that he attended an hunting club at their sport, when a stranger, of a genteel appearance, and well mounted, joined the chace, and was observed to ride with a degree of courage and address that called forth the utmost astonishment of every one present. The beast he rode was of amazing powers; nothing stopped them; the hounds could never escape them; and the huntsman, who was