This callous behaviour roused me to such resentment that I tried to rise—at the crucial moment the "Count" stepped heavily upon my foot. I swore violently, and, anger impelling me to action, I mounted him and rode away.
Riding one evening as the twilight was falling and the surrounding country growing faint in the failing light, I rode my horse into a bog. We soon found ourselves up to the knees and in an apparently inextricable position. The situation was growing unpleasant when the horse, instinctively recognising the danger, made a supreme struggle for liberty, and, after some exertion, we emerged and reached home safely.
I used to follow Mr. Brocklehurst, the then Master of the Cheshire Harriers, and old Mr. Cobbett (the son of the great William Cobbett) who dressed so exactly in the same fashion as his famous father, one could almost imagine he had left Madame Tussaud's, with his snuff-box, to take a day's hunting in Cheshire. Sir William Cobbett (the grandson) still adheres as nearly as possible to that old tradition of dress.
It was in Cheshire, at Alderley, that I met Edmund Ashton, an old Etonian and a jolly fellow, who became engaged to Fox's sister. The village was gay with decorations on the day of the wedding; on one triumphal arch the local poet had evidently exerted his muse, for in big letters shone the following couplet:—
On this day with joy and pride
Edmund weds his youthful bride.
Under the hospitable roof of Mr. Fox, a trio of us (Will Jaffray, now Sir William, Harry Fox and I) formed a bond of friendship maintained to this day, and which has always been one of the pleasantest facts of my life.
About this time I settled to work in earnest and entered the R.A. schools as probationer in Architecture, with drawings of a monument to a naval victory, after which I became a full student for a study made from the antique.
Old Charles Landseer (brother of Sir Edwin and "Tom" Landseer the engraver) was then keeper. He was a quaint old gentleman, but I fear his teaching didn't carry much weight. What I do remember about him was that as he stooped to look over one's work the evident dye that had once been sprinkled on the back of his head had remained there until it became solidified and resembled old varnish.
There was an old student too who bore somewhat the same appearance, and seemed privileged to remain for ever a student. In his case the rust seemed to have spread to his clothes, so that I can remember the peg on which he hung his coat was left severely alone, in fact, no other student would permit of his hat or coat being near it.
It is a shame to mention old George Cruikshank in the same breath, but while on the subject of hair dye he also toned his grey hair, but in a perfectly harmless manner. What was comic in him was that up to the last he wore a lock which, being suspended by a broad and very visible piece of elastic, was evidently in his mind quite a success.