puffy, wheezy, sententious little fellow, who accompanied his parables with
a snort into a large finely plaited shirt-frill, reaching nearly up to his
nose. His hunting-costume consisted of a black coat and waistcoat, with
white moleskin breeches, much cracked and darned about the knees and other
parts, as nether garments made of that treacherous stuff often are. His
shapeless tops, made regardless of the refinements of 'right and left,'
dangled at his horse's sides like a couple of stable-buckets; and he
carried his heavy iron hammer-headed whip over his shoulder like a flail.
But we are drawing his portrait instead of saying why he hunted. Well,
then, having married Mrs. Springwheat's sister, who was always boasting to
Mrs. Crowdey what a loving, doting husband Springey was after hunting, Mrs.
Crowdey had induced Crowdey to try his hand, and though soon satisfied that
he hadn't the slightest taste for the sport, but being a great man for what
he called gibbey-sticks, he hunted for the purpose of finding them. 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. He had been at it so long, and argued so stoutly, that Mrs.
Jogglebury Crowdey, if not quite convinced of the accuracy of his
calculations, nevertheless thought it well to encourage his hunting
predilections, inasmuch as it brought him in contact with people he would
not otherwise meet, who, she thought,