I have a note of it from Dr. Thomas's additions to Dugdale's
_Warwickshire_, which dates the occurrence as having taken place Oct.
22, 1642, the day previous to the battle of Edgehill, and identifies
the merry sportsman as Richard Schuckburgh, of Upper Shuckburgh; who,
however, on his presentation to the king, "immediately went home,
aroused his tenants, and the next day attended the army to the field,
where he was knighted, and was present at the battle." Being out of
the reach of books, I am unable further to verify the story; but it is
to such unhappy rustics that your publication is most acceptable.

C.W.B.

[Thanks to the kindness of our correspondent "C.W.B.," we
have referred to Dugdale's _Warwickshire_ (ed. Thomas, 1730).
vol. i. p. 309., and extract from it the following proof that
Walpole had authority for his story. Who knows, after this,
but we may in the same way trace from whence he procured the
celebrated letter of the Countess of Pembroke, respecting
which there is a query from Mr. Peter Cunningham, in No. 2.
p. 28.

"As king Charles the First marched to Edgcot, near Banbury, on
22nd Oct., 1642, he saw him hunting in the fields not far from
Shuckborough, with a very good pack of hounds, upon which it
is reported, that he fetched a deep sigh and asked who that
gentleman was that hunted so merrily that morning, when he was
going to fight for his crown and dignity. And being told {339}
that it was this Richard Shuckburgh, he was ordered to be
called to him, and was by him very graciously received. Upon