Yorkshire Oddities, Incidents, and Strange EventsBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
Yorkshire Oddities, Incidents, and Strange Events
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Legends -- England -- Yorkshire; Yorkshire (England) -- Miscellanea
His next contrivance was a carriage, the body of which was made of
wickerwork. It cost him a year's constant application to finish it, and
when completed it was calculated to cause a sensation. It was a huge
palanquin, with a top like an exaggerated Chinaman's hat, supported on
four iron rods, which were screwed into the shafts, the shafts running
the whole length of the carriage, and resting on springs connected with
the axle of the wheels. The sides and back of the carriage were made of
wickerwork matting. The axle-case was faced with a clock dial with
numbers, and hands connected with a piece of ingenious mechanism,
afterwards perfected and patented by another person, which told the
distance the carriage had gone by measuring the number of rotations made
by the wheels.
Jemmy used for his hunting-suit a lambskin hat, a rabbit-skin jacket, a
waistcoat made of the skins of drakes' necks with the feathers on, a
pair of list breeches, yellow, blue, black, and red, stockings of red
and white worsted, and yellow boots. His best room was furnished as
curiously as his person. Instead of pictures, the walls were hung round
with bits of old iron and coils of rope; in one place an old frying-pan,
in another a rusty sword, a piece of a chair, or a jug.
One evening, after a day's sport, he invited the party to join him for a
social evening, and the offer was eagerly accepted, as every one was
curious to see the interior of his house. He gave them a very fair
entertainment, and amused them all the evening with his jokes.
Immediately over Lord Wharncliffe's head was suspended a pair of horse's
blinkers.
"Do you wear these?" asked a Mr. Sadler who was present.
"No, sir, I do not; I keep them for donkeys of a peculiar make, who
stand on their hind legs and ask impertinent questions."
"What do you mean?" asked the young man, reddening. "Is that intended as
a personal remark?"
"Draw your own inferences," answered Jemmy, knocking the ashes out of
his pipe.
The young man was so offended that he demanded satisfaction for the
insult. The company tried hard to pacify him, but in vain. Jemmy then
whispered in Lord Wharncliffe's ear, and the latter immediately rose
from the table, and said, "Now, gentlemen, Mr. Hirst is quite willing to
give Mr. Sadler that satisfaction he desires. He has requested my
services as second. I have granted his wish. As soon as Mr. Sadler can
arrange with any gentleman to act as his second, I shall be happy to
arrange preliminaries with him."
Mr. Sadler having chosen a second, the belligerents were desired to
leave the room for a few moments until arrangements had been made for
the duel.
As they left the room Lord Wharncliffe whispered in the ear of one of
the party, "Follow Mr. Sadler into the other room, and take a bottle of
wine with you; get him to drink as much as possible, and we will manage
to make the affair end in fun."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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