One other illustration of his character may be given. He discovered that
his servant Betty had "a follower;" and, watching his time till Richard
was found in the kitchen, he ordered him into the dining-room, where the
pupils were all assembled. He then questioned Richard whether he had
come after Betty; and on his confessing the truth, Mr. Roberson gave the
word, "Off with him, lads, to the pump!" The poor lover was dragged to
the court-yard, and the pump set to play upon him; and, between every
drenching, the question was put to him, "Will you promise not to come
after Betty again?" For a long time Richard bravely refused to give in;
when "Pump again, lads!" was the order. But, at last, the poor soaked
"follower" was forced to yield, and renounce his Betty.
The Yorkshire character of Mr. Roberson would be incomplete if I did not
mention his fondness for horses. He lived to be a very old man, dying
some time nearer to 1840 than 1830; and even after he was eighty years of
age, he took great delight in breaking refractory steeds; if necessary,
he would sit motionless on their backs for half-an-hour or more to bring
them to. There is a story current that once, in a passion, he shot his
wife's favourite horse, and buried it near a quarry, where the ground,
some years after, miraculously opened and displayed the skeleton; but the
real fact is, that it was an act of humanity to put a poor old horse out
of misery; and that, to spare it pain, he shot it with his own hands, and
buried it where, the ground sinking afterwards by the working of a coal-
pit, the bones came to light.
Pages:
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146