The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1888-05-17


WILL we doubt not, possess much interes
for many Of our readers-the more so as
branch Of the Peyton family has beef
seated in Virginia since colonial days an(
is now represented by many worthy de
scendants in our county, the State an(
Union:
Major General Sir Thomas Peyton, WHIT
died on Saturday at Swift's House, Bces-
ter, aged seventy years, was the represen
tative of an old English family which has
long been closely identified with the chase
the turf, and the road. The last four bar
onets of the Peyton line have all of then
been ardent votaries of oXhunting, sym
pathiZers with, if not active participators
in, racing, and popular heroes of the whip
There are, indeed, few among the Oldest
| inhabitants of the WeSt-end in whose
| minds the name of Peyton will not awaken
ahost OF thick coming memories. Among
their earliest recollectioLS will be num-
bered the yellow drag with four grey
horses attached to it, which the old Sir
Henry Peyton, grandfather to Sir Algernon
Peyton, the fourth baronet-who imme-
diately preceded his cousin, Sir Thomas,
the fifth baronet, just deceased-drove
slowly through the streets, squares and
parks Of Mayfair and Belgravia. Planted
alone upon his coach box, and with two
neatly liveried servants on the hind seat,
old Sir Henry Peyton and his drag were
features of the London thoroughfares dur.
ing the earlier years of her Majesty IS
reign, which no crowded gatherings of
modern coaches at the Magazine on the
Serpentine's northern bank will obliterate
| from the memory of the contemporaries
of Jenny Macdonald and Lord Chester
field of Count D'Orsay and Prince Bat
thyany, of Charley TyrWhitt and George
Payne. 1t was in those spacious times
when the Bedfont Driving Club and the
Richmond Driving Club were in their
prime, that the Prime Regent, who once
drove in his cnrricle from the Pavilion at
Brighton to Carlton Heuse- fifty six miles
! in four and half hours. had made the
road more fashionable than it has ever
been since; and that the fifth Earl of
| Chesterfield, at the head of a procession of
six and thirty faultlessly appointed and
superbly horsed coaches, showed the B.
! D. G. the way to the dingy little town of
| Bedtont. near Hounsow, Of which Sir
Henry Peyton was so fond and constant a
frequen er. The story ran that it was
| this veteran whips custom to drive his
drag down to Bedfont where he lunched,
wnie his horses were taken out and baited
in the stables of the Black Dog Hotel.
After an hours delay the drag was
brought again to the door, with the horses
| heads pointed homewards, and Sir Henry
solemnly took his seat upon the box. At
| that critical moment the ostler would lift
4 his bat. and exclalm in a loud voice, ''All
| right. Sir HeDry!'' Without that signal
| nothing would induce the punctilious and
conservative old baronet to start, and on
| one memorable afternoon there was no
ostIer to give it. For quarter of an
hour or more the servants waited at
the head of the wheelers and leaders
| until it became evident that, in the
absence of the tier and of his warning
''Nune dimittis,' - Sir Henry Peyton had
no intention of budging. AT length one
of the grooms slipped unobserved to the
back of the drag and sang out, "All right,
Sir Henry ~ from the spot usually occu-
pied by the ostler. The desired effect was
obtained. and Sir Henry Peyton, unac-
solitary state on his drag, as was the Gus
| tom with the late Captain w. Fl. Cooper,
when be drove the Dorking coach back
| wards and forwards every day, pulled up
| in safety at the door of his house in Hill
street, Berkeley Square.
"Where my Prince did distinguish him
| SELF, exclaims Thackery in his scathing
satire On George ". published in 1850,
| twas in driving. All the young bl0ods OF
| that day were fond Of the sport. But the
| fashion of driving deserted England, and,
| [ believe. trOtted over to America. Que
solitary four-in-hand still drove round the
parks in London last year, but that ancient
charioteer must soon depart. He was
very cid: he was attired after the fashion
| of the year 1925. He must drive to the
| oft no of VIII
ferry boat waits to carry hin oyer 10 the
defunct jewellers who boxed, aalpbIea.
drank, and drove with King George W."
1t was to the old Sir Henry Peyton that
Thackery alluded in this passage, and long
years have now elapsed since that "anclent
charioteer" piloted his grey team to the
| banks of StyX. He was succeeded by
young Henry Peyton," as he was invaria-
bly, called by his friends while his father
was still living-that young Henry Peyton
| to whose charming little house at Middle
| ton StOney. in OXtOrdShire, close to which
i is the seat of the Earl of Jersey, so many
| Oxford undergraduates. and among them
the present Earl of Stafford and Lord Hill
lington, repaired way back in the lifties, "
and partook Of hospitality as generous as
| it was refined. The cottage-like home OF
1 the second Sir Henry Peyton was sur
rounded by small but beautifully kept
| pleasure ground, in which the beds OF
i flowers and green patches of turf between
i them were cultivated, as il were, with
! toothcomb." With what CONSERVATION
the fastidiously neat owner of that bijou
4 house and garden watched the present
] Earl of Portsmouth-as he led bis hunter
among the enamelled beds and walks, it
were impossible to describe. Although
the second Sir Henry Feyton lnYed the
| cnth i n
| the hunting field that the Chief laurels OF
the Younger Baronet were earned. who
that has read Nmrod's celebrated guar
terly Review article, in which the imagi-
nary run with Squire Osbadeston s hounds
| in the Quorn country is described with a
! Iifelike accuracy of touch. can have for
gotten the alluson to young Henry Peyton
| which that thrilling narrative contains?
| The Squire himself, Lord Forester, Lord
Gard1er. Sir Harry Goodricke, Lork Al
vanley, Little Gilmour, Val Maher, Jack
White, Sir Francis Burdett, Mr.. Green OF
Rolleston. Tom Edge, and Frank Holyoke
are marshalled before our view as they
bore themselves during that exciting hour
and two minutes over the finest country
in the world. On a sudden, our eyes are
fixed on single figure. Not hurt l
hope?" asked Mr. Maxse, speaking to
somebody OF whom he catches glimpse
as he falls neck and crop over high, hog
backed stile. cit is young Peyton, who
having missed his second horse at the
check, has long been going in distress. but
with the nerve and pluck peculiar to Eng
lishmen in the hunting field, has got to
within three minutes of the end OF this
brilliantly
The sporting procli9ities Of the two Sill
Henry Peytons to whom we have just re-
!; ferred paved the way for the MastershlE
of the Bicester Foxhounds, to which Sill
Algernon Peyton, who died in 1877, sue
ceeded IN 1865 In the regiment for which
, he was for many years an of1icer-the IS
/. Life Guards Sir Algernon Peyton was al
ways looked upon as belonging to the hes
type Of high minded and manly English
) gentleman. Again and again was hi
sound good sense appealed to by his broth
er officers, nor was it possible to exhaus
or weary the sympathetic kindliness OF hi
nature. Tall and stately in figure, pleas
ant and gentle in manner, but with tn
heart of lion, Sir Algernon Peyton LIEF
by his sudden and premature death Il
1872 a gap which, neither in London no
in Oxfordshire, was it easy to fill. AS b
died without issue, the baronetcy and tn
estat es attached to it in Oxfordshire anC
| dcocb;ro want + n hiS c0uSin Ma19l