the village, reynard and the whole field broke
over the road in their scarlet frocks, and dogs and horses made a dash
away for a steeple chase across the country, led by the worthy-hearted
owner of the pack, the jolly fox-hunting Colonel, Hilton Jolliffe, whose
residence caps the summit of the hill. From hence to Reigate, four miles
farther, there was no circumstance or object of interest, if I except a
very romantic tale coachee ~283~~narrated of his hunting leader, who had
of course been bred in the stud of royalty itself, and had since been
the property of two or three sporting peers, when, having put out a
_spavin_, during the last hunting season, he was sold for a __machiner;
but being since fired and turned out, he had come up all right, and
was now, according to coachee's disinterested opinion, one of the best
hunters in the kingdom. As I was not exactly the customer coachee was
looking for, being at the time pretty well mounted, I thought it better
to indulge him in the joke, particularly as any doubt on my part might
have soured the whip, and made him sullen for the rest of the journey.

At Reigate a trifling accident happened to one of the springs of the
coach, which detained us half an hour, and enabled me to pay a visit
to the celebrated sand cavern, where, it is reported, the Barons met,
during the reign of King John, to hold their councils and draw up
that great _palladium_ of English liberty, _Magna Charta_, which was
afterwards signed at Runnymede.

There was something awful about this stupendous excavation that
impressed me with solemn thoughtfulness; it lies about sixty feet from
the surface of the earth, and is divided into three apartments with
arched roofs, the farthest of which is designated the Barons' Chamber.
Time flowed back upon my memory as I sat in the niches hewn out in the
sides of the cavern, and meditation deep usurped my mind as I dwelt on
the recollections of history; on the

"Majestic forms, and men of other times,
Retired to fan the patriotic fire,
Which, bursting forth at Runnymede,
With rays of glory lightened all the land!"

Near to the mouth of this cavern stands the remains of Holms Castle,
celebrated in the history of the civil wars between Charles the
First and his parliament; and on the site of an ancient monastic
establishment, ~284~~near to the spot, has been erected a handsome
modern mansion called the Priory of Holmsdale, the n