When Colonel Battersleigh had occasion to sign his name it was worth a dinner to see the process, so seriously did he himself regard it.

"Battersleigh"-- so stood the name alone, unsupported and self-sufficient.

Seeing which inscription in heavy black lines, many a man wondered, considering that he had discovered an Old-World custom, and joining in the belief of the owner of the name that all the world must know the identity of Battersleigh.
What were the financial resources of Battersleigh after the cessation of his pay as a cavalry officer not even his best friends could accurately have told.

It was rumoured that he was the commissioner in America of the London Times.

He was credited with being a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.