8 MEMORIES OF THE SHIRES 



told that collectively and when gathered together 

 in the " House " they are capable of many strange 

 things. It is good to be a boy again sometimes, 

 and though we cannot get back our youth, we may 

 at least play the fool and imagine ourselves young. 



The ladies, however, gradually forced their way 

 into Melton, and with their sobering influence the 

 devilment of youth fled. Now the majority are 

 married men, with snug hunting-boxes in and around 

 the town. The bachelor element is still quartered 

 at the various inns, but it is on its best behaviour, 

 and goes meekly out to dine with Benedict, prob- 

 ably finishing up the evening with the all-absorbing 

 " bridge." In the old days bachelors returned 

 year after year to the same haunts, but now they 

 either go elsewhere, or get married, and fresh faces 

 appear regularly every season. These changes have 

 destroyed the spirit of comradeship which formerly 

 existed, but I think in other ways women's invasion 

 has been a blessing to the Meltonian. 



Without this controlling influence of the fair 

 sex, the men of Melton, as I have said, were apt to 

 do strange things, and indulge in practical jokes 

 that would have delighted the heart of a schoolboy 

 or an undergraduate. A certain lord — his name 

 matters not — once played some jokes on the local 

 doctor, and his victim determined to be revenged 

 at the first opportunity. Not long afterwards a 

 slight rick in the back caused by a fall out hunting 

 delivered the playful peer into the hands of his 

 enemy. The earl was a very keen sportsman, and, 

 not wishing to miss a day's hunting, went straight 

 to the doctor to be cured as quickly as possible. 

 The patient bared his back, and after many un- 



