FOX-HUNTING AND MELTON 9 



necessary thumpings the injured spot was discovered. 

 A strong blister — quite common in those days — 

 was prescribed, and the doctor offered to put it on 

 at once. The operation was performed, but then, 

 I suppose, the temptation to pay off old scores 

 seemed too good to be lost, and a liberal supply of 

 blister was smeared to that portion of the human 

 frame which is most intimately connected with the 

 saddle. The doctor went away chuckling, having 

 full confidence in the strength of the ointment he 

 had applied. 



A blister, as most people know, leaves a sore 

 place for several weeks, and in consequence the peer 

 was not only unable to ride for a considerable length 

 of time, but finding the easiest chair unbearable, 

 was obliged to lie in bed. The victim was, of course, 

 unmercifully chaffed by his friends, but I am sorry 

 to say he did not take the joke in good part, and on 

 his recovery he administered a severe horse-whipping 

 to the doctor. 



With the exception of old prints, we have very 

 little reliable evidence to go upon as to the styles 

 of hunting-costumes adopted at different periods 

 by the men of Melton ; and if artists were as careless 

 about details then as they are to-day, we must not 

 place too much faith in their drawings. Before 

 fox-hunting became fashionable, the long-skirted 

 coat, the direct ancestor of the dressing-gown-like 

 garment in which some masters now clothe them- 

 selves, was worn generally as most suitable and com- 

 fortable for the purpose ; but it was not likely that 

 fashionable young men would be content to hide a 

 good figure beneath such an unsightly cloak. The 

 consequence was frequent and rapid changes were 



