The Merry Past 



This originated in a great measure from the change 

 in the hours of hunting. A fox found, as was the 

 custom in former days, as soon as it was Ught, and 

 before he had digested his chicken, could not be 

 supposed to run so fast as one whipped out of an 

 acre of gorse at one o'clock in the afternoon, as was 

 the more modern custom. Harriers now go the pace 

 which foxhounds went in old times, and foxhounds 

 that of greyhounds. The style of horse, the seat of 

 his rider, and much else has been revolutionised, and 

 fox-hunting, in some countries, is now little else than 

 " racing after a fox." 



The equipment of the sportsman has also com- 

 pletely changed. An old-fashioned squire used to 

 say that a modern fox-hunter, stepping out of his 

 carriage by a covert side, looked more as if he were 

 going a-courting than fox-hunting. The old school 

 disliked a luxurious equipment. Old Mr. Forrester, 

 of Willy Hall, in Shropshire, who hunted that country 

 many years, gave his coverts, when far advanced in 

 life, to a pack of foxhounds set up in his neighbour- 

 hood by some farmers. Having ridden out one day 

 to see them, he was asked how he liked them. " Very 

 much, indeed," replied the veteran : " there was not 

 one d — d fellow in a white-topped boot among 

 the lot." 



He was very contemptuous of " Mahoganites " — 

 men who, he said, rode at a most infernal pace about 

 the introduction of the second bottle of claret, with 

 their knees under a semicircular mahogany table, 

 comfortably placed before the fire. 



40 



