122 THE WAR^VICKSHIRE HUNT. [1834 



Sallow Beds. On the day of the Debdale Hunt he broke 

 covert from the same spot, and took the same line of 

 country, even through many of the same smeuses in the 

 hedge-rows. 



Sir Theophilus Biddulph's keeper well knew the fox, 

 as did Bill Boxall and Tom Day, who viewed him several 

 times. Sir Theophilus came up about ten minutes after 

 the fox was killed, and was presented by Mr. Thornhill 

 with the brush, and the head is preserved in a glass case 

 by the master. 



BY "PLINY ENGLISH." 



Farnborough, March 20th. 



There is a philosophy as well as pleasure in hunting to those who think 

 with the poet and myself that 



The proper study of mankind is man. 



There is also amusement in the chase beyond the delight of pursuit for 

 those who have a fondness for the study of character. It is said of the elder 

 Pliny that he carried a book with him to the field, in order to instruct his 

 mind during the intervals of tlie sport. If there was no sporting magazine 

 among the Romans, this was probably only a metaphor. At least, it may 

 have been, since seldom is the book of human life to be read with greater 

 advantage than in the hunting field. I am led to this remark by having 

 witnessed one of the most beautiful assemblages that foxhunting ever perhaps 

 caused at Farnborough, on Thursday. Mr. Thornhill good uaturedly met 

 at a later hour than usual, in order to accommodate the " fantastic toes " that 

 had been " trijjping it" at Leamington ball the preceding night. The 

 collection at Warwick i-aces the day before, and the expectation created by 

 two magnificent runs, induced a greater number to assemble than was perhaps 

 ever seen in Warwickshire. 



The spot selected for the meet (and it was cheered in temporary effect by a 

 brilliant sun) was a bank near Mr. Holbech's house, sloping from the lawn to 

 the sheet of water below, and from eleven to tweh'^e o'clock the gathering of 

 the sportsmen was of unusual interest and brilliance. Not fewer than from one 

 hundred and ten to twenty redcoats made their appearance on the ground, 

 arriving from time to time, with farmers and others less adorned, in equipages 

 and on horses ; some remarkable for their great splendour, some for their 

 neatness, and some even for their eccentricity. The undressing, as I may term 

 the doffing of the upper coat, the shaggy spencer, and fur cravat (I will not, 

 for the credit of sportsmen, call it boa) was rather an amusing process, and it 

 not unfrequently happened that on the arrival of a fresh carriage, the 

 observers, curious in menagerie, crowded roitnd to see how each sportsman 

 would stripe, whether into a green Duke, a blue Duke, a man of blaclcmail, 

 or a scarlet runner. In the meantime, to complete the scene, the elegant 

 ladies residing or visiting at Farnborough appeared on the lawn, and Boxall 



