1892] A. GOOD FIRST DAY. 289 



landed on the bank. Mutual congratulations followed, and we returned in 

 triunijih. The fish scaled llilb., and was sent the same day as a present to 

 the master of the houiuls. Though we did not have so much sport with the 

 bream and the tench as we anticipated and deserved, yet wo felt that our early 

 rising had not been entirely thrown away. 



" Rusticus Expectans " in the Field : 



It is difRcidt to describe one's sensations on the first day of regular hunting. 

 There are the memories of the past, the sensations of the present, and the 

 anticipations of the future. Witli those who have ti-aversed the grand 

 meridian, the memories of the past predominate ; with those who are halting 

 between the two periods the sensations of the present are chiefly felt; but 

 the young — good luck to them — have all the bright future still before them, 

 and to what glorious visions do these lead them. The fox well away, five and 

 a half couples on the scent, the master a field and a half away, and nothing 

 between them and glory but about forty splendid fences to be crossed in 

 a style and a fashion which gives pleasure to the rider, and adds credit to 

 his horse. After all, my pen is running away with me ; the yoimg are much 

 better sportsmen than this, and a great majority of them ride to hunt as well 

 as hunt to ride. 



The old man conies to the meet at Kineton pleased because he is there 

 once more ; his ideas of crossing the Yale straight as a dart and close in the 

 wake of hounds have vanished, but he loves the dear old sport, and while 

 horn sounds, and the music of hounds can be heard, he will not, he cannot, be 

 absent. Then there is a large contingent between knowing old age and 

 ingenuous youth, who come simply because they love hunting and the 

 pleasant companionship, exercise, and health-giving qualities it affords, 

 and who mean to see as much of the sport as they can without imdue danger 

 or peril either to themselves or their steeds. "Welcome to all. There is his 

 lordship chafing already because his friends will not come up, and admire, if 

 not criticise, the grandest pack of hoimds in England — hounds which he has 

 bred, but, as he says, belong to the subscribers. The bitches are brought 

 out to-day, and hardly anyone looks at them. This is foolish at the outset, 

 because, if you don't look at them now, you very likely will not have 

 a chance again during the day — if there is anything like a scent, it is ten to 

 one you don't see them once or again in a run. Away they go from Bawcutt's. 

 Tommy gallops out and stops the first three, and twenty-five and a half 

 couples of the speediest lot in the world swing and undulate and waver over 

 the large field to the west of the covert, till the master comes up and casts 

 them quietly forward. They take up the scent — I cannot say settle down to 

 it — and are raking away for Gaydon Hill before we can gather our wits 

 together and squeeze through the little bridle gate which everyone makes for ; 

 another swing to the left, " Steady with them. Jack," and they cross the 

 Banbury Road, quiet do\\ai to run, and everything seems plain sailing. Two 

 of our leading Johnnies are, perhaps, a little too close to them, or, at least, a 

 little too straight behind them, and, the fox turning to the right, there is a 

 short check, which lets up two score more. A holloa to the right by the old 

 turnpike, and we go uj) the hill towards Fletcher's Coppice with only a fair 

 scent, and have some i^retty fencing as they wheel to the left along the face of 

 the hill. He did not touch the bottom of Chadshunt Covert, but went straight 

 on across the Water Lane and through the plantation. Here some of us got 



