50 AN ENGLISH SQUIRE 



the muscular thighs and hocks, the well-ribbed-up 

 barrels, and the powerful loins and quarters. The 

 squire has seldom to pay excessive prices for his 

 horses, considering their looks, because, rather than 

 not, he would have something that wants riding ; but 

 with his light hand and firm yet flexible seat, they 

 soon fall into his ways, and seldom dream of refusing. 

 If there is a fault in his style of going, it is that he 

 goes a trifle too straight, and takes it out of the 

 animals he rides instead of trying to save them. 

 Enthusiastic pheasant-preserver as he is, Gorhambury 

 Gorse and the Hazeldean woods are among the surest 

 draws in the country, and the squire's well-deserved 

 reputation for hospitality makes his mansion one of 

 the most popular meets. Then the grand entrance- 

 hall, the great dining-room, and the breakfast-room, 

 are all laid out with tables en suite^ and every one 

 with the slightest pretensions to admission is made 

 welcome to cut and come again among the viands 

 that load the side-tables and buffets. Then the home- 

 brewed, that reminds one of Trinity audit, is broached 

 for those who are kicking their heels outside, and the 

 gardener must endure as best he may the inroads that 

 are made on his turf and his shrubberies. There is 

 nothing that borders on the riotous or boisterous, for 

 with all his hospitality and frank good -humour, the 

 squire has a strong sense of decorum ; yet nothing 

 can be more jovial than the mixed multitude that 

 files off at the tail of the pack when it follows the 

 huntsmen to the nearest fox-cover. 



