330 



WINTER IN THE SHIRES 



James's, is always within reach of a telegram. But 

 even comparatively fortunate as he is, that season of 

 suspense is a sore trial to him. His sweet temper is 

 fretted with hope deferred. He goes to bed restless, 

 after anxious looks at the skies, and sees his horses 

 casting themselves in their stalls in his perturbed night- 

 mares ; or wakens in disappointment from Tantalus- 

 like dreams, where he has been following the hounds 

 to the music of the horn. To make matters worse, 

 notwithstanding these worries of his, in place of losing 

 flesh he has been laying it on. When men of frugal 

 minds have been calculating weights somewhat too 

 closely in making their purchases, half a stone more is 

 a serious annoyance. But such time of probation must 

 come to an end, and at last the weather has shown 

 unmistakable signs of relenting. A tremor of expec- 

 tancy has run through the hunting counties, and the 

 first meet after the yielding frost has been advertised 

 to come off at the kennels. 



And we do not know that the successors of the 

 immortal Leech could find more inspiriting subjects 

 for their pencils than in the humours of the grand 

 gathering after the involuntary rest. It has become 

 apparent that the weather has fairly broken, and there 

 is even some prospect of scent on the grass and the 

 fallows. There is a general coming up from all parts 

 of the country ; for though squires and farmers have 

 had their graver avocations to distract them, yet they 

 too have been vexing their souls over missed chances 

 of sport. Each man is on the alert, and the horses 



