354 A mong Men and Horses. 



men. This proportion is of course lowered by the fact that 

 hunting at Melton Mowbray is a fashionable function. Being 

 a stranger without friends to puff or foes to ignore I would in 

 no way wish to make invidious distinctions ; but cannot help 

 saying that the man who wins my admiration by the way 

 in which he gets over a big country is Colonel Forester, who, 

 well on in the seventies, goes as straight as the best of them. 

 The riding of the ladies is beyond all praise. For their numbers, 

 there are far fewer ' hard funkers ' among them, than among 

 the men. My readers will think that I ought at last to be 

 happy. Well, I don't quite know about that. English 

 people in their own country are so different to the soldiers, 

 sailors, planters and colonials among whom I have spent 

 the best years of my life, that I catch myself every now and 

 then regretfully looking at the old breaking-bag, saddle-box 

 and trunk, and thinking of foreign lands where we have always 

 found a welcome. Melton Mowbray is a bad place for a 

 veterinary surgeon to invade ; for it already possesses an 

 admirable one in Mr Goodall, who is also a fine horseman, 

 and a very pleasant companion. After we have brought 

 out some fresh editions and two or three new books we have 

 in preparation, I think we shall flit once again to a country 

 where the people, to accept us, will not require us to have 

 been born in the place and to have at least as much money 

 as themselves. If we do so, I may be able to narrate some 

 further experiences among men and horses. 



