THE MASTER MONTH, OCTOBER 5 



Chabot, the Fire King, with a slight touch of the 

 eloquence of Cicero, and temper as even as the lines 

 in a copy-book. Lor bless us, what a combination 

 of qualities ! John Austin, the peripatetic showman's 

 happy united family in the body of a foxhunter ! 



Money ! money ! money ! like Mr. Wilberforce's 

 reiterated cry of Sugar ! sugar ! sugar ! is, however, 

 perhaps, the most important thing after keenness and 

 temper. City people, perhaps, would put money first, 

 but that shows they know nothing about foxhunting. 

 A real keen-un will generally get a country, even 

 though he has a soldier's thigh, before John Plutus, 

 who has only his money pots to recommend him. 

 Money, however, there must be, either from the 

 Master or the field; happy, therefore, is the country 

 possessing a Master in the enjoyment of the qualifica- 

 tions we have dotted down, and who is willing and 

 able to pay his " own shot " ; dearly should they prize 

 him, for were they to lose him we really don't know 

 where to recommend them another. 



Having sent for our maid of all work to try the 

 foregoing upon her, we observed that she neither 

 smiled nor even relaxed a muscle of her rather pretty 

 countenance, till we repeated the word " sugar," and, 

 when we had concluded, she observed, with her usual 

 candid diffidence, that she did not understand what 

 all these qualities had to do with the " red coats," as 

 she calls them, conceiving, we rather suspect, that 

 foxhunters are a sort of off-shoots of soldiers. 



As we may have other readers in a similar predica- 

 ment to Susannah, we will be our own "Boswell," 

 and treat them to a running commentary on the 

 obscure portions of our text. This we may do in a 

 rambling sort of way, without reference to the order 

 in which they now stand. 



A Member of Parliament is generally supposed to 

 have a ticklish up-hill sort of game to play, but it is 

 nothing compared to that of a Master of Foxhounds. 



