THE SIX OF SPADES. 157 



animals in all creation (not excepting a large number 

 of human beings, such as drunkards, gamblers, and 

 vulpicides), the horse, the hound, and the fox. You 

 must know every wood, plantation, spinney, and 

 gorse covert, every field and fence, every ' earth ' 

 and drain in the hunt. You must be such an 

 accomplished horseman, you must have such nerve, 

 and hands, and seat, that you can either make your 

 horse do his best at full gallop over a big un or a 

 brook, or can make him creep step- by step down, 

 through, or up that ' very nasty place indeed,' in 

 which there is only just room for him and for you. 

 All the while you must be able to think on horseback, 

 to observe the line of your fox, to watch the working 

 of your hounds, and to restrain your ' field ' ; to be 

 calm when your fox, just breaking into the sweetest 

 country you have all grass, and the next covert five 

 good miles away is headed back by a young lunatic, 

 racing outside for a start, and makes for the woodland 

 clays ; to be serene when some fiend, in the form of a 

 sheep-dog, chases him, and the scent is lost ; to keep 

 your temper when that chiropodist, on the rushing 

 chestnut screw, rolls over the best hound in your 

 pack." 



" To be a good gardener," I made response, " a man 

 must be well acquainted with geology, entomology, 

 and meteorology " (expecting that these long scien- 

 tific words would make a strong impression upon 

 William's mind, I must confess to some disappoint- 

 ment upon hearing a low whistle) " with botany, 

 chemistry, geometry, drawing, and colour. He should 

 have Solomon's knowledge of all trees, from the cedar 



