monday, FebPuapy 12th, 1894. 9 



traverse before it reaches the ground. There are 

 also many streams and rivers intersecting this 

 county, and these have to be crossed occasionally 

 when there is not much time to select a place. The 

 banks are often steep and slippery, and sometimes 

 give way beneath one — there is an awkward move- 

 ment of horse, a splash, a plunge, a flounder in the 

 rocky bed of the stream, and a risky jump and 

 scramble up the opposite bank. 



Then, again, there are endless woods and coppices 

 through which one has to crash and struggle, at the 

 risk of a blow on the knee or a flick in the eye. 

 But I am told that all these difficulties and dangers 

 by flood and field increase the excitement and 

 pleasure of hunting, and that I shall soon get used to 

 them. It may be so, for I have heard that eels get 

 used to being skinned alive. Who knows but that 

 I shall some day smile at my present estimation of 

 obstacles which now appear to me serious ones. 



But what has hitherto brought me to grief is a 

 nervous, restless anxiety to distinguish myself and 

 to lead, instead of being content to be piloted by 

 others more experienced than myself. Ah, well ! 

 h'm ! Surely my chair must have some magic 

 power to make life change its sombre hue to 

 brighter colours. As I give myself up to its in- 

 fluence, my troubles and anxieties gradually grow 

 less and less, and at last fade away, as phantoms, 



