xii INTRODUCTION 



the fox bring the hounds to the scene, and away they go 

 in view to the disgust of all except Peter, who gallops 

 after them in an ecstasy of delight. The open space is 

 soon crossed and hounds disappear amongst the trees ; but 

 there is a riding handy, and our young sportsman hastens 

 down the track with hounds running a little to the left. 

 At last the limits of the Chase are reached, and hounds 

 cross some rough heathy ground which brings them on to 

 cultivated land. Peter's pony is showing symptoms of 

 distress, for he is not in very good condition, the pace has 

 been fast and the day hot ; but scent is not so good 

 now, and there is every appearance of the hunt coming 

 to an end. Hounds also are not showing any desperate 

 keenness to recover the scent, and are turning over in their 

 minds the shortest way back to kennels. Then Peter sees 

 some men in a cornfield half a mile away, frantically waving 

 their hats. Digging his heels into the pony's fat sides, 

 he holloas to the hounds and gallops with them to the 

 distant cornfield. The men have been reaping wheat with 

 the sickle, and seeing the tired fox lie down in the long 

 stubble, they promptly surrounded him. Peter rides into 

 the stubble, which reaches nearly to his pony's girths, the 

 fox jumps up in the middle of the pack, there is a shrill 

 little holloa, and they run into him before he can get out 

 of the field. The little heart had throbbed wildly throughout 

 the exciting incidents of the hunt, and every moment would 

 be engraved deep on his memory, leaving an impression 

 that nothing in after-life could obliterate. 



The next few years at Westminster School would not 

 afford much opportunity for hunting, except during the 

 holidays, and we may conclude that Peter had to devote 

 most of his time to study until he was twenty-three. Julines 

 Beckford, the father, was himself a man of very good ability, 

 and was desirous that his son should lack nothing that 

 education could impart. 



