228 RECORDS OF THE CHASE 



" The following autumn I dreaded a repetition of the 

 ill luck of the two preceding winters, and therefore 

 determined to keep my horses at home, and try what 

 hunting I could meet with, travelling them by rail. I 

 soon found from London the railways offer great facil- 

 ities. The Eastern Counties gives me the command of 

 Essex ; the Brighton line takes me into Surrey ; the 

 Great Western always puts me within distance of the 

 Quorn's, and very frequently the old Berkshire; while 

 the North Western commands Lord Lonsdale's country, 

 Baron Rothschild's, the best meets of Lord Southamp- 

 ton, very frequently Lord Dacre's, and occasionally the 

 Oakley. 



" I find my railway expenses a day ticket for my 

 horse and first class return for myself for thirty miles, 

 from 1 Is. to l 5s. ; for forty miles, from 1 7s. to 

 l 10s. I scarcely ever exceed this distance, for a 

 man must be a glutton if he is dissatisfied with this 

 range. 



" The only caution I take in travelling my horse is 

 having a good suit of clothes for him to travel in. My 

 groom walks him to the railway in the morning, and 

 knows the hours of my probable arrival in the evening; 

 he is always waiting there, and takes my horse home, 

 where every attention is paid to him. In the country I 

 find a servant superfluous ; the ostler of the inns I stop 

 at will get the horse comfortable under my direction. 



" I do not mean to state for a moment but that a 

 horse would be saved fatigue if he was as 1 well attended 

 to in the country as when he reaches home ; but I can- 

 not depend on this, and therefore I am convinced 

 my personal inspection of the stable more than com- 

 pensates for the additional fatigue the horse undergoes ; 

 added to this, if an accident happens I have him at 

 home, >and as we generally have a frost of a month or so 

 it is then to me a source of very great pleasure to go 

 when I please into my stable. 



" It is now many years that I have made the railways 

 my covert hackneys. I am never so much behind time 

 that the hounds are away on my reaching the meet, 

 and I find my horses carry me as safely as those always 

 standing in country quarters. 



" After hunting I consider some little care necessary. 

 I make it a rule to see my horse have a bucket of gruel, 

 and the top dirt rubbed off before his clothing is put 



