260 RECORDS OF THE CHASE 



would inquire were not our grandsires as punctilious in 

 their costumes as any ' well got-up ' gentleman of the 

 present day ? Were they not as proud of their quaint 

 little pig-tails as a 4 swell ' of '53 is of his imperial, and 

 is there as much consistency in one appendage as in 

 the other? The long-waisted, long-skirted, loose-made, 

 straight-cut single-breasted coat, with a black velvet 

 cap, leather breeches, and brown-topped boots, were in 

 vogue fifty years ago. There is very little difference 

 in the present fashion; none, except that the skirts of 

 the coat are shortened. They were certainly not cut 

 with so much regard to becoming contour, but then 

 they were generally proportioned by some rural pro- 

 fessor. A journey to London was not an event to be 

 accomplished with very great facility, and country 

 gentlemen were contented to patronise country tailors. 

 Not that there are many of the metropolitan artistes of 

 the present day, highly accomplished as they are in 

 other articles of dress, who can turn out a well-made 

 hunting-coat. They are so apt to fall into an extreme 

 by making it either too precise or too slang-like in the 

 cut ; and of all things on earth a slang-looking red coat 

 is the greatest abomination. I never could get a hunting- 

 coat made so well by any other person as Gray of water- 

 proof driving-cape celebrity, though I may say I have 

 seen some good ones turned out by Poole of Saville 

 Row. The celebrated purveyor of leathers of olden times 

 resided at Tarporley in Cheshire, whose name was White, 

 and in his day there was no one equal to him ; at least 

 so my old friends were used to state ; and much as they 

 are worn now, there are but few who turn them out 

 scientifically. Preston, and Hammond of London, and 

 Whiting of Bisley in Gloucestershire, are undeniable 

 hands. 



Our forefathers were contented with boots of homely 

 manufacture, and the village professor, no doubt, turned 

 them out in a rough and ready manner ; nor do I appre- 

 hend the London makers were much superior till Hoby, 

 Hartley, and Burn set the example by turning out 



