HUNTING COATS AND BOOTS. 151 



don, but his customers must be prepared to pay for per- 

 fection. 



In the coats, since the modern shooting jacket fashion 

 came in, there is great scope for variety. The fashion does 

 not much matter so long as it is fit for riding ample 

 enough to cover the chest and stomach in -wet weather, 

 easy enough to allow full play for the arms and 

 shoulders, and not so long as to catch in hedgerows and 

 brambles. Our forefathers in some counties rode in 

 coats like scarlet dressing-gowns. There is one still to 

 be seen in Surrey. For appearance, for wear, and as a 

 universal passport to civility in a strange country, there 

 is nothing like scarlet, provided the horseman can afford 

 to wear it without offending the prejudices of valuable 

 patrons, friends or landlords. In Lincolnshire, farmers 

 are expected to appear in pink. In Northamptonshire 

 a yeoman farming his own 400 acres would be thought 

 presumptuous if he followed the Lincolnshire example. 

 Near London you may see the " pals " of fighting men 

 and hell-keepers in pink and velvet. A scarlet coat should 

 never be assumed until the rider's experience in the 

 field is such that he is in no danger of becoming at once 

 conspicuous and ridiculous. 



A cap is to be preferred to a hat because it fits closer, 

 is less in the way when riding through cover, protects 

 the head better from a bough or a fall, and will wear out 

 two or three hats. It should be ventilated by a good 

 hole at the top. 



Top-boots are very pretty wear for men of the right 

 height and right sort of leg when they fit perfectly that 

 is difficult on fat calves and are cleaned to perfection,, 

 which is also difficult unless you have a more than 

 ordinarily clever groom. 



S'or men of moderate means, the patent black leather 



