CHAPTER IX. 



LADIES IN THE HUNTING-FIELD 



" "V T O lady should hunt till she can ride, by which 

 -^ ^ I mean, till she can manage all sorts of 

 horses, easy and difficult to ride, till she knows how 

 to gallop, how to jump, and is capable of looking 

 after herself." So says Lady Violet Greville in her 

 little book called Ladies in the Field. Not only do 

 I agree with her, but I am perfectly sure that our 

 ancestors would have agreed with her. That is why 

 so few ladies turned up at covert -side at the be- 

 ginning of the century in comparison with the 

 number which turn up now. A few pages later on 

 Lady Greville says, " I would impress upon all 

 women the great danger of hunting, unless they 

 are fully capable of managing their horses, choosing 

 their own place at a fence, omitting to ride over 

 their pilot, or to gallop wildly with a loose rein, 

 charging every obstacle in front of them, and, finally, 

 unless they have some experience in the art of 

 horsemanship." In olden days it was not Lady 

 Greville, but the male relations of the aspirant to 

 hunting-field honours that impressed the maxim. 



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