2 2 ^int^ to 33utJt<ing ^portjSmeii. 



nor would it indeed be expedient, in our variable 

 climate, to take the saddle altogether undressed. 

 Hats are worn in numerous shapes, and so change- 

 able is the fashion in this respect, that a sportsman, 

 who has been observed to ride throughout the earlier 

 portion of the day in a highly-oiled and well-shaped 

 ''chimney-pot," has not unfrequently been known 

 to smoke his homeward cigar under a head-dress 

 bearing a closer resemblance to a partially-closed 

 opera hat, or concertina, than aught else. I must 

 add, however, that your hat — be it what it may — 

 should be secured by a string, or cord, of sufficient 

 length to admit of the former, when dislodged, 

 reaching at least as far as the loins of the quad- 

 ruped you bestride. It is astounding to note the 

 sharpening effects the continued pattings of a hat 

 so arranged will have upon a nervous horse at his • 

 fences, and often it will, moreover, enable the rider 

 to take up a more prominent position in the field 

 than he either anticipated, or, under other circum- 

 stances, would have been capable of acquiring. 



Your coat may be of the orthodox scarlet, of 

 black, or even of homely tweed, and its cut solely 

 need depend upon your own individual taste, or 

 that of your tailor. Extensively cut-av\^ay coats are, 

 however, usually worn by — as they are indisputably 

 the most becoming to — such sportsmen as may 



