24 f^iut^ to 33iitJt(ing ^port£imtn. 



even go so far as to say that the slight indentation 

 we all possess immediately below the latter was 

 indisputably bequeathed us by Providence for the 

 uppermost of these to rest in. But no rule in reality 

 can be laid down as to this matter, for I have seen 

 some equestrians with a row of shining, pearly 

 buttons upon their plump thighs, well above the 

 knee, and absolutely none below it ; as others with 

 only two or three buttons displayed above their boots, 

 or even one only, as if on tiptoe, peeping timidly over 

 the roomy top, by which it is well-nigh enveloped. 

 Boots are of divers kinds; and "you pays your 

 money," as the showman puts it, " and takes your 

 choice." There is the stiff, upstanding, varnished 

 boot, with its narrow salmon or lemon-tinted top, so 

 stiff in appearance that it v\'ould, to the uninitiated, 

 seem veritably to be made of japanned iron; and 

 there is the equally unyielding "butcher" boot, cor- 

 responding with the above, minus the top ; the well- 

 boned ditto; and again, that so varnished, as to 

 recall forcibly to one's memory the well-tarred sides 

 of a disused canal boat. Then there is the solemn- 

 looking, deep-topped boot, with legs possessed of as 

 many or more folds than a Chinese lantern, the top of 

 which veritably nearly rests upon the drooping spur. 

 Again, you can, if you will, don the "Newmarket," 

 with its drab and workmanlike uppers, or make your 



