faints" to 53iititJing ^povtsmcn. 29 



leather ones best in cold, wet weather ; the reins slip 

 through your fingers more readily. 



We will now accompany you to the Meet, and I need 

 only say, ^' en passant,'' that it is customary (if you hack 

 to covert) to ride all the way upon the centre of the 

 footpath, and drive all females and others into the 

 horse road, which, if not sufficiently good travelling 

 for your steed, is always sufficiently wide for their 

 accommodation. Your departure from home should 

 be so timed as to bring you first upon the scene of 

 action — you will then, for a while, at all events, be 

 the admired of all beholders. If, on the arrival of 

 the hounds, your horse should display any symptoms 

 of freshness, keep his head well fvom them, and if 

 he should happen to kick one, ride at once into their 

 midst to express }'our sorrow, recollecting that every 

 hunter should get accustomed to hounds, and that 

 it is just as well lor your playful quadruped to kill 

 or maim all he is destined to the first day you take 

 him out, as to injure or dispose of a similar number 

 at longer intervals. On looking through the published 

 Lists of Hounds in the Field, and other Journals 

 devoted to sport, you will perceive that there is a 

 plentiful supply in our islands, and, consequently, 

 you may consider your misadventure as but of little 

 moment, and the probable indignation of the hunts- 

 man and master as to some extent assumed. 



