38 



FOX-HOUND, FOREST, AND PRAIRIE. 



The chances are they have been brought up on fresh air and out- 

 door work, and they find they cannot exist without them. So 

 they are not likely to appear at the covertside in a condition 

 altogether soft and unmuscular. But summer occupations, how- 





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ever vigorous, may have been altogether apart from riding, and 

 induced a muscular development that is altogether out of keep- 

 ing with the saddle. The day following the first gallop of only 

 twenty minutes, their backs may very likely ache nearly as 

 much, the joints be as stiff, and their skin be as freely chafed, 

 as if they had summered in absolute idleness. Much better, 

 then, to begin gradually in October than to plunge into a 

 martyrdom of six long days in early November. To wait till the 

 season is in full swing, and then suddenly to rush into daily 

 hunting — with sinews unprepared and legs too big for your boots 

 — is to start in discomfort and proceed in misery. Men who 

 have established a pied a terre — on however small a scale — in 

 Leicestershire, generally begin work in good time, and are 

 accustomed to look for some very pleasant breathers before the 

 full-dress parades commence. Visitors would appear to be 



