A RECESS. 65 



ance merrier, under the pelting storm, for a while — then turned 

 and galloped off home, leaving their lords to suffer on principle, 

 to be miserable out of choice. 



A holloa came back from the heart of the wood ; and thither 

 we plunged, and there we roamed for an hour and a half. "The 

 merrie green wood for me ! " How it sucked, and splashed and 

 held ! How the poor horse was now on his head, and now 

 pulled on his haunches — his hocks fast under mud and water ! 

 Tell me, how was Robin Hood shod, think you, in a winter like 

 this ? We can scarcely give him credit for either porpoise-hide 

 or fishing waders ; and sandals, besides being but indifferent 

 protection against stubbs and thorns, would probably be found 

 even less conducive to warmth than the top boots out of which 

 we painfully wriggle our numbed feet at each return from 

 hunting. Woollen stockings or silk ; loose boots or natty ones ; 

 long limbs or short — it seems all the same this chilly unsport- 

 ing winter. Daily have we listened to multiplied groanings on 

 the subject, from Spartan youths too who would put up almost 

 unmurmuringly with a fox gnawing at their vitals — were it 

 only in furtherance of sport — but who are plaintive nearly 

 to tears over the biting cold at their toes. Perhaps a kindly 

 reader will contribute a remedy in the Query and Answer 

 column of the Field and mitigate the misery of half-frozen 

 foxhunters. Or is the only alternative to remove the cause — 

 leathers tight beneath the knee, tops pressing close upon them, 

 and no chance given to circulation ? I am told, again, that 

 ankle muffatees are the newest fashionable, and comfortable, 

 item of masculine garb. 



But nothing less than an Esquimaux's furs and leggings 

 could have preserved any particle of warmth in the drenched 

 frames that attempted to battle with the elements on Tuesday. 

 At one o'clock it was thoroughly realised that hounds — appa- 

 rently unable to run at all — were quite unlikely to meet the 

 storm, or indeed move in any direction but towards the other 

 woodlands, and accordingly the " Melton side " finally dispersed. 

 All but half a dozen of the most determined, and interested, of 



