272 FOX-HOUND, FOREST, AND PRAIRIE. 



his arm, illustrating the most charitable, kindly edition of the 

 "Rape of the Lock" that was ever enacted o'er the green,, 

 green turf. 



A shepherd has seen the fox, a ploughman has turned him a 

 hundred yards, a man carting gravel has stood in his way in the 

 purlieus of Woodford ; but hounds decipher the whole tangle 

 with never an ear for the wild screams that ring from Hinton 

 Gorse on hilltop beyond the village. Messrs. Campbell and 

 Blacklock then make their way leisurely to the covert side ; 

 and, posting themselves on the brow, await the turn of events, 

 while hounds are hunting their way busily through the dense 

 growth. They meant to " brush him " if they could — you may 

 rely upon it ! Nor did they intend to be carried forward by any 

 fresh-found fox — let him break never so prettily. For half an 

 hour they had borne the brunt of the battle — what would it 

 not be worth to see the red flag tipped with white hauled 

 down at their feet ? But their power of discrimination twixt 

 new lamps and old was not to be put to the test. Hounds dribbled 

 forth of themselves. Their fox had gone on ; and at this 

 moment up came the huntsman to keep things together for 

 a finish. And the end was — a drain under Hinton House- 

 two fields away. 



To turn from the sublime to the ridiculous — from the prac- 

 tical to the fanciful — I would call your attention to a new 

 and, as I shall show, by no means an impossible danger to 

 yourself and comrades as entailed by a temporary disregard 

 to the duties of dress. You may, by pictured advertisement, 

 have been made aware of the virtues claimed for a hooded 

 waterproof cloak — in the which a foxhunter, dogged and de- 

 termined, faces the driving storm with impunity and an un- 

 ruffled smile. But the picture, you will note, insists upon a 

 tall hat to surmount the pleased visage and the moustache 

 irreproachable. This, I take it, was the one point missed in 

 my friend's accoutrement on the one wet morning of last 



