454 FOX-HOUND, FOREST, AND PRAIRIE. 



up and every fibre quivering ; but alive. A quart of hot ale 

 and a handful of ginger quickly brought back the circulation : 

 and so ends my tale of woe. Their fox escaped to ground. 

 Time, just an hour. Some people prominent in the run were 

 Lord Alfred Fitzroy, Mrs. Simpson, Messrs. Adamthwaite, 

 G. Barrett, Byass, Cazenove, Craven, Grazebrook, Jarvis, Onslow, 

 Sandham, Thursby, Vaughan- Williams, Captains Faber and 

 Orr Ewing. 



THE BLACK FOX OF BERRY DALE. 



I am often asked, is it not a trouble and an effort to write of 

 sport that is past ? Is it not like paying a tailor's bill when the 

 clothes are worn out ? No, and for every reason. 'Tis a posi- 

 tive, eager luxury thus to go over events — delightful events — 

 recently happened. I pay for the clothes while they are new 

 and fresh. Take to-day, Friday, December 13. Do you sup- 

 pose I would sink it in my dinner, or throw it aside with the 

 boots that are soiled, or send it to the wash as draggled linen, 

 to come up as the washerwoman of chance and of fate may 

 permit ? Far from it ; let me bore others as long as they will 

 stand it ; as long as the tree will bear fruit ; as long as the fruit 

 in these precarious times is permitted to grow and to ripen. 

 What would life be without uncertainty ? Unbearable. Were 

 there no dismal times how could happiness (its contrast state) 

 ever supervene ? Why, yesterday nine out of ten of us were 

 down with the influenza of frost, and all prospect of hunting 

 seemed limited to the chase of the microbe. See what there 

 has been to-day, and how we come out of it — swearing by fox- 

 hunting and averring that life is after all a bright and lovable 

 thing ! A sufficient dinner, a light cigar, and — let me whisper 

 it. as one who might be greybearded but for the razor — barley 

 water for an after quench : tell me there is no fun in going 

 over a run a second time ? My dear fellow, a time will come 

 when you or I would give a month's income for even such an 

 after taste. 



