CHIMNIED AND CORNERED. 581 



Previous, however, to seeing the red -coated legislators set 

 forth on their journey, to reappear in chase of the grey mare, 

 foxhunters had another scrap of warmth dealt out to them — 

 to wit, a sharp, bright gallop from Staverton Wood to Badby 

 Wood — the pith of it comprised in the fifteen minutes between 

 Badby House, Newnham Village, and the main earth at Badby 

 Wood. 



CHIMNIED AND CORNERED. 



Depend upon it, if Everybody said it was a good run, it 

 not only was, but possessed the unusual advantage of being so 

 ordered that Everybody could see it — as indeed we did, and 

 enjoyed ourselves amazingly; were " at the top of the hunt" 

 throughout, and went home pleased with all the world and with 

 foxhunting in particular ! Did we not ? 



And yet, who — forcing his way to covert that morning with 

 his head leaning against the half-gale, and his thoughts mourn- 

 fully bent upon the malignant and obtrusive hardness of 

 ground — and of fate, in that already, on the 6th of March, 

 hunting seemed almost at an end — who would have dared to 

 predict a scent, and a run ? Certainly not I — though I have 

 been at the game just long enough to learn that the unexpected 

 generally happens in foxhunting ; and that our allowance of 

 sport and enjoyment is almost invariably in inverse ratio to 

 expectation and prediction. You take your two best horses 

 (have perhaps been foolish enough to keep them in a day or 

 two beyond their turn, with a view to this very occasion) and 

 you take them to your best meet of the week. Weather, 

 country, good spirits and self-content all contribute their share 

 to the general sense of satisfaction and optimism that possesses 

 your soul. And what is the result ? Well, say, such a day's 

 sport as that of Saturday previous with the Pytchley — an 

 ungracious allusion only pardonable as illustrating to the 

 utmost the argument of improbabilities ! 



Foxes won't run ; foxes are headed — perhaps chopped. Oi 



