Hunting in the Golden Days. 33 



can imagine it rather made my mouth water to be 

 located in the thick of the sport and not to be able to 

 take part. At last I made up my mind to approach 

 my bishop on the subject, I thought the matter 

 well over first and decided not to write, but, if possible, 

 to have a personal interview with him. I was 

 fortunate enough to find him a few weeks later 

 officiating in a neighbouring village at the consecration 

 of a church. Being invited to dine with him I had just 

 the opportunity I wanted, so after dinner (if you are 

 asking a favour it is best to approach a man after he 

 has dined well) I began very cautiously. I first of all 

 felt his pulse on shooting matters, and then gradually 

 led him on to the grand topic of fox-hunting. What 

 was my delight to find that in his younger days he had 

 excelled in the pigskin, I therefore made a bold 

 plunge at once, and asked him if he would object to 

 my hunting occasionally. To this he replied : — 



*' ' I have no objection, Mr. Steeples, to your hunting, 

 but I must make one condition ; it is that if you hunt 

 you ride straight to hounds' "* 



The tale is greeted with a hearty roar of laughter, 

 and upon this Mr. Winebold, not to be outdone, relates 

 an occurrence that he avows took place at his uncle's 

 house a few years ago, 



" Now, you know," says Winebold, " that my uncle is 



* It appears that in these times the clergy were of a much hardier race 

 than those of the present day, for I find an advertisement, taken from the St. 

 James's Chronicle of about a century ago, where the advertiser wished to meet 

 with a man who was not only useful but ornamental. It reads as follows : — 

 "Wanted immediately, a good, strong, bony man, to act in the capacity of 

 curate. He must be subject to the following particulars, viz. : to have no ob- 

 jection to act as gardener, husbandman, and occasional whipper-in. Any gent 

 whom the above may suit, on application to Mr. B., at the Gray's Inn Coffee 

 House, Holborn, may meet with immediate employ. N.B. — Character will 

 not be so much required as equestrian skill, and none need apply who has not 

 undergone a complete stabalarian education." 



