54 HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS. 



the hope of winning back something of their 

 boyish freshness of feeUng and fulness of 

 health ; at any rate, they might well envy some 

 veteran followers of Mr. White's pack the pos- 

 session of these desirable qualities. There is 

 Mr. Davidson, the father of the hunt, who has 

 apparently quite abandoned his idea of retiring 

 from the field, and who, after a httle rest, has 

 come again, as all good ones do, hale and hearty 

 as ever. He does not ride hard now, but his 

 keen enjoyment of the sport evidently does not 

 diminish, and one may hope that a younger 

 generation bearing his name will cherish an 

 equal enthusiasm. Mr. Robert Cotton, of 

 Snaresbrook, is another, in whom a youthful 

 fondness for the chase seems to increase with 

 the advance of years ; and he, unlike Mr. David- 

 son, goes as straight as the hardest riding man 

 of them all still. An Indian sun, under which 

 he Hved, I think, for nearly thirty years, has 

 apparently left no ill effects on him — it certainly 

 has not lessened either his activity or pluck. If 

 a stranger to the country should need a pilot, he 

 could do no better than select the " old 'un," 

 from whom the hounds are never able to get 

 away. However fast the pace or formidable 

 the fences may be, he is nearly always in a good 

 place, and yet nobody has ever known him have 

 a second horse out. Knowledge of the country 

 and the usual run of foxes may frequently help 

 him to this enviable position, and enable him to 

 save his horse ; but nobody will say he ever 

 turns aside from a fair hunting obstacle to seek 

 the friendly aid of a road, and his quick decision 



