93 HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS. 



shire as Don Giovanni and Leporello would 

 have been from a young ladies seminary at 

 Clapham, the mistress of which knew the gentle- 

 men in question and their pecuHar idiosyn- 

 crasies. However, stag hounds have now had, 

 like other dogs, their day, and this day has to be 

 chronicled. 



The present winter has been a most trying 

 one to everybody. From the swell whose 

 stud of priceless nags has been put hors de 

 co7nbat by the deep ground, to the city clerk 

 whose accounts for omnibus fares on rainy days 

 form a prominent item, all sorts and conditions 

 of men have suffered from the continued down- 

 pour — excepting perhaps Club hall porters, who 

 never leaving their posts are presumably inde- 

 pendent of weather. Well, everyone thought 

 Jupiter Pluvis, after such an innings would have 

 been content; but no! on Tuesday night he 

 began again, and what between him and 

 Aquarius, half the low grounds were under 

 water on Tuesday. Rivers were great locustrine 

 districts; brooks, rivers; ditches were brooks; 

 furrows ditches, and so on. A sort of general 

 brevet had gone forth promoting every obstacle 

 in which water had a share. All this was 

 against stag hunting, as a deer generally is no 

 more fond of deep going that is a horse, and 

 being (unlike the latter) free to choose his own 

 course, is not unlikely to leave the fields and 

 betake himself to a friendly road and follow it 

 for miles, to the joy of the funkers, the discom- 

 fiture of the hounds, and the disappointment of 

 the hard riders. Yes, there is an uncertainty 



