AND DEMERITS OF THE MOTOR-CAR 27 



to see the country you approach, and after a really 

 long drive one feels as if there were a round turn and 

 half hitch in one's vitals, which there is a difficulty 

 in undoing. Let me drive (if drive I must to a meet) 

 with my face to the horses if I am to enjoy any of the 

 pleasures which come so freely to the man who " rides 

 on." Let the animal or animals in front be cheery 

 goers, with a bit of action of the right sort, and if 

 the pace comes up to nine and a half miles an hour, 

 then there are worse places than the front seat of 

 mail phaeton or dogcart. 



I have so many pleasant recollections, in all these 

 years, of long drives to the meet, so many delightful 

 remembrances of rides to covert, that I begin to think 

 Whyte-Melville was not far wrong when he told the 

 writer that " one of the greatest pleasures of the day's 

 hunting " was " getting to the meet." 



I have always prided myself, during a pretty long 

 hunting career, in being in good time, arguing that, 

 as I liked to see a fox found, I could at least make 

 pretty certain of doing that, though very probably 1 

 might be unable to see him killed. This habit of 

 making a punctual start served me well when hunt- 

 ing in after years with the glorious old M.F.H. 

 with whom I chiefly hunted for eighteen seasons. 

 His punctuality was proverbial : the country folk by 

 the roadside used to declare that you might " set 

 your clocks by the old Master." He moved off at 

 " eleven sharp," except when on the borderlands of 

 his country, when at certain fixtures he would allow 

 " five minutes' law for strangers," or a few minutes 

 more if a train was late. On these latter occasions, 



