236 FOX-HUNTING TYPES 



are gifted by nature," and this intuitive perception 

 seems to be possessed by the men who ride to hunt 

 in a greater degree than by others. 



I wrote just now that the pleasures of leaping large 

 fences satisfactorily are fully appreciated by the Man 

 who Rides to Hunt, but must qualify the statement 

 somewhat, for I have known several of the species 

 who, if they thought about the matter at all, con- 

 sidered the fences approvingly, because they served 

 to give room to the pack, but otherwise regarded them 

 with dislike or as obstructions sent by Providence, and 

 therefore to be dealt with in as cheerful a spirit as 

 possible. To these men the usual chatter after a run 

 about the " aw^ful places " that have been jumped and 

 the vivid descriptions of the obstacles seem foolish 

 in the extreme ; and I have heard pretty short answers 

 given by one whose thoughts were of the catching 

 of the fox during every minute of the gallop, when 

 asked how he got over the Ballyscatterem double or 

 some other dreadful impediment. He said to himself, 

 no doubt, " Now, what the deuce had the jumping of 

 the double to do with the way those beauties, now 

 baying round their huntsman, dusted that fox — the 

 way they stuck to him through all the difficulties 

 that threatened to defeat them? All that fellow can 

 think of is the beastly fence that bothered him." 



Certain it is that the men who ride to hunt talk 

 mighty little of the fences they encountered unless 

 they have been defeated by them, when possibly they 

 may have a word or two to say. " Where do they 

 find these terrible places?" the late Lord Wilton is 

 reported to have said, " I never come across them." 



