SOME CHRISTMAS REFLECTIONS 309 



of all ages and ranks, who have all come out to enjoy 

 themselves in the same manner as the boys are doing ; 

 "all," as Surtees wrote, "is Liberty, Equality, and 

 Fox-huntity." 



The "festive season," though some of it has been 

 spent by one on the sick-list without much merriment, 

 and with a considerable amount of pain, has never- 

 theless shown up in strong colours the kindliness and 

 good-fellowship that exists among hunting men. I 

 have had a daily levSe at my bedside, and many of 

 those who have come have come from afar off. The 

 posts bring numberless letters of kind inquiry, and 

 more than half of them are from hunting folk, while 

 if wishes could avail I would be out hunting again 

 this week, though against the medical advice to 

 " wait for a few days more." That the great sport 

 " engenders good-fellowship," as old Sir John Power 

 wrote when he founded the Kilkenny Hunt, I do 

 believe, having had evidence of it this Christmastide 

 that will leave grateful recollections as long as life 

 lasts. 



