INTERVIEWWITHJORROCKS'S GHOST 359 



kep' close to 'em was all right, and dressed like sports- 

 men and gentlemen — scarlet coat, silk 'at, best o' 

 Bartley's and 'Ammond's on their understandings ; but 

 there was a lot more in black tail-coats and mus- 

 tachers lookin' like music-'all waiters out on the spree, 

 and a still bigger lot in rat-catchin' or ferretin' kit, 

 khaki-breeks, puttie leggin's and brown boots ; some 

 in tall 'ats, some in pot 'ats, and some few in shootin'- 

 caps. Do the mustard-coloured boys think they looks 

 better than the pink 'uns, I wonder? I tells 'em the 

 ladies don't think so, and no more don't I ! 



"Ask the M.F.H. 'ow he would like his field to be 

 dressed, and I'll wager he says ' Pass the mustard ! ' 

 Do you all owe nothing to the M.F.H., and is it so 

 uncommon easy to find another when he resigns? 

 Ought you not to try and keep him, and please him 

 by showin' him respect and dressin' yourselves like 

 Henglish fox-'unters? 



"The farmers," continued Mr. Jorrocks, warming to 

 his subject, and now wearing his wig a good deal 

 awry, — " the farmers all loves the scarlet, so does all 

 the willagers and labourers. See the school children 

 when the 'unt comes by, 'ow they cheers the red coats 

 and chaff the chaps in mufti ! ' The werry turnpike 

 man,' wrote a hauthor some years ago, 'relaxes his 

 grimness in favour of your Pink.' 



" And should we not take the farmers into con- 

 sideration in this matter? I thinks so, anyways, and 

 they're all for the old colour to a man, and let's you 

 know it ! 



" ' Hopen the gate, my man,' sings out Scarlet Coat, 

 in the deuce of a 'urry, and Bunchclod swings it 



