A DAY'S COURSING. 125 



whole party to the appointed place a distance of 

 thirteen miles where the day's amusement was to 

 commence. Amongst the party assembled at the 

 station was the ever-popular Marquess of Abergavenny, 

 accompanied by Sir Edmund Filmer, M.P., Mr. A. 

 Akers Douglas, M.P., Mr. E. B. Smith (Mayor of 

 Maidstone), who, relinquishing for a few hours his 

 arduous duties, seemed to enjoy his temporary freedom 

 from official cares; Mr. W. H. Hodgkin, of Tunbridge 

 Wells, whom I remember following over a big fence 

 which brought me to grief whilst hunting with the 

 West Kent; Messrs. H. D. Montagu Williams, 

 Bertram Noakes, Walter Bashford, Eanking, Spencer, 

 Pain, and the jovial secretary of the Tunbridge Wells 

 division of the West Kent Hounds, Mr. Edward 

 Durrant, who is to be found at every pleasant gathering 

 or festive entertainment throughout the whole county 

 of Kent. Asked to, take a seat in a well-appointed 

 wagonette, to which were harnessed four good-looking 

 horses, I soon found I had joined a lively party, who 

 beguiled the time by recounting racy anecdotes of 

 things in general and sporting in particular, as we 

 trotted merrily along through the quiet little villages, 

 with their old-fashioned, thatch -covered, ivy -clad 

 cottages and neatly-kept little gardens, where 



Fair-handed Spring unbosoms every grace ; 

 Throws out the snowdrop and the crocus first ; 

 The daisy, primrose, violet darkly blue : 

 The yellow wall-flower, stained with iron brown, 

 And lavish stock that scents the garden round. 



The marvellously mild season having developed this 

 floral display at an unusually early period, cowslips 

 already having been gathered in this locality, whilst 



