HUNTING IN THE MIDLANDS. 93 



next another. Then from the huntsman comes a mighty cheer 

 that is heard to the echo. ' He's gone,' say half a score of voices. 

 Hats are pressed on, cigars thrown away, bridles gathered well 

 up, and lo and behold they are off. A very fair field we were 

 on the particular morning to which I here allude. The rector, I 

 noticed, who had merely come to the meet, was well up with the 

 first of us. Notwithstanding remonstrances addressed by timid 

 papas and well-drilled grooms in attendance, Alice and Clara 

 Vernon put their horses at the first fence, and that surmounted 

 had fairly crossed the Rubicon. Nay, the contagion of the 

 enthusiasm spread, as is always the case on such occasions, for 

 their revered parents themselves were unable to resist the 

 attraction. Sir Cloudesley Spanker asserted his position in the 

 first rank, as did also the distinguished novelist his guest. 



It has been remarked that all runs with foxhounds are alike 

 on paper and different in reality. We were fortunate enough to 

 have one that was certainly above the average with the Chipping 

 Ongar hounds. Our fox chose an excellent line of country, and 

 all our party from the Lion enjoyed the distinction of being in 

 at the death. Mishaps there were, for all very weedy screws 

 came signally to grief Old Sir Cloudesley related with much 

 grim humour the melancholy aspect that two dismounted 

 strangers presented who had taken up their lodging in a ditch. 

 The two Miss Vernons acquitted themselves admirably ; so did 

 the rector, and I am disposed to think that the company both of 

 the ladies and the farmers vastly improved our hunting-field. 

 It is quite certain that clergymen,, more than any other race of 

 men, require active change, and they get what they can get no- 

 where better than in a hunting-field. Nor in the modern hunt- 

 ing field is there anything which either ladies or clergymen need 

 fear to face. The strong words and the strange oaths, the rough 

 language, in fine, what has been called ' the roaring lion element,' 

 these are accessories of the chase which have long since become 

 things of the past. And the consummation is a natural conse- 

 quence of the catholicity which hunting has acquired. There 

 are no abuses like class abuses. Once admit the free light of 

 publicity, and they vanish. 



There are hunting farmers and hunting parsons, clergymen 

 who make the chase the business of their life, and who get a day 

 with the hounds as an agreeable relief to their professional toils. 

 There is not much to be said in favour of the former order, 

 which has, by the way., nearly become extinct. It survives in 



