138 RIDING RECOLLECTIONS. 



truth your lardship's spakin' this night ; 'av there was 

 nofook, there' d be sorrafew fox-hunters ! " 



Let us return to the question of Discretion, and how 

 we are to combine it with an amusement that makes 

 fools of us all. 



While valour, then, bids us take our fences as they 

 come, discretion teaches us that each should be accom- 

 plished in the manner most suitable to its peculiar 

 requirements. When a bank offers foothold, and we 

 see the possibility of dividing a large leap by two, we 

 should pull back to a trot, and give our horse a hint 

 that he will do well to spring on and off the obstacle 

 in accordance with a motion of our hand. If, on the 

 contrary, his effort must be made at a black and for- 

 bidding bullfinch, with the chance of a wide ditch, or 

 even a tough ashen rail, beyond, it is wise, should we 

 mean having it at all, to catch hold of the bridle and 

 increase our pace, for the last two or three strides, with 

 such energy as shall shoot us through the thorns like 

 a harlequin through a trap-door, leaving the orifice to 

 close up behind, with no more traces of our transit 

 than are left by a bird ! 



Perhaps we find an easy place under a tree, with an 

 overhanging branch, and sidle daintily up to it, bending 

 the body and lowering the head as we creep through, 



