198 RIDING RECOLLECTIONS. 



extricate himself, particularly with your weight on his 

 back. 



We are all panic-stricken, and with reason, at the 

 idea of being submerged, but we might wade through 

 many more brooks than we usually suppose. I can 

 remember seeing the Rowsham, generally believed to 

 be bottomless, forded in perfect safety by half-a-dozen 

 of the finest and heaviest bullocks the Vale of Aylesbury 

 ever fattened into beef. This, too, close to a hunting- 

 bridge, put there by Baron Rothschild because of the 

 depth and treacherous nature of the stream ! 



A hard road, however, though to be avoided reli- 

 giously when enjoying a good place with hounds, is an 

 invaluable ally on these occasions of discomfiture and 

 vexation, if it leads in the same direction as the line of 

 chase. On its firm, unyielding surface your horse is 

 regaining his wind with every stride. Should a turn- 

 pike-gate bar your progress, chuck the honest fellow a 

 shilling who swings it back and never mind the change. 

 We hunt on sufferance; for our own sakes we cannot 

 make the amusement too popular with the lower classes. 

 The same argument holds good as to feeing a 

 countryman who assists you in any way when you have 

 a red coat on your back. Reward him with an open 

 hand. He will go to the public-house and drink " fox- 



