2 8 THE BADMINTON HUNT. 



the race is not yet extinct. Vehicles of all 

 kinds, from the well-appointed four-in- 

 hand to the humble sporting dogcart, are 

 freighted with loads of joyous hearts, ready 

 to partake of the hospitalities which are 

 so bountifully offered. All classes, orders, 

 and degrees of sportsmen, from the peer 

 to the peasant, join unceremoniously yet 

 courteously in the pleasures of the chase, 

 and representatives of all other orders, 

 professions, and callings, come to enjoy 

 the festive scene. The coming of age of 

 the Marquis of Worcester (now Duke of 

 Beaufort), w^as fixed upon as an appro- 

 priate time for a Lawn Day, but the 

 elements interdicted it. I had hoped it 

 would have afforded me an opportunity of 

 witnessing what had been represented to me 

 as the most perfect event of the kind that 

 could possibly be conceived. On that occa- 

 sion I was destined to disappointment. Two 

 days' hard frost had set at defiance all pos- 



