HUNTING, AND HIDING TO HOUNDS. 39 



and wlioii lils inspectors came in he was standing 

 to ease his poor dear legs in all imaginary impos- 

 sible or dancing-master positions, and it was a 

 mystery to know whereabouts his knees or '^2)as- 

 terns" were, they were so rigidly in conformity 

 with the j)ost-like a^^pearance of his forelegs. Of 

 course no Lid was made for what had once been a 

 horse worth any money. 



^' With the permission of the reader," — it is an 

 author's phrase, and I adopt it, — I will now sa}' 

 something of what the little girl, in correcting her 

 father's queer pronunciation, said must be the 

 jDroper way to term the er/uestrian exercise when 

 ladies were in the saddle. The child, in correct- 

 ing her astonished parent, said, ^' Hequestrian, 

 papa, don't ye see it's a lady? It an't a he — slie- 

 questrian hexercise; if it an't, then ask ma!" I did 

 not make this joke, it belongs to the memory of 

 the late Mr. Mathews, but my readers will forgive 

 the passing digression. 



In the female method of riding, as well as in 

 the horsemanship of the men, there exists the most 

 marked difference possible. A lady of a nice figure, 

 in a well-made habit, seated upright, and well to 

 her front, and gracefully swaying with every motion 



