THE MASTER— MONTH, OCTOBER 7 



the necessary qualifications for a Master of Fox- 

 hounds? Why, thus — Dando was a great "feeder," 

 and so should a Master. Next to drawing a gentle- 

 man's covers in a morning, drawing the ladies' covers 

 in an evening is of the last importance. 



And here let us request our friend the printer to 

 have the kindness to print the word " cover " as we 

 have written it. We are aware that modern fashion 

 has tacked a " t " to the end, but Peter Beckford, who 

 is quite authority enough for us, wrote it as we have 

 done. Moreover, in this instance, adding a "t" 

 would spoil the point of the sentence. 



Hark, back to dinner, and Dando ! 



Hunting and hospitality are almost synonymous, 

 and the man who hunts a country must calculate on 

 a good deal of knife-and-fork work. Dining out much 

 is hard work — dreadful where a man is " cock " guest 

 every time. Still a Master must undergo it, or the 

 ladies won't reckon him " a nice man." If the dress 

 uniform of the hunt is scarlet, or yellow, or orange 

 vermillion, sky-blue, pea-green, or any other outlandish 

 colour, " the Master " must wear it, or Mrs. Cottonwool 

 will think herself slighted. Then, with an ostrich- 

 feathered red and gold-spangled turban nodding over 

 a well-oiled front, with cork-screw ringlets at the sides, 

 Mrs. Cottonwool after having waited past all patience 

 for the much-wished-for, but non-arriving guest, is at 

 length led from the furniture-uncovered drawing-room 

 by our " model of a sportsman," in all the lady-like 

 trepidation of unaccustomed party-making. All the 

 Bore'ems and Snore'ems, Tom Browns, and Jack 

 Smiths of the hunt, figged out like their chief, follow 

 in long-drawn file, whipped in to, by Cottonwool, 

 similarly attired. 



The Miss Cottonwools will be scattered down the 

 table just as market gardeners scatter their flowers — 

 first a rose, then a lily, then another rose, then 

 another lily — first a foxhunter, then a lump of Cotton- 



