A GRETNA GREEN MARRIAGE. 201 



thousand marriaf^es, including those of many run-away 

 couples from South of the border, some even from Leices- 

 tershire. Happily for romantic couples, these marriage laws 

 of Scotland, although less frequently put in operation, remain 

 the same to this day, all that is required being the mutual 

 consent — verbal or written — of the parties; but for the 

 sake of any who may be fancifully inclined, I had better 

 add, that the marriage now requires to be registered within 

 three months. 



Conclusion. 



I should add that the runs described in the 'Annals* 

 only represent a tithe ol the good runs which have been 

 enjoyed with the three successive Masters in every decade 

 since the foundation of the South Leicestershire Hunt, and 

 it is to be hoped that the present generation of sportsmen 

 may live to rival — if not surpass — the doughty deeds of their 

 predecessors. The old saying that ' a southerly wind and a 

 cloudy sky, proclaims a hunting morn,' is no more to be 

 relied upon than many other old saws ; indeed one of the 

 pleasures of fox-hunting rests upon its glorious uncertainty; 

 for like much else in life, the unexpected always happens, 

 so that one should not be too greatly elated, or unduly 

 depressed, whatever may be the state of the barometer. 

 And if it is difficult to prognosticate the sport for any one 

 day, how impossible it becomes to foretell, or account lor 

 good and bad seasons, which seem to come in reciprocal 

 succession ; much the same as the crops of the field, the 

 orchard and the rose-garden are meted out by Dame Nature. 

 Doubtless the alternation of shadow and sunshine in life 

 serves a good purpose, which philosophy is most beautifully 

 expressed in several exquisite verses by Charles Dickens* — 

 addressed to Parents — which begin : . 



Oh ! choose not a lot for the dear ones, all radiant, as others 



have done, 

 But that life may ha^'e just as much shadow, as w^ill temper 



the glare of the sun. 



• In my possession, but which I believe have never yet been published. — F. P. deC. 



