FOX-HUNTING 



it. The gallant Frank Forester is among the latter ; 

 and having been requested that morning to wear a 

 friend's new red coat, to take off the gloss and glare of 

 the shop, he accomplishes the task to perfection in the 

 bluish-black mud of the Whissendine, only then sub- 

 siding after a three days' flood. **Who is that under 

 his horse in the brook?" inquires that good sportsman 

 and fine rider, Mr. Green of RoUeston, whose noted 

 old mare has just skimmed over the water like a 

 swallow on a summer's evening. '*It's Middleton 

 Biddulph," says one. ** Pardon me," cries Mr. 

 Middleton Biddulph; ** Middleton Biddulph is here, 

 and here he means to be!^^ ** Only Dick Christian," 

 answers Lord Forester, **and it is nothing new to 

 him."^ ** But he'll be drowned," exclaims Lord Kin- 

 naird. **I shouldn't wonder," observes Mr. William 

 Coke. But the pace is too good to enquire.' 



Such was fox-hunting in Leicestershire in the days 

 of William the Fourth. Multiply the number of the 

 field by three or four, stir in references to railways, 

 ladies, and perhaps to an overlooked strand of wire, 

 and the story might stand as of to-day. 



Wire began to come into use in the late 'fifties : in 

 1862 the Atherstone country was dangerously wired : 

 in 1863-1864 Mr. Tailby's was so much wired that 

 special endeavours were successfully made to remove 

 it. Barbed wire was first used in England in 1882. 



^ * Talk of tumbles ! I have had eleven In one day down there [Melton] when 

 I was above seventy.' — Dick Christianas Lectures^ see Post and Paddock by 'The 

 Druid.' 



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