FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 



CHAPTER I 



EARLY DAYS 



How I envy the facile pen which let us into the 

 secrets of Market Harborough, and told us of 

 Tilbury Nogo^ that unsuccessful man so admirably 

 described by George Whyte - Melville. What 

 would I not give for the ever-pleasant pencil with 

 which the Druid jotted down the plain, un- 

 varnished words of Dick Christian, as that veteran 

 hero personally conveyed him in a one-horse gig 

 along the bridle roads of Leicestershire ? Classic 

 names are these, recalling to many of us the old 

 days, and that sensation of screaming delight 

 with which we once galloped for a start. To-day, 

 such musings are all in vain, for it is at a snail's 

 pace, and in chastened mood, that I approach my 

 formidable task. 



Memoirs are often prefaced by unnecessary 

 reference to parentage and pedigree ; this at least 

 shall not be laid to my charge. Was not that old 



