HUNTING FROM LONDON 225 



run,' &c. &c. I could make no reply, but jogged back 

 to the inn, jumped on my pony, and reached home in 

 very good time for dinner. 



" My first day convinced me that riding to hounds 

 was a sport I should like, but that I had a very great 

 deal to learn; and when I next met my friend he 

 kindly told me ' it was very necessary that either the 

 rider or horse should understand his business; that if 

 both were ignorant, nothing but difficulties would assail 

 us; whereas a little knowledge on either side would 

 quickly improve both.' 



" I took the hint at once ; and before the next day 

 was over, ' Osborn,' of Gray's Inn, supplied me with as 

 good a little horse as ever went across country. He was 

 not very fast ; but nothing could get him down : and to 

 this animal's cleverness I attribute the nerve I have 

 since ridden with. To tell you the falls I got, although 

 my horse never came down, would occupy a volume : 

 but I persevered, from the absurd belief that a seat 

 across country was only to be gained by this method ; 

 whereas I am now convinced that a man at any age 

 may learn to ride to hounds by taking lessons of a 

 hunting riding-master, and thus save himself the bruises 

 and hurts he must otherwise encounter. 



*' I placed my hunter in a livery-stable in Surrey, 

 where 80 tolOO horses always stood. I rode three days 

 a fortnight to fox-hounds. The gentlemen in the field, 

 without an exception, showed me the greatest kindness ; 

 and hunting, I soon decided, was the finest sport I had 

 ever enjoyed. At the end of the season my horse was 

 rested ; and during the summer I purchased a second 

 hunter, which, when in condition, fully bore out the 

 character given with him. 



"The commencement of this season found me pos- 

 sessed of two hunters. My London hack I had broken 

 to harness ; and he took me down on hunting-mornings 

 to the stable where my horses stood. I hunted in this 

 countr\' for two years ; and, with the exception of a 

 severe cut from a flint, which laid one of my horses 

 up for some time, I rode regularly to hounds three 

 times a week. 



"I now went, 'just for one day,' to see the 



* Queen's,' at that time under the management of Lord 



Kinnaird ; and having a capital run in the grass country 



induced me at once to move my horses to Hayes, where 



p 



