MR. WALTER BODEN", 199 



We threw off at the castle, we found in the holt, 

 Like wildfire the beauties went streaming away ; 



From the rest of the field he came out like a bolt. 

 And he tackled to work like a schoolboy to play. 



As he rammed down his hat, and got home in his seat, 



This rum one to follow, this bad one to beat, 



'Twas a caution, I vow, but to see the man ride ! 



O'er the rough and the smooth he went saOing along ; 

 And what Providence sent him he took in his stride. 



Though the ditches were deep and the fences were strong. 

 Thinks I, if he leads me I'm in for a treat, 

 With this rum one to follow, this bad one to beat. 



These spirited lines leave but little more to be said. 

 There is nothing to add and nothing to take away. 



This " rum one to follow " first went hunting in 1849, 

 his earliest recollection being the killing of a fox in 

 Horsley Car with Sir Seymour Blane's and Mr. Story's 

 hounds. Curiously enough, it is at the Pastures, which 

 once belonged to the baronet, that he now lives, and a 

 very delightful place it is, though not without at least one 

 tragedy, for in the lake there Mr. Blane was drowned. 



Young Master Boden was not long in giving a taste of 

 his future quality, for he got a fall with his pony over 

 a strong stile out of the road, following Lord Chesterfield, 

 who caught his pony and saw him safely mounted again, 

 with a word of encouragement. Like his elder brother, 

 he went to school at Rugby, and soon developed into a 

 cricketer, so much so, in fact, that he was selected to play 

 for Gentlemen of the North v. Gentlemen of the South. 

 He was also very fond of a gun, and more especially of a 

 rifle, renting Dundonald and Rhidorroch, so as to indulge 

 to the full his bent for deer-stalking. Being a man of 

 very keen observation, nothing suited him better than to 

 go out on the Forest alone, or with a friend, and pit his 

 powers, unaided by a gillie, against the stag's, and as often 

 as not the latter had to own himself worsted. This is the 

 very essence of sport, but it does not fall to the lot of 

 every one to be capable of enjoying it. In short, " he has 

 played the game all round ; " but yet, when all is said and 



