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CHAPTER XVIII. 



HACKS AND HUNTERS. 



I AM wonderfully fond of a good hack, and very wroth at 

 times that ladies will persist in mistaking the meaning of the 

 term, and in thinking that it signifies something that is meant 

 to be abused. They take this idea, I have no doubt, from 

 expressions associated with their childhood : hacking out 

 their clothes, for instance, — in other words, abusing them. 

 •' Don't throw it away, it will do very well for a hack," 

 meaning for very hard usage on second or third-rate 

 occasions. Such a thing as a valuable hack, one not on 

 any account to be subjected to rough treatment, they have 

 never believed in, or, indeed, thought about at all. I was 

 once bemoaning the loss of a favourite of this description 

 to a lady acquaintance, and although she pretended to 

 sympathise with me, I heard her, when I turned my back, 

 say, "What a fuss over a thing that had come to being 

 a hack ! Not worth fourpence, most likely," 



Now, it is for ladies who do not know much about hacks, 

 yet who want to learn, that I am writing this chapter. 

 The subject is a very useful one, and might be readily 

 enlarged upon, but I shall be as concise as possible. 



Hacks in the olden days were capable of immense hard- 



