122 THE BARB AND THE BRIDLE. 



CHAPTER XY. 



The Hunting Field. • 



"We enter now upon a new and important phase of our pupil's educa- 

 tion in the saddle. Before doing so, however, I feel bound to observe 

 that from time to time a vast amount of "twaddle" is ventilated on 

 the question of the propriety of ladies riding with hounds. All sorts 

 of absurd objections have been brought forward against the practice ; 

 as, for instance, that hunting as regards ladies is a mere excuse for 

 display and flirtation, and that it is both unfeminine and dangerous, 

 I believe that these objections, made by people who never knew the 

 glorious exhilaration of hunting, may be very briefly disposed of. I 

 reside where the very cream of the midland hunting is carried pn, 

 and I perceive that year after year the number of ladies of high rank 

 and social position who grace the field with their presence is on the 

 increase ; while to the best of my belief no female equestrians wl/o 

 are not ladies have been seen with hounds in Leicestershire or it& 

 vicinity for some years. So much for the stamp of woman that 

 hunts nowadays. 



As regards flirtation and display, I am at a loss to understand why 

 anti-foxhunting cynics should have selected the covert side, or the 

 road to it, for their diatribes ; for there can be no time for flirting 

 when hounds are once away. It must be manifest to every man 

 who has the most remote notion of what manner of people our 

 aristocracy and gentry are, that they will only know at the covert 

 side precisely the same stamp of person they meet elsewhere in 

 society. In that society there are dinner parties, flower shows, balls, 

 the opera, all affording equal or better opportunities for flirtation than 

 the hunting field. As to hunting being unfeminine, it is difficult, I 



