Hats and Gloves. 485 



passion," and wear a velvet cap, all the rising fox-hunters of England would follow his 

 example. 



Hunting-gloves were formerly universally of buckskin. They are scarcely to be had of 

 that material now for money. Calfskin has almost superseded dogskin. Stout kid selected 

 for the purpose may be purchased in Fleet Street, opposite St. Dunstan's Church, at five 

 shillings a pair. The fox-hunter should always have in his pocket, with a spare silk handker- 

 chief, a pair of worsted gloves, through which the reins do not slip in wet weather, and in 

 which the hands are not so cold as in wet leather. 



A strong single or two-bladed knife, with a foot-picker in the handle, to cut a stick or 

 a cord, or scrape mud off your boots after a run in ploughed fields, is often useful; but the 

 knives containing an armoury of tools are only fit for schoolboys. Some old hard riders in 

 thinly populated countries carry a case containing a knife, a pair of scissors, and a pair of 

 V.S. tweezers for extracting thorns. A wood or steel paper-knife, to scrape the sweat off a 

 horse at a check, is used by some hard riders, and takes little room. 



The hunting man's whip should be of a length proportionate to his height. It should 

 have a short thong, and a spike in the butt to hold back a gate. A heavy whip is a mistake, 

 except in the hands of a " whip " or huntsman, who has to hammer at locks and hinges. 

 Spurs should be of the huntsman's pattern, with short necks, and rowels rubbed to bluntness. 



When a man goes out hunting he wants money, of course ! — enough, and not too much. 

 A hunting parson — a man of the world — always carried a bank-note in a pocket-book in his 

 inner waistcoat pocket, a sovereign in his left-hand outside waistcoat pocket, a handful of 

 half-crowns in his right-hand waistcoat pocket, and in his right-hand breeches pocket a handful 

 of sixpences and fourpences. Thus he was prepared for all eventualities, from a turnpike 

 toll to paying handsel on a horse purchase. 



In a celebrated hunting county a story used to be told of a nobleman, now long deceased, 

 equally noted for his wealth and his carefulness, that on one occasion his horse fell with him 

 in the course of a run, and got away. His lordship sat on a gate, surrounded, as a lord always 

 is on such occasions, by a circle of commiserating friends. His servant presently rode up with 

 the fugitive steed, and immediately cried out, in a loud voice, " My lord, a joskin (countryman) 

 caught him, and I gave him a shilling." " Hadn't you such a thing as a sixpence about you .■" " 

 was the reply of the economical nobleman. Some profane ones laughed aloud, but remem- 

 bered the hint, and provided themselves with small change. On the other side, a very vulgar 

 millionnaire demoralised the labourers in a provincial hunt by giving every man who opened 

 a gate for him half-a-sovereign. 



In harrier-fields it is usual to make a collection, " a cap," before or after hunting, of half- 

 a-crown or five shillings from each stranger. It may be clever, but it does not look nice, 

 when some gentleman of imposing appearance asks for change of a fifty-pound note, and so 

 saves his five shillings; yet such things do happen, even in a Royal Windsor hunting-field. 



THE HUNTING-BOX AND ITS COMFORTS. 



The principal requirements of a hunting-bo.x, next to good stabling — of which anon — are 

 warmth in the sitting-rooms and bed-rooms, with good ventilation, plenty of warm water, and 

 such a distribution of domestic work as will afford good service with the smallest number of 

 servants. 



