23 



thougli after being once thorouglily wet througli its 

 virtue will decrease very perceptibly, and perhaps vanish 

 altogether. I fancy, however, that it can be re-dipped 

 at discretion. A long waterproof looks ugly, and the 

 skirt will not keep in the right place. I have seen one, 

 made rather in the form of a '' Noah's Ark " coat, which 

 was a lamentable failure as regarded its utility, and ugly 

 enough to frighten one. 



I think the costume I have mentioned will be found 

 equal to any emergency of road or field ; and though a 

 correspondent of The Field y in 1864, recommended 

 hunting ladies to adopt leathers (he delicately termed 

 them ^^ short trousers'' — a decided improvement on 

 the unmentionable dissyllable which usually follows 

 " leather") and butcher boots, I am at a loss to see the 

 necessity or advantage, unless they (the ladies) also 

 propose to adopt the saddle and seat hitherto monopolised 

 by the sterner sex.* 



The lady being dressed, and the horse saddled and at 

 the door, the next step is to mount him. Putting a lady 

 on to her horse is either a very simple and graceful 

 affair, or a very ungainly one. The correct process is as 

 follows : 



The lady presents her left foot to her cavalier, who 

 joins both hands beneath the sole of the boot. Her left 

 hand is placed on the gentleman's shoulder, and her right, 

 having first taken hold of the reins, or, at all events, the 

 snaffle rein, rests on the pummel of the saddle. She 

 then makes a spring, simultaneously with which she 

 receives a lift from the gentleman, and drops on to her 

 saddle as lightly as a swallow on to a telegraph wire. 



* These articles are now (1872) decidedly popular, keeping pace ia 

 their advance with " women's rights." 



