108 UNASKED ADVICE. 



and, again, ladies are more likely to be hurt than men. 

 A loose horse with a side saddle on is as unpleasant a 

 sight as can be seen in the hunting field ; and, even if 

 the fair rider be not hurt, is it desirable that she should 

 be seen standing on her head (in any costume), crawling 

 on hands and knees out of a wet ditch, or sitting on a 

 fitile, perhaps minus her skirt and half her tresses, waiting 

 for her steed to be brought back to her ? Still she does 

 not spoil sport, to speak of. The ladies who do so are 

 ladies in authority, e. g., a cold bow from the wife of the 

 M. F. H., in place of a cheery casual observation, has 

 often caused a wire to remain up which would have been 

 banished at once. Subscriptions have melted away on 

 provocation equally small ; coverts are blank which would 

 otherwise have held a fox. " Why,^^ says Jones, *^ should 

 not I shoot to-day ? Certainly the hounds will be here 

 next week ; but I don^t hunt, and if Mrs. Rattlecover is 

 too fine to know me, what do I gain by losing my 

 sport ?'' An M. F. H. is bound to be hail fellow well 

 met with everyone who owns a hedgerow in his hunt. 

 His wife need not be this ; but, if she chooses, she — and 

 the remark applies to the wife of every public character — 

 may either diminish or increase the popularity of her 

 lord. 



When it is snowing and freezing we have time for 

 reflection on all subjects ; and some idle moments may 

 be less profitably employed than in consideration on 



How sport is spoiled.^^ 



