H9 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

 HUNTING AND HUNTERS. 



" What a fine hunting day, 'tis as balmy as May ! 

 And the hounds to the village will come ; 

 Every friend will be there, and all trouble and care 

 Will be left far behind them at home. 

 See ! servants and steeds on their way, 

 And sportsmen their scarlet display, 

 Let us join the glad throng that goes laughing along, 

 And we'll all go a-hunting to-day." 



Of all the amusements in this country hunting 

 is one of the oldest and best. The entertainment 

 it affords is so varied in character that one or other 

 of its several phases is generally sufficient to meet 

 the desires of the most fastidious people, from the 

 most enthusiastic cross-country squire, whose very 

 soul imagines a perfect elysium in the negotiation 

 of a stiff rattling run, to the respectable country 

 parson who, mounted on his stout half-bred cob, 

 may be seen jogging from hill top to hill top under 

 the convenient pretext that he is out enjoying the 

 splendid scenery and the fresh morning air, but 

 who in reality is enjoying infinitely more the in- 

 spiriting and fascinating view of the gallant hounds 

 at ''full cry" in the valley below. Nor is this 



