COMICALITIES OF THE HUNTING-FIELD 165 



asked, " Are you jeering at me, sir ? " " Of course," 

 replied the boy. " Well, then, you keep your place? 

 and I'll keep mine." " So I can," said the boy ; 

 " but I didn't know yours was between your horse's 

 ears." That youth was evidently beginning to run 

 alone.' 



A well-mounted man who hunts regularly takes 

 pride in keeping well up with the hounds. Some- 

 times little stratagems are used to gain or keep an 

 advantage, the result being the reverse of pleasant 

 to others. A noted practical joker in the hunting- 

 field was the late Lord Forester, of whom several 

 anecdotes have been handed down. Here are a few 

 of them. 



Lord Forester was well known in Leicestershire 

 in the first half of the present century. " Nimrod " 

 says of him : 



'All who knew this celebrated sportsman also 

 knew the natural gaiety of his disposition, and how 

 fond he was of what is called a joke, particularly 

 when he himself had the best of it. It may be 

 expected, then, that the chances and disasters of a 

 fox-chase frequently afforded him a theme. On one 

 occasion, it is told of him that, having the lead in a 

 quick thing, and no one else close on his heels, he 

 came to a park paling which no horse could leap. 

 His quick eye, however, espied a small bridle-gate, 

 in which the park-keeper had left his key ; so, pop- 

 ping through it quickly, his lordship turned the key 



