370 FOX-HOUND, FOREST, AND PRAIRIE. 



to be struggling in his last gasp. Poor old " Gridiron " you 

 have died in the sphere that ennobled you ! Over more and 

 bigger fences have you led us, in the years that have lapsed 

 since your win of the Conyngham Cup, than can be set to the 

 credit of any ten horses in the Shires. May your new hunting 

 grounds be happy ; and may your master soon fill your stall 

 worthily ! It will be no unmanly moisture that damps his 

 pillow to-night, old Gridiron. 



The grass fields are growing larger, the strong fences are 

 wider apart, the pace is no less, as the chase streams onward 

 to Brington Clump. Leaving this wooded landmark just on 

 the left hand, hounds dash downwards beneath Brock Hall 

 the field largely discounted and scattered, and all but the 

 better few now obviously slackening, or rather urging and 

 pressing in vain. A dozen gates make the finish easier ; but 

 it is " all out " with most horses when hounds stop at a drain 

 one field below the Hall. Only twenty-three minutes, an ex- 

 cellent authority gave it. As for my watch, it had forgotten 

 its duty thrown it over in the excitement, or maybe in the 

 ditch. But the gallop was unmistakably fast, the country un- 

 doubtedly good ; and, if a half ring, it was wholly a charming 

 burst. And the ground never rode better than now moist 

 enough, but not deep, underneath, and all the more solid and 

 sound for the rough winds that for days past have been testing 

 our temper and hatstrings. Make the most of it, gentlemen. 

 Leave your sorrows for Christmas or summer. You may reckon 

 in some slight measure on the morrow, but nothing on the day 

 after how much less on the year after. You know not even 

 if December shall be wrapped in frost : you have no right to 

 even a guess upon life. Why, the very existence of foxhunting 

 in the future is a subject beyond your ken and mine. And 

 now to dream of the happiest of all topics and to wake for 

 Hellidon. 



Suggestions for the better conduct of the chase, in matters 

 both major and minor, appear to be the duty of every man. 

 Here is a point that surely calls for attention and amendment. 



