GOLD AND WARMTH. 475 



And if warmth and distraction could not be found in these first 

 merry months, of a season that is now, alas, near midway on its 

 fleeting course then is fox-hunting no specific, a ride to hounds 

 no panacea. Honestly do I believe that till that fickle and 

 mysterious attribute Nerve disappears, taking with it the taste 

 that few other disasters can subdue the fox-hunting enthusiast 

 is at times more nearly in touch with perfect, regretless, happi- 

 ness than any other being that runs his earthly allotment. Of 

 the fisherman's frenzy I confess to knowing little, and of the 

 botanist's bliss still less though I am led to believe that each 

 has its ecstacies. It is even said that golf has its moments of 

 furious joy ; and that the solemn lictors who walk round with 

 their bundle of sticks are at times the most jubilant of men. 



There is a pleasure sure 

 In being mad which none but madmen know. 



Our particular pleasure has been taken under conditions 

 more than usually facile and enhancing. Nowhere has there 

 been a scarcity of the game we sought ; seldom have we been 

 beaten about by the elements ; and not even yet, after such 

 storms as have swept over us, have we been called upon to 

 ride through ground deep and holding. The last fact in itself 

 means double enjoyment, half the number of falls, and half 

 the number of lame horses. 



How quickly and readily is a vista formed. I mean not the 

 bright, or speculative, vista of the future, but the misty, fading, 

 channel that takes us to the past ! How other minds may 

 be constituted is only a matter of surmise. But to my 

 mediocre temperament the past is so quickly swallowed up, 

 and lost, in the present, that only by an effort can I bring 

 to temporary life what is shrouded in a few days' forgetful- 

 ness. Well, if the bright things stood out in all their bright- 

 ness, surely the black and gloomy incidents the disappoint- 

 ments that make up the bulk of existence would overcloud 

 the picture. It is best we should see it dimly; and best of 

 all that we can work memory's machinery to call back what 



