HUNTING FROM LONDON. 273 



There are two ways in which hunting can be enjoyed from 

 London : either by keeping your horses in town and taking them 

 down with you by train on hunting mornings: or by keeping them 

 at some hunting centre, and meeting them there or at the covert- 

 side. Of these two ways, one may say perhaps that the first is 

 best for yourself, the second for your horse. Both are feasible 

 enough, but neither, we warn the doubting sportsman, is child's 

 play. In both you must be prepared to take your pleasure 

 somewhat seriously, not to say laboriously. In his autobiography 

 Anthony Trollope gives a vivid picture of the hard work this 

 form of pleasure entails ; and what Trollope found hard no one 

 else will find easy, for he, indeed, like Walter Raleigh, could 

 ' labour terribly ' at work or play. He had just returned, in 

 December 1872, from his voyage to Australia (where he had 

 experienced some hunting of a novel kind), and though settled in 

 London was determined not to lose wholly his favourite exercise. 



I got home in December 1872, and in spite of any resolution 

 made to the contrary, my mind was full of hunting as I came back. 

 No real resolutions had in truth been made, for out of a stud of 

 four horses I kept three, two of which were absolutely idle through 

 the two summers and winter of my absence. Immediately on my 

 arrival I bought another, and settled myself down to hunting from 

 London three days a week. At first I went back to Essex, my old 

 county, but finding that to be inconvenient, I took my horses to 

 Leighton Buzzard, and became one of that numerous herd of 

 sportsmen who rode with 'the Baron ' and Mr. Selby-Lowndes. 

 In those days Baron Meyer was alive, and the riding with his 

 hounds was very good. I did not care so much for Mr. Lowndes. 

 During the winters of 1873, 1874, and 1875 I had my horses back 

 in Essex, and went on with my hunting, always trying to resolve 

 that I would give it up. But still I bought fresh horses, and, as I 

 did not give it up, I hunted more than ever. Three times a week 

 the cab has been at my door in London very punctually, and not 

 unfrequently before seven in the morning. In order to secure this 

 attendance, the man has always been invited to have his breakfast 

 in the hall. I have gone to the Great Eastern Railway ah ! so 

 often with the fear that frost would make all my exertions useless, 

 and so often too with that result ! And then, from one station or 



