THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 105 



looked to as a pilot in the field, by all the novitiates in the 

 " noble science " at that time in the University ; but Frank 

 Raby, who had been well entered to hounds, previously 

 to his matriculation at Christchurch, looked to him for 

 instruction and improvement. And he need not have 

 gone much farther for instruction : his seat was firm, and 

 altogether good, with his body pliably erect ; his feet 

 well out in front ; the knee nearly straight, and not bent 

 at an angle by short stirrup-leathers, as it was too often 

 seen in those days ; on the contrary, he sat well down 

 upon his fork, with his head up, and, as he said of himself, 

 he rode with a light hand and an easy bit. As for the 

 bay horse, that is to say, Rupert, a child might have 

 almost ridden him to hounds ; bxit it required a horseman 

 to handle Topthorn ; and it was from seeing Hargrave's 

 performance on him, that Frank Raby acquired lessons 

 which he never forgot, and which afterwards perfected 

 him in the horseman's art. 



In proportion to the number of young men of family 

 and fortune rising up in the world, will be the proportion 

 of the various occupations and pursuits which their 

 several inclinations lead them to engage in. That fox- 

 hunting has ever been, and, it is to be hoped, ever will be 

 one, it is scarcely necessary to add ; although, at the time 

 I am alluding to, there were fewer followers of the chase 

 in the Universities than are to be found in them at the 

 present day. In fact, I have already said there were only 

 about a dozen really good workmen, at this period, at 

 Oxford, who kept hunters during term, and who may be 

 said to have done the thing in a truly workman-like style 

 throughout. Amongst them was a commoner of Oriel, who 

 accompanied Hargrave and Frank Raby, on a fine morning 

 in the first week in December, to Oddington Ashes, a 

 favourite cover in the Beaufort Hunt ; their horses having 

 been sent to Chipping Norton on the preceding evening, 

 the distance from Oxford being upwards of twenty miles. 



In those days there were not the crowds of horsemen 

 with hounds, composing what is termed " the field," that 

 are now to be seen ; but, on the day of which I am speak- 

 ing, about fifty well-mounted gentlemen and half a dozen 

 farmers were assembled all having some pretensions to 

 be called sportsmen ; in other words, they were met to- 

 gether for very different purposes than riding at, or over, 

 each other, after the manner of our steeple-chase jockeys 



