98 HOUND AND HORN 



pal, John Fraser, a sad-looking soul, sang one of 

 the most comic of comic songs with the drollest 

 pantomimic gestures. 



Then the Croupier rose to propose a toast, and 

 my neighbour whispered that this person had three 

 or four long words which he dragged into every 

 speech he made, and offered to lay me five to four that 

 he would use them all to-night. '' Ventilate " and 

 ** obfuscate" had at one time been prime favourites, 

 but had long been discarded as being no longer 

 impressive ; and the others, which I was soon to hear, 

 were of a similar nature. He was a preternaturally 

 solemn-looking old gentleman, wise as he looked, and 

 very outspoken ; and it was with some trepidation 

 that I gathered he was proposing the toast of Fox- 

 hunting, and addressing his remarks to me, as if 

 challenging contradiction. He was sure the present 

 Master was not one to desire to connect, still less 

 amalgamate, the sport of fox-hunting with that of 

 horse-racing and its concomitant gambling, for the 

 two were diametrically dissimilar and ran counter the 

 one to the other; the first being a wholesome and 

 natural recreation, and the last being an unhealthy 

 and artificial method of producing excitement. He 

 wished to promulgate his opinion far and wide that 

 he loved the one and abominated the other — in fact, 

 he looked upon the gambling element of the latter as 

 the "incarceration" of the devil. (Loud applause.) 

 He wound up by hoping his hearers would homologate 

 his sentiments and drink to "Fox-hunting." He 

 apparently added something more, but his closing 

 remarks were drowned in a wave of applause that 

 swept round the table, gathering increased force as 



