1G6 REAL BORES. 



and would candidly confess they sometimes find tlie 

 pace a leetle stronger than is convenient. They would 

 not be afraid to say so, knowing themselves and their 

 nags to be ne plus ultras; the ephemeri would. I 

 would quite agree in wishing the pace and country to 

 be such as to get rid of the " Pray- cat ch-my -horse" 

 sort of gentry : they are a real nuisance ; therefore it 

 is quite fair to wish to shake them off. If these good 

 people could ride in balloons over one's head, it would 

 be all very well, and I for one should be glad to see 

 them enjoy themselves : they would then be out of 

 the way. In chase, let every one take care of him- 

 self, as the bull said when he danced among the frogs. 

 If you cannot make your own way, do not at all 

 events get in the way of those who can, which these 

 folks always do. Hunting being but an amusement, 

 of course every man has a right to ride as he pleases, 

 provided he does not interfere with his neighbour. 

 If a man chooses to butcher his horse, he may do so 

 if he neither rides over hounds nor induces them to 

 overrun the scent. So have the slow coaches as great 

 a right to help each other out of all the ditches in 

 Christendom if they like, or to carry a lasso to catch 

 each other's horse (I wonder they never thought of 

 this) provided they do not make landowners angry 

 by riding over turnips, wheat, or clover leys to make 

 up lost ground, or herd together in perhaps the only 

 practicable part of a fence, exerting their customary 

 benevolence to each other, all of which they invari- 

 ably do. The pace and country I should like would 

 be just such as to make it necessary for a man to ride 

 bold and straight, or go home, but still to be such as 

 to allow a fox advantage enough to give hounds at 

 times some work to get at him. By work, I mean nose- 



