6 THE HUNTING-FIELD. 



equivocal cliaracter, she infers tlie noble sports- 

 man is snoring in his chair; little suspecting 

 that he whose straight going with his hounds at 

 midday challenged the admiration of the fields is 

 at midnight by the fascination of his manners 

 challenging the smiles of the high and fairest 

 daughters of aristocracy. The fair aspirant for 

 Mr. Gauzecollar's notice "never could abide a 

 dog^^ till he presented her with some snub-nosed 

 cur that she leads about as a King Charles. Slie 

 screams if a horse comes near her ; and when the 

 daring Gauzecollar once hired one, and rode 

 three miles out of his way to show himself thus 

 mounted, the pretty blushes that accompanied 

 her overcoming her timidity to reach the digit of 

 the preux cavalier, told the tale of what love 

 will dare for those beloved. " Hov^ beautiful 

 he looks a ^orseback ! " sighed the fair one as the 

 receding form of the gallant youth diminished in 

 the distance, wending its way back to Cheapside. 



But among those many degrees above the 

 grades of the inhabitant of the suburban snuggery 

 and the renowned Gauzecollar, we sometimes 

 hear " I am not very fond of seeing ladies on 

 horseback,'^ from a London miss who is somewhat 

 in the state of the fox and grapes of old; and 

 " I should not like to see a wife of mine ride '' 

 is a sentiment sometimes mooted by gentlemen 

 whose prospects need give them little alarm 



