SCENES GONE BY. 29 



was usually comparatively small^ say, forty or 

 fifty ; but they were gentlemen, — gentlemen of 

 the county, and many of them frequent visitors 

 at Hatfield House ; few but those who occa- 

 sionally at least enjoyed this privilege, hunted 

 with these hounds; in fact, I recollect but two 

 who regularly did so, the one a then eminent 

 chemist on Ludgate Hill, the other the Mr. 

 Dickenson of Gowland lotion celebrity ; a capital 

 sportsman, and respected, I believe, by all who 

 knew him. A few farmers were occasionally out, 

 and when they were, the condescension with 

 which they were acknowledged by the Mar- 

 chioness, showed they were men to be respected ; 

 and if a horse-dealer or two sometimes showed a 

 clever hunter there, their dress and manner showed 

 they were not ashamed of their trade, so no one 

 was ashamed of them; the huntsman and his 

 whips were of that order of men who, by their 

 respectful manners to the gentlemen of the hunt, 

 proved they were worthy of respect in return. 

 Such was the Hatfield hunt : theii' country could 

 not be called altogether a good one, that is, not 

 one usually affording clipping runs, still it was 

 one that called forth all the beauties of huntino- in 

 the sagacity and steadiness of hounds, and know- 

 ledge of his business in the huntsman. It was 

 not a first-flight rider^s country, but in all its 

 attributes perfectly a gentleman^s, and one where 



