130 HUNTING THE FOX 



Facey was a very lucky fellow to have her for his 

 sole companion during a hunting season at Beldon 

 Hall. The most amusing thing in the book is the 

 account of the " camouflage " employed by Lucy 

 and her stage friend Betsy Shannon, to conceal 

 from Facey, up to the very last minute, that the 

 small party which he fondly thought was to be re- 

 galed by a rabbit-pie and a cheese before listening to 

 his rendering of " Old Bob Ridley " on the flute, was 

 actually to be a first-class county ball, with a band 

 and a champagne supper provided by the renowned 

 Mr. Fizzer of London, Confectioner to the Queen. 



Surtees' works have now survived for some 

 sixty or seventy years, and, among a large class 

 of reader, bid fair to outlive many of the Victorian 

 novelists. Surtees might be described as the 

 Thackeray of Fox-hunting fiction. His characters 

 live. It would be very interesting to know whether 

 a greater number of all ranks in the Army in 1918 

 knew Rawdon Crawley than knew Mr. Sponge, 

 or whether a greater number knew Becky Sharp 

 than knew Lucy Glitters. Thackeray would prob- 

 ably win the day, but possibly not by a very large 

 majority. 



But it would require less courage to hazard the 

 suggestion that, as a sporting writer, Surtees has 

 outlived Whyte-Melville. At the same time, 

 Market Harborough can be read again to-day with 

 pleasure. The portraits in this book are indeed 



