158 FOX-HUNTING 



ber till April he is happy to live without the 

 sun, and it is the little red rover that makes 

 him more than content to stay at home, 

 while his unlucky compatriots are chasing 

 the sun to Monte Carlo or the banks of 

 the Nile. There is a charm about English 

 country life that is a full compensation for 

 all the discomforts of a fickle climate. The 

 inconstancy of the sun, and the variableness 

 of our weather, prevent life in England from 

 ever being monotonous. A hunting-man 

 cannot go to bed with any certainty of being- 

 free from an exciting anxiety about the 

 weather, any more than he can go to cover 

 with any confidence that scent will be good 

 or that a fox will run straight. He can get 

 between the sheets, and let his fancy picture 

 an ideal day's sport on the morrow, and 



