HUNTING TOURS. 205 



Foxhunting, like all other mundane matters, 

 is not exonerated from the frowns or smiles 

 of the fickle goddess. There are days when, 

 woo her how you may, she will be peevish ; 

 and at other times, when her favours are, 

 perchance, less courted, the gloomy disap- 

 pointments of the past are utterly banished 

 from memory by the delightful passages of 

 the present. Among the gay crowd assem- 

 bled were Lords Chesterfield, Stanhope, and 

 Bagot, with probably many other noble lords 

 with whose identity I am unacquainted ; 

 there were two Mr. Wilmots and Mr. Daven- 

 port, Mr. Clowes, Mr. Michael Bass, M.P., 

 Mr. Moore, jun., two Mr. Fitzherberts, 

 Mr. James Holden, Mr. Cooke, and, of 

 course, the hospitable owner of the mansion, 

 Mr. Chandos Pole ; but who comprised the 

 remaining two hundred or more I cannot say. 

 There was, however, one gentleman not pre- 

 sent whose absence has been regretted all 

 the season, and that was Mr. Hugo Meynell 

 Ingram, who, from ill health, has been pre- 

 vented following the hounds. 



A quiet osier bed, a fascinating resort of 

 foxes, had not been half drawn, when a halloo 

 in covert from one of the whippers-in, quickly 



