S34 HUNTING TOURS. 



forms one of its most attractive features. Our 

 forefathers were wont usually to assemble at 

 the festive board after their day's hunting, to 

 recount their enterprises, their daring deeds, 

 hairbreadth escapes, and proclaim the excel- 

 lence of their hounds, most commonly passing 

 their evenings in excessive devotion to the 

 Bacchanalian deity. This order is now more 

 frequently reversed, and the day previous to 

 hunting is a more suitable period for social 

 parties. To those who reside at a distance 

 from the place of meeting it is an acceptable 

 custom, and no society is more delightful than 

 that which is found in those happy homes of 

 England where the decorum of a country 

 gentleman's establishment presides over all 

 the inmates. 



My first day's appearance with the North 

 Warwickshire Hounds was at Beoley Hall, 

 the seat of Mr. Lilly, who has only recently 

 occupied that ancient mansion, which for a 

 long period was untenanted and consequently 

 dilapidated, but, with exquisite taste, he has 

 restored its original beauties, and added the 

 imposing luxuries and improvements of modern 

 days. Beoley Hall, it must be observed, is on 

 the outside boundary of the country on the 



