42 /;/ Scarlet and Silk 



fine sporting country, and tlie establishment 

 is one of wliicli Mr. Bowlby and Mr. Loftus 

 Arkwright, the joint masters, may well feel 

 proud. No more efficient huntsman than 

 Baily, who has carried the horn for several 

 seasons here, could be found, and he and his 

 whips are always thoroughly well mounted. 

 Personally, I may say that I was under a 

 strangely false impression when fate first took 

 me into this country, for I thought that it was 

 a singularly easy one to ride over. Viewing 

 the matter in the light of actual experience, 

 I at once confess my mistake. I am not 

 saying that it admits of any comparison with 

 really "big" countries, such as, for instances, 

 the Blackmoor Vale, Grafton, or Pytchley, 

 but, nevertheless, to be carried across Essex 

 you must be on a performer : that admits of 

 " no possible doubt whatever." The ditches 

 are both big and deep ; many of them have 

 rotten banks into the bargain, but this last 

 remark does not apply to the Roothings. 



The Essex Union country is rather a 

 smaller one to jump, and lies on the east 



