6 THE IITNTIXG FIELD 



recollection of oj-ster-shop keepers and licensed wittlers — 

 Dando,* who could eat a peck of oysters, and pick his teeth 

 with a shoulder of mutton bone for luncheon — Dando, the 

 nimble, plausible, dexterous Dando, who, with all the luggage 

 aboard, could outstrip the most heron-gutted chop-house 

 waiter, or the swiftest and best winded of the great " unboiled " 

 — Dando can never die ! Die he may, in the common every 

 day dolly-mop world, but die he never can in the recollection 

 of those whom he honoured with his large, though somewhat 

 expensive patronage. 



And how do we connect the feats of Dando with the 

 necessary qualifications for a Master of Foxhounds ? Wh}-, 

 thus — Dando was a great " feeder," and so should a Master. 

 Next to drawing a gentleman's covers in a morning, drawing 

 the ladies' covers in an evening is of the last importance. 



And here let us request our friend the printer to have the 

 kindness to print the word "cover" as we have written it. 

 We are aware that modern fashion has tacked a " t " to the 

 end, but Peter Beckford, who is quite authority enough for us, 

 wrote it as we have done. Moreover, in this instance, adding 

 a "t " would spoil the point of the sentence. 



Hark, back to dinner, and Dando ! 



Hunting and hospitality are almost synonymous, and the 

 man who hunts a country must calculate on a good deal of 

 knife-and-fork work. Dining out much is hard work — dreadful 

 where a man is "cock" guest every time. Still a Master must 

 undergo it, or the ladies won't reckon him "a nice man." If 

 the dress uniform of the hunt is scarlet, or \-ellow, or orange 



* Dando, we may state for the benefit of the juvenile, was a wandering 

 sort of cormorant, much addicted to oysters, but whose means being in no 

 way proportionate to his appetite, he used to be under the necessity of 

 "bolting" after having "bolted "as many oysters as he could hold. He 

 used to afford "fine runs" to the police, and we believe it was in contem- 

 plation at one time to engage him for the purpose of being hunted by the 

 Queen's stag hounds. 



