'274: THE HUNTING FIELD 



and never doin^ anythinj^ — railways have really made idle 

 people believe that their time is valuable. 



Housekeeping and riding we take it had been part of a 

 woman's stock education in former days. If we consult the 

 old novelist we shall find that quite as many heroines dis- 

 appeared on side-saddles or on pillions, as in the more aspiring 

 mode of hack chaises and four. Fielding, who had great 

 knowledge of both town and country life, makes his Sophia 

 Western arrive at the inn at Upton on horseback at night, 

 attended solely, if we remember rightly, b}' Mrs. Honour, the 

 housekeeper. We have not seen any writer attempt to 

 subjugate a railway train, so as to invest it with the interest 

 and sentiment necessary for a novel. The noise, the smoke, 

 the hiss, the "now. marm, if j'ou please; tickets, tickets, tickets, 

 show your tickets " — the riotous bell, and alarm whistle, are 

 all against the quiet privacy of an elopement. 



Riding for ladies is now become wholly a matter of luxury 

 — there are no journey ridings — even the pillions have dis- 

 appeared with recent years, and farmers' wives drive to market 

 in gigs with " Giles Jolter," or whatever their husband's name 

 may be, painted up behind. When her Majesty took her 

 daily promenades a citeval, as the French call them, in the Park, 

 equestrianism was all the rage, and we had nothing but smart 

 habits and slate-coloured veils. Indeed, each season shows a 

 good muster of fair equestrians still, though, perhaps, not so 

 many as there used to be. We never go into the Park without 

 thinking how much better it must be for them than the 

 enervating, listless motion of a carriage. Even park riding is 

 slow work compared to the free gallop of the country, but to 

 be sure park riding is generally pursued at a season of the year 

 when it is too hot for hard exercise. 



One of the great faults of ladies' horses, and one that 

 prevents a great number of ladies from riding, is having them 

 too fresh — too much above themselves. Grooms have what, 



