270 THE HMNTINCi FIELD 



concern, and have veiy much the same sort of appearance that 

 a man in top-boots and spurs would have in a ball-room. Let 

 ladies come on horseback, especially if the}- are prett\-, for then 

 the gentlemen can make up to them through their horses, just 

 as they sometimes make up to gentlemen through the gentle- 

 men's dogs. Moreover, having to " attend to the ladies" is an 

 excellent excuse for any " coffee-houser " who wants to cut 

 home when they find. Having then cantered to the meet, and 

 seen old reynard start, let our fair friends canter home to 

 luncheon, "with such appetites as they may"' — generall}- 

 pretty good ones, we should -think. 



One of our objections to ladies hunting, though we do not 

 know that we have ever seen it taken before, is that it deprives 

 gentlemen of the agreeable change and variet)' which their 

 society makes in the evening. Without intending the slightest 

 disrespect to the fair sex, we may say that it is possible to have 

 "too much of a good thing," and, if we exhaust all our jokes 

 and small-talk in a morning, it is very likely we shall be " high 

 and dry " in the evening. It is this sort of over-communication 

 that makes daih' hunt dinners such irksome, tedious things. 

 You sit down with the same men that you have been riding 

 about with all the daj' to a hash of the same conversation that 

 }'0u have been indulging in before. We have all our fancies 

 and ideas as to what is most pleasant and agreeable, but to our 

 mind the good dinner and cheerful female society of the 

 evening is no small enhancer of the pleasures of the morning. 

 If, then, the ladies have been at the meet, they can take part 

 and interest in the hunting part of the conversation, which 

 otherwise would be extremel}- dull and uninteresting to them. 

 What man ever wants to be bored with the details of a day 

 of which he has not partaken ? 



When \\'omen do ride the_\- generally ride like the very devil. 

 There is no medium with them. They either " go " to beat 

 the men, or tlwy don't "go" at all. We have seen some 



