194 HUNTING 



the top of their speed. I kept close to the young Squire, 

 when, presently, coming to a high fence, I went side by 

 side over it with him, and at the same time, whether in 

 lifting his hind-quarters too high, as some horses will do 

 in clearing a live fence, or whether the potent liquors I 

 had imbibed had an effect on my equilibrium, I went over 

 Miser's head, and the old Squire's ringing laugh at my 

 mishap was heard above all the others, though he was on 

 the other side of the field in the road. 



Not in the least hurt, I soon regained my saddle, and 

 after a long run, with only one check — the deer lying 

 down in a brook — I contrived to be in when he was taken. 

 After a prolonged ride home — more than twenty miles — 

 with the huntsman and two others, the day's sport wound 

 up, as such days usually do, with an excellent dinner, 

 Avhen social hilarity was continued to a late hour, my 

 somersault provoking general mirth whenever referred to. 



The two following days were spent in the exhibition of 

 a sport that is fast fading away, one which I have touched 

 upon in the early part of this book as peculiar to this 

 country. Men of all ranks attended, good-fellowship 

 reigned, hospitality abounded, and altogether it was a 

 good picture of merry old England. Another day with 

 the hounds, in which I was more fortunate, terminated 

 my visit, and I returned home pleased and gratified 

 beyond measure with the mark of distinction that had 

 been bestowed on me by my kind entertainer. 



If I were to record all the good acts of this benevolent 

 man, I should very soon fill a volume ; suflS.ce it to say, 

 they ceased only with his life ; and ever since I attended 

 the mournful cavalcade that bore him to his last resting- 



