FOX-HUNTING IN ENGLAND. 203 



catalogue for the morrow, and who has not heard 

 that the Atherstone is a capital pack 1 But then 

 the Pytchley is even better known, and the train 

 reaches Rugby in time for the meet. Let the 

 choice be decided with the help of coffee and 

 cigars and possible advice, during the soothing 

 digestive half-hour in the smoking-room. Din- 

 ner over, wander away through the tortuous, 

 dim passage that leads to the sombre hall where 

 alone in English inns the twin crimes of billiards 

 and smoking are permitted, and, while writhing 

 under the furtive glances of the staid and middle- 

 aged East-Indian who evidently knows you for 

 an American, and who is your only companion, 

 decide, with your nation's ability to reach conclu- 

 sions without premises, whether it shall be Pytch- 

 ley or Atherstone. Don't ask your neighbor : he 

 is an Englishman, and have we not been told that 

 Englishmen are gruff, reticent men, who wear 

 thick shells, and whose warm hearts can be 

 reached only with the knife of a regular intro- 

 duction 1 However, you must make up your 

 mind what to do, and you need help which 



