FOX-HUNTING IN ENGLAND. 207 



greater. Can you direct me to a hotel where 

 I can get a bite before I go on 1 ?" 



" Certainly : you will find the Angel very com- 

 fortable; take the next street to the right, and 

 you will soon reach it. Good morning ; it is nine 

 miles to the meet, and I will move on slowly. 

 Command me if I can help you when you come 

 up." 



I did find the Angel comfortable, (as what Eng- 

 lish inn is not?) and soon fortified myself with 

 cold pheasant and sherry, — a compact and little- 

 burdensome repast to ride upon, — served in a 

 cosey old coffee-room by the neatest and most 

 obliging of handmaidens. 



On the road I fell in with straggling groups of 

 horsemen, in red coats and black coats, leather 

 breeches and cords, white tops and black; all 

 neat and jaunty, and all wearing the canonical 

 stove-pipe hat. My little mare was brisk, and I 

 had no hard riding to save her for, so I passed 

 a dozen or more of the party, getting from each 

 one some form or other of pleasant recognition, 

 and finally from a handsome young fellow on a 



