220 WHIP AND SPUR. 



"fixtures" of the Warwickshire Hunt. There 

 were about a hundred persons, including a few 

 ladies, and one little bareheaded " blue -coat " 

 school-boy (from Charles Lamb's school), who, 

 with his folded umbrella, long skirt, low shoes, 

 and yellow hose, was in for as much sport as his 

 Christmas holiday could give him. As a further 

 penalty for want of forethought, I was reduced 

 to riding a friend's coach-horse. However, the 

 reduction was not great, for whether by early 

 instruction or by inheritance, he was more than 

 half a hunter, and gave me a capital look at the 

 whole day's chase ; while his owner, on a most 

 charming black blood mare, being out of con- 

 dition for hard riding, kindly applied himself 

 to urging me to severer work than one likes to 

 do with a borrowed horse. He introduced me to 

 a venerable old gentleman in a time-and-weather- 

 stained red coat, velvet cap, and well-used nether 

 gear, mounted on a knowing-looking old gray, 

 and attended by his granddaughter. He could 

 not have been less than eighty years old, and 

 his days of hard riding were over; but constant 



