232 WHIP AND SPUR. 



always has won and always shall win her honor 

 in the field; — and Long live the Queen, and 

 Here 's a health to the Handley Cross Hunt, and 

 Confusion to the mean and niggardly spirit that 

 is filling the country with wire fences and that 

 would do away with the noble sport which is 

 the glory of old England ! Hear ! hear ! ! And 

 so it ends, and half the company, in velvet caps, 

 scarlet coats, leathers and top-boots, will be early 

 on the ground at the first meet of the next 

 autumn, glad to see their old cover-side friends 

 once more, and hoping for a jolly winter of such 

 healthful amusements and pleasant intercourse as 

 shall put into their heads and their hearts and 

 into their hearty frames and ruddy faces a tenfold 

 compensation for the trifling loss they may sustain 

 in the way of broken gates and trampled fields. 



I saw too little to be able to form a fair opinion 

 as to the harm done; but when once the run 

 commences no more account is made of wheat, 

 which is carefully avoided when going at a slow 

 pace, than if it were so much sawdust; fences 

 are torn down, and there is no time to replace 



