Hunting Enjoyment 



(not in the saddle) with our feet under the 

 mahogany. 



As to the doings of our Epsom Draghounds, 

 amusing stories were often told by neighbours 

 who had begun to see the red light. It was said 

 that we met at a public - house, checked at a 

 public-house, and finished at a similar establish- 

 ment, remaining there until the spirit of our con- 

 viviality and good-fellowship was satiated. Base 

 calumnies, having no foundation in fact, were 

 thus circulated. 



True, after the day's brilliant sport, we stopped 

 sometimes at an inviting hostelry on our way 

 home at night, for tired horses require a little 

 gruel — they had probably had a "gruelling" — 

 and weary men have a mouth which at such an 

 hour speaks with no uncertain sound. Beyond 

 that, nothing, upon my word. An excess of 

 conviviality was not considered de rigueur. You 

 may take a horse to the water with a halter round 

 his neck, but you can't make him drink unless he 

 wants to ; and you might have taken a brave 

 Epsom drag hunter to the nearest auberge and 

 commanded him to wet his whistle with impunity 

 — I do not say that it would not have cost you 

 something. We cannot move in these higher 

 walks of life without being a bit of a pedestrian. 



123 



