VI INTRODUCTION. 



doings of a very distinguished foreign lady^ 

 who had lately come to our shores. I was 

 there, of course; and whilst we waited for 

 the Imperial party, I amused myself hy 

 watching the moving panorama, and taking^ 

 notes of costume and effect. Everybody who 

 could procure anything upon which to ride, 

 from a racehorse to a donkey, was there 

 that day, and vehicles of all descriptions 

 blocked np every available inch of the lordly 

 avenues and well-kept carriage-drives. 



There is for me so great an attraction in a 

 number of " ladies on horseback " that I 

 looked at them, and at them alone. One 

 sees gentlemen riders every hour in the day, 

 but ladies comparatively seldom; every 

 hunting morning finds about a hundred and 

 fifty mounted males ready for the start, and 

 only on an average about six mounted females, 

 of whom probably not more than the haK will 

 ride to hoimds. This being the case, I always 



