78 LADIES ON HORSEBACK. 



about to ride the run. Nothing is more 

 charming than to see three or four ladies, 

 nicely turned out, arrive to grace the meet 

 with their presence, but nothing is more 

 abominable than the same number of amazons 

 coming galloping up in full hunting toggery, 

 although without the least idea of hunting, 

 and rushing hither and thither, frightening 

 the hounds and getting in everybody's way, 

 as though they were personages of the vastest 

 possible importance, and meant to ride with a 

 skill not second to that of the Nazares. Such 

 women are the horror and spoliation of every 

 hunting-field. They dash off with the hounds 

 the moment the fox is found, but happily the 

 first fence stops them, and a fervent thankful- 

 ness is felt by every true lover of the chase 

 as they pause discomfited, look dismally at 

 the yawning chasm, and jog crestfallen away 

 to the road. 



There are many ladies, and estimable ladies, 

 too, who take out their horses every hunting- 

 day, and by keeping upon the roadways see all 

 that they can of the hounds. Sometimes 

 they are fortunate, sometimes not ; it depends 



