IV. 

 AN ENGLISH FARMER. 



As Tom ]\Iaizeley sits by the covert-side, talking with 

 a respectful deference which has nothing of servility in 

 it to his landlord, Sir Henry Akerton, he would feel 

 extremely uncomfortable if he had the faintest idea that 

 he was being included in a series of sketches designed 

 for the amusement of known and unknown friends, who 

 are united by a common interest in the chase. 



Tom would laugh at the notion of being put in print ; 

 and when he does laugh it is not the mild spasm of 

 hilarity, compounded of a smile and snigger, which 

 sometimes does duty for laughter, but a peal which 

 leaves you no room for doubt as to the integrity and 

 power of his lungs. 



Having so done justice to the novelty of the proceed- 

 ing, Tom would, I suspect, feel awkward, and protest 

 that there was nothing to say about a plain chap like 

 him. Nor, perhaps, is Tom altogether wrong. There 

 is nothing particular about him. He is only a steady- 

 going, hard-headed, soft-hearted English farmer ; but 

 he is an excellent type of a class, and in a series of 

 sketches of an English hunting field must necessarily 



D 



