76 SKETCHES IN THE IIUNTIXG FIELD. 



to hold, with regard to the great tragedienne, that, as he 

 once confided to me in a moment of languid enthusiasm. 

 Miss Farren " could give her fifty in a hundred and beat 

 her head off." 



The more serious forms of the lyric drama do not win 

 Tourneymeade's admiration. He went to see an opera 

 last season without observing the name of the produc- 

 tion, and with but a very faint appreciation of the 

 plot. "There was a lot of dancing and some fights, 

 and a red beggar cutting about and doing tricks. 

 Then a fellow came on and sang a deuce of a lengthy 

 song to a house, and at last they all went to heaven 

 — singing all the time, you know — no one allowed to 

 speak a word." This opera we assumed was Faust 

 (although Tourneymeade appears to have been slightly 

 mistaken as to the ultimate destination to which the 

 hero is conducted), and when we pressed him for 

 details about the song he remembered, his criticism 

 much amused me. 



" I liked that sort of ' View Holloa ' he gave," Tour- 

 neymeade replied, meaning the high C which occurs in 

 the aria. " Oh, yes, I liked that fellow. Good second 

 whip he'd make, wouldn't he ? Pretty voice to call 

 hounds out of covert." The notion struck us as 

 quaint. 



It is principally in the hunting field, however, that 

 we have to deal with Tourneymeade, and when we take 

 an occasional turn with the Fallowfield, as some of us 

 do now and then when their meets are on our side of 



