CHAPTER VII 



THE LAST MORNING EXERCISE 



This morning, like the spirit of a youth 

 That means to be of note, begins betimes. 



Antony and Cleopatra. 



Full many a glorious morning have I seen. 



Shakespeare, Sonnet XXXIII. 



If a man be fond of hounds and possessed of 

 ample leisure, there is no better way in which he 

 can spend his mornings during the month of 

 August and the early part of September than in 

 joining hounds when they are out for their " long 

 exercise." Indeed, if his leisure be scarce it is well 

 worth his while to make an effort to have at least 

 one or two mornings' exercise with the pack of 

 which he speaks lovingly as "our hounds." For 

 a man who loves a country life there is ever some- 

 thing new to see in those country rides in the early 

 hours succeeding the dawn of an August morning, 

 the sun shining brightly but without the intensity 

 which inconveniences later in the day, the cobwebs 

 in the hedges, the belated hare wandering back to 

 her form, the busy and ubiquitous rabbit scuttling 

 hurriedly out of the way of the horse's feet as you 

 ride along the bridle road, a bridle road which 

 recalls so many happy memories that you fall into 



