CHAPTER XII 



WHAT TO WEAR 



Buckskin's the only wear fit for the saddle, 

 Hats for Hyde Park, but a cap for the chase ; 



In tops of black leather let fishermen paddle, 

 The calves of a fox-hunter white ones encase. 



Egerton Warburton. 



Tempore mutantur nos et mutamur in Mis, a saying 

 familiar to triteness, is as applicable to hunting 

 fashion as it is to everything else in this world, 

 and the fashion of the present day is as different 

 to that of the days in which Egerton Warburton 

 wrote, as was the fashion in his day to that when 

 our forefathers rode out in " broad-lapped coats, 

 top-boots, black cap, and a pigtail sticking out.' 1 

 What to wear in the hunting field is a question of 

 no small importance, as health, comfort, and even 

 safety depend in no small degree upon well-fitting 

 garments. Time was, and that not so very long 

 ago, when breeches were made so tight that a man 

 could scarcely stir when he fell, and these were by 

 no means conducive to safety. They also were 

 sooner wet through than the roomy garments 

 which are now in wear. The single-breasted 

 frock coat which was the fashion in the beginning 

 of the century is now again the vogue, though in 

 a modified form, and shorter in the skirt, and a 



