HUNT UNIFORMS 91 



curious instances have come under my notice. 

 For instance, I have seen a man resplendent in 

 scarlet at a great function who only went hunting 

 in a carriage, and not often then, who did not 

 own an acre of land in the hunt, and who sub- 

 scribed the minimum subscription for the purpose 

 of attending the hunt dinner and wearing the 

 hunt uniform. Worse than that, there were 

 shrewd suspicions that foxes were safer anywhere 

 than on the shooting which he rented. When I 

 saw that individual it struck me that if I had been 

 wearing the hunt uniform myself the incongruity 

 of the situation would have been painful, for I 

 should have thought one of us was making a 

 mistake. I once knew even a worse case than this. 

 The gentleman in question, who was wearing his 

 smart coat for all the world as if he were a first 

 flight man, and whose conversation was of hunting 

 and nothing else — a rechauffe indeed of the sport- 

 ing papers — had never been on a horse, had not, 

 nor was he ever likely to have, an acre of land in 

 the country, and really took no interest in sport of 

 any kind. Evidently here was a case of bad taste 

 on some one's part — probably on the part of more 

 than one or two. So, though I must own that 

 I like to see the scarlet, black is perhaps the 

 safest wear, especially as the example of the 

 golf club may be followed by cricket and 

 football clubs, and a plethora of fancy colours 

 result. 



