172 THE TEINITY FOOT BEAGLES 



man and member of most of the Solent Clubs and of one of the life- 

 boat crews as well. He and Pike Pease stand side by side in my 

 T.F.B. photo ; now they glare at each other, I believe, across the Floor 

 of the House, and both are victims of Mr. E. T. Eeed. I remember 

 sitting next Seely at tea at some hospitable farmer's at littleport, 

 and being gravely reproved by him for not properly appreciating the 

 liver wing of a chicken. 



Carr-EUison alluded to beagling etiquette which he learned under 

 Allgood's wing. In those days it was almost absurdly strict, yet no one 

 was rude enough, or perhaps one should say kind enough, to show a 

 new-comer transgressions or to explain the code. You were expected 

 to pick the whole thing up by your native powers of observation. 



The rules, which were never written down, and never spoken about, 

 and never disobeyed, were as follows : — 



As regards dress: one naturally went out beagling in a tweed 

 jacket and cap, with knickerbockers or breeches, and the fashionable 

 material for the latter was a dense drab cotton material known as 

 "thorn-proof." " Thorn -proof " breeches were, of course, practical 

 in those days more than now. For then close-cropped blackthorn 

 hedges were negotiated by rushing at them, leaping in the air, and 

 falling flat on your stomach across the top. In the rebound you got 

 your heels in the air and your head down, landing on your hands on 

 the far side. It was a sort of on-and-off header, and seems to have 

 become a lost art. G. D. MiUer was a great performer in that line. 

 The unwritten law of dress was most exacting in details. To begin 

 with, a soft cashmere scarf worn once round the neck and folded 

 across in front without pin or ornament was the only neck wear. 

 Linen collars were anathema, and GoUege or club colours of any sort 

 whatsoever, even pink and white of the Athenteum,! maranatha ! 

 You might not even wear them among your wraps for driving to and 

 from the meets ! A linen coUar is not convenient when you run hard 

 and get hot, and gaiters are clumsy and heavy, so that the rules were 

 not wholly unpractical. But this does not account for the strict 

 taboo of colours. 



^ In those days Beagle officials were not made " Athenoeum bloods," but some 

 members of that august society used to come out more or less regularly. 



