2 34 HISTORY OF THE BRAMHAM MOOR HUNT. 



Now we catch 'em again, as for Colton they're making, 



Earth and air, reins and tails, seem in sympathy shaking ; 



And we recognise clearly the resolute look 



Of the gallant young hand who is charging the brook ; 



Though in houdahs through jungles accustomed to ride, 



Bold Plymouth ne'er seems an offence to his pride; 



See, he fearless confides to this Leicestershire sticker, 



And calculates coolly on clearing the Vicar. 



Then his seat, a la cici, unobtrusively keen, 



Comes a rector, whose hat would fain make him a dean ; 



He'll tell you this sport saved his life— that Gibbes knew it ; — 



Now we question. Are three-year-olds likely to do it ? 



But whatever befall him, he'll stick to the track. 



For he knows he's in reach of the Boroughbridge pack; 



And as for a gate, why he needn't to fear it,* 



With Jacob and Bentley, his sureties, to clear it. 



And sure none would o'erlook that next merry young fellow. 



Were his waistcoat less radiant with scarlet and yellow; 



So laughing his mood, there no jump he looks grave at. 



Though he don't like his fences as stiff as his cravat. 



But why lingers yon slow bulky sportsman behind ? 



Both his horse and his dress of funereal kind: 



'Tis strange, for he showed signs of life when they ' found,' 



And he don't look a man that could make up his ground ; 



All in vain : — Nat, you dare him to join your third flight ; — 



No, he'll not budge a inch while a horseman's in sight ; 



For twenty-six seasons he's brought up the rear. 



And professes a system of riding by ear ; 



But he knows by its name every Bramham Moor cover, 



And he boasts there's no hedge that he hasn't led over. 



But ah ! surely ye know only half of the fun. 



Who for ever were struggling the first in the run. 



What tempers, what passions, it brought into play !^ 



Here rapture and triumph, there grief and dismay. 



There were pips, purls and crowners, each after their kind, 



There were fences of all sorts, — live, staring, and blind ; 



* It is related of tliis reverend i;enllenian that when he made a detour to 

 avoid paying the toll-bar, the two gentlemen said to him, ' We would have 

 ' been your surety for three-halfpence.' 



