380 THE CREAM OF LEICESTERSHIRE. [Seasox 



you may go over it as quick. But where will you get half— a 

 tenth part of— tlie fun and life on the way ? You should be 

 young, or still fancy yourself young. It is not a country for 

 riding to points, or for sitting in your saddle on a quiet 

 eminence, watch in hand. You must still be hearty and am- 

 bitious enough to bustle and thrust, if only by road and lane. 

 You must at least throw in energy enough to grow red in the 

 face, mop your brow, and talk excitedly when a gallop is over. 

 (We speak of a r/alloj} here — very seldom of a run unless it has 

 failed to reach the standard of a gallop.) You must come 

 home aglow, swear you never rode such a horse in your life, 

 order the best of your limited cellar, and drink foxhunting 

 emphaticall}^ at least once a week — or things are going down- 

 hill, and the sooner yon are off to ]Mudshire the better. 



Here are the events of Frida}', as far as I can set on paper 

 the outline of what already seems a hurried happy dream — 

 figures, faces, and fiicts tumbling over each other in a misty 

 chaos of excited action. Memory may clear and the thread 

 unwind itself as I go along. I remember, to start with, that 

 the meet was Beeby, the field (the effect of non-advertisement) 

 scarce!}" a crowd — certainly not a medley — and that the chief 

 new arrivals were the Duke of Portland and Captain Candy. 

 I remember that a stiff shower took all the glaze off our war- 

 paint ere the meet was reached — and that throughout the day 

 the air was hot and choldng as a sirocco (three days previously, 

 you may remember, we were slipping about in the snow at 

 Tilton !). Now we are at the Coplow ; memor}^ has had a dig 

 of the spur ; and we may start fair. 



After cubhunting experience, it was only to be expected that 

 a cloud of foxes should be afoot. (No, by the hye, the term, 

 an old book told me years ago, should be a sculk of foxes, as it 

 was also of friars and thieves; while, added the same authority', 

 a company of cobblers should be spoken of as *' a drunken- 

 ship.") But it was luck and ready management that allowed 

 of our getting away at once with the traveller. It is no easy 

 matter to lay hounds on from Botany Bay, the covert imder 



