1S81— 82.] HARD AND FAST. 411 



the v^Ry, as should be in a well-regulated country. Were I 

 Dictator Gladstone for one j'ear, it should be enacted that 

 every landlord be held responsible for his gates swinging and 

 latching easily in accordance with the progress of the age, 

 that every sheep-dog should be imprisoned under reasonable 

 suspicion from October to May, and that intellectual indoor 

 pursuits should be insisted upon with a view to the education 

 of the lower agricultural classes, between 11 a.m. and darkness 

 during the same months. In return for this, I would insist on 

 that section of the liveried class known as second-horsemen 

 leaving the polemical line of action, which so often brings them 

 within measurable distance of conflict with the sons of the 

 soil — I would have them all paraded at the meet (sandwich- 

 boxed, well-mannered, and unspurred), to be trotted along the 

 roads in charge of one responsible keeper. The latter, it is 

 true would occupy about as enviable a position as a commis- 

 sary-general in a campaign ; and he would be a genius indeed 

 if he passed a pleasant hour between one and two p.m. But if 

 His Grace and Gillard would surrender an old and valued asso- 

 ciate. General Chambers might surely assume with credit and 

 safety the post of Chief of the Staff to the Belvoir field. 



But this is very much by the way ; and the way had reached 

 Melton Spinney. Without touching this, hounds passed round 

 and beyond to enter on the waste of plough, stretching thence 

 to Brentingby Spinnies. The Thorpe Arnold Brook lies in the 

 first valley : and a useless wire has for many years guarded its 

 tempting bank. Only a shout of dread and warning, evolved 

 from the experience of a previously burnt child, called atten- 

 tion to the iniquitous iron, hidden as it was in thorn and sun- 

 shine. How good the scent, was proved by the way hounds 

 carried it over acre after acre of deep dirt. Nearing Waltham, 

 they reached grass and pace again ; and six-in-a-line was the 

 result of a single trap — two men of class being carried ofi" at 

 the nose by an overhanging bough, a thii'd jumping among the 

 debris ; and three others accepting the inevitable close by. 

 The trifling check above Stonesby Ashes gave an opportunity 



