LADIES IN THE SHIRES 275 



matter of course. For some time indeed women have 

 retained certain privileges. They were exempt from 

 subscriptions, were given the first chance at gates and 

 gaps, and were permitted unrebuked to do things 

 that were forbidden to men. But now all this has 

 changed. Women are expected to subscribe. The 

 cap is collected from them as from any one else in hunts 

 where they are strangers or visitors. They take their 

 turn at gates or gaps ; and the only possible privi- 

 lege that remains to them is to ride perhaps a shade 

 closer to their leader and to give him a little less 

 room at a fence than a man would be expected to do 

 under similar circumstances. No one who goes to 

 Melton for the first time can possibly fail to note the 

 admirable riding and turn-out of the ladies whom he 

 will see there. Everything is plain, practical and 

 neat. The cut and fit of the habits is for the most 

 part perfect. A serviceable grey cloth is the most 

 common with an apron, a useful long-skirted coat and 

 a neatly tied hunting scarf with a plain gold safety- 

 pin. No jewellery, of course ; no fluttering ends. The 

 whole is crowned with a tall hat or a well-fitting round 

 one. A stout serviceable hunting whip (of course 

 with a thong), stout enough to catch and hold a 

 gate, is always carried. Many women wear a spur, 

 but that should only be permitted to those who 

 are really horsewomen of the first class. We 

 shall see that the horses they ride are strong and 

 useful animals, often up to fourteen stone and well- 

 bred hunters, but not thoroughbred as a rule. The 

 clean-bred horse is generally too uncertain a con- 

 veyance over a stiff country to be safe or suitable for 

 a lady. I should say that the majority of ladies' 

 hunters came from Ireland. I know of several ladies 

 who keep large studs whose horses are carefully 



