CLOTHING 17 



argument, and the best way to explain the right and 

 the wrong of " rat-catcher " kit is to say — 



Look on Plate No. L, Figures i and 2. 



Looking at these two pictures the captious critic 

 says — " What is the first gentleman going to do ? 



" Does he mean to commit suicide by knocking 

 his head against a bough as he jumps a fence, or by 

 falling on his head on a hard piece of ground ? If 

 so, his soft cloth cap will certainly further his 

 wishes. Perhaps he means to hang himself, by 

 means of his sailor-knot tie, in the first fence he 

 comes to ? Why does he stick his thongless crop 

 up in the air like that ? Is he going to brush a 

 walnut-tree, or to throw a fly ? And what will he 

 do without a thong if asked to stop or turn a 

 hound ? Is he going to write down an account of 

 the run, and the number of the fences that he jumps, 

 on his protruding white shirt cuffs, or is he giving 

 the shirt its last tour of duty before it goes to the 

 wash ? 



" By his short round coat we conclude that the 

 gentleman means to let the public see how closely 

 he sticks to his saddle, while the broadside position 

 of his breeches buttons shows that he is no anato- 

 mist, and the tightness of the breeches in the thigh 

 seems to indicate that they were made for a ballet- 

 dancer. 



" No doubt his spurs contain some patent clino- 

 meter to measure the slopes of the banks he jumps, 

 for they are already set at an angle of forty-five 



degrees with the ground." 



c 



