298 The Pytchley Hunt, Past and Present. 



mount — the feat of the Oxonian shows well up when 

 compared with that of the notable " Squire/^ To ride 

 for five hours successively at the rate of twenty-two miles 

 per hour on a hard macadamized road, argues the 

 possession of remarkable powers of endurance, and of a 

 cuticle something more than '* pachydermatous." Greatly 

 appreciated as was this arduous feat by the junior 

 members of his college, the ^^Authorities " did not seem 

 to see it in the same light ; and the sporting member 

 of Christ Church was ordered to retire into the country 

 for twelve months, and so purge himself of the offence of 

 having successfully accomplished a feat, which in the 

 eyes of most Oxonians was a thing to be highly proud of. 



This unlooked-for interruption to his studies, being not 

 unlikely to excite the paternal indignation, the ^' hero of 

 a hundred miles " was forced to bring the matter 

 somewhat gingerly before the domestic Jove. The 

 paternal ire, if aroused at all, seems — probably through 

 the intervention of an ever-watchful allayer of storms — 

 quickly to have subsided; and it was not long before 

 the much-expecting son received the following com- 

 munication : — 



''^Deak Drue, — You're a fool. Come home.'' 



By those knowing the writer the above might have 

 borne the following interpretation : — 



"Am delighted: wish I ever could have done the 

 same! '' 



In those, the palmy days of the Oxford stable-keepers, 

 twenty hacks might have been seen in Oriel Lane on 

 each hunting-morning, awaiting the completion of their 

 hirers' breakfasts. So completely at that period did 

 hunting seem to be looked on by the undergraduates as 



