THE FOREST 171 



Chapman himself always rode on strong bridles and asserted 

 his prerogatives. He would never put up with the various 

 liberties a light bridle permits a horse to take with his 

 rider, A long cheeked sliding-bar double bridle, a Cheshire 

 martingale, a leather strap instead of a curb chain, turnings 

 here, twistings there, plenty of fir-trees, and the discontents 

 and surprises of the forest are the best things in the world 

 to make your Rupert and Lady Clara Vere de Vere lose the 

 self-consciousness which so often renders them a nuisance 

 to themselves and their riders. 



And so farewell to the forest and the heather, to the lean 

 cultivation, the ineffectual turnips, to the commons and the 

 geese, the jays and the unfashionable side of the Queen's 

 country. Let all stag-hunters remember that Charles 

 Davis, the great tradition of the royal pack, was devoted to 

 the forest. One October, on the last day of forest hunting 

 years ago, he said to Dr. Croft, of Bracknell, who knew him 

 well, and to whom I am indebted for a great deal of help 

 and information, ' Now my fun is over — on Tuesday my 

 troubles begin.' 



