LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xxiii 



TAIL PIECES 



Drawn by Henry Alken 



TAGE 



i. Full Cry !....■ 9 



2. Spree at Melton Mowbray ; or, Doing the Thing in a 



Sportsman-like Manner. Anno Domini 1837. Quick Work 

 without a Contract, by Tip-Top Sawyers 22 



" If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly." 



—Shakespeare. 



"Coming it strong with a spree and a spread, 

 Milling the daylights or cracking a head ; 

 Go it, ye cripples ! come tip us your mauleys, 

 Up with the lanthorns, and down with the Charleys." 



3. Drawing a Cover 31 



4. The Master taking the Gate 67 



5. All the Difference. Not used to it. Used to it . . 100 



6. A Check ; or, The Misery of a Nailed-up Gate . . 140 



7. Spree at Melton Mowbray. Larking at the Grantham 



Toll-Gate ; or, Coming in for the Brush ! A Society 

 of Distinguished Painters, who hunt with Fox-hounds, live splen- 

 didly, and only paint at Night 171 



" They left no man's sign, name, or calling 

 Untouched by something most appalling." 



8. The Return Home. Discretion the Better Part of 



Valour 217 



9. Death of the "Varmint" 245 



10. Crowding at a Gap; or, Who shall be First? . . .279 



n. A Morning Refresher 293 



12. A Stable at Melton Mowbray 311 



