'* IT IS OUR OPENING DAY." 51 



grandchildren of Eifleman, Eegiuald, Squire 

 Osbaldiston's Ferryman, Ranter, and his son 

 Royalist, with — not to be diffuse, for to make 

 a catalogue of hounds interesting even to 

 enthusiasts it is indispensable that the hounds 

 themselves should be visible — the offspring of 

 the Belvoir Bertram and Nelson from the same 

 stock. The hunt servants are in attendance, 

 and a number of the sturdy farmers who form 

 the backbone of fox-hunting, are grouped about. 

 A thin stream is setting in towards the 

 house, and this, having dismounted, we join. 

 Happily for one who does not possess the pen of 

 a Francatelli, a sketch in the hunting field does 

 not necessarily include the details of the dining- 

 room, and the list of birds, beasts, and fishes 

 cunningly dressed need not be given. Business 

 is meant this morning, and as a consequence 

 seats have been judiciously removed, so that the 

 various old and young gentlemen who are prone 

 to finish their breakfasts and then begin an 

 exhaustive summary of the last few years' sport, 

 are not tempted to remain and take those final 

 glasses of sherry, which are not conducive to 

 steady riding. Our mission to-day is to see the 

 hounds eat fox, and not to eat ourselves. Still, 

 when hunting men get together, they will talk. 

 One man has been to Rome, and talks of gallops 



