HUNTING IN THE MIDLANDS 159 



which has not more than one pack of hounds in its 

 immediate vicinity ; and you will find that the 

 riders who make up the regular field are inhabitants 

 of the town — men who are at work four or five 

 days in the week at their desk or counter, and who 

 hunt the remaining one or two. There is no 

 greater instrument of social harmony than that of 

 the modern hunting field: and, it may be added, 

 there is no institution which affords a healthier 

 opportunity for the ebullition of what may be called 

 the democratic instincts of human nature. The 

 hunting field is the paradise of equality : and the 

 only title to recognition is achievement. ''Eank," 

 says a modern authority on the sport, " has no 

 privilege ; and wealth can afford no protection." 

 Out of the hunting field there may be a wide gulf 

 which separates peasant from peer, tenant from land- 

 lord. But there is no earthly power which can 

 compel the tenant to give way to the landlord, or 

 the peasant to the peer, when the scent is good and 

 hounds are in full cry. 



As we get to the bottom of the long and irregu- 

 larly - paved street which constitutes the main 

 thoroughfare — indeed, I might add, the entire town 

 of Chippington — we fall in with other eques- 

 trians bound for Branksome Bushes — the meet 

 fixed for that day — distant not more than two miles 



