FOX-HUNTIXG. 195 



white as well ; for in writing to his master on 

 one occasion about corn bills or some other 

 necessary matter, he put a P.S. at the bottom 

 of the letter — " Sir, the screws are well." Cool 

 and laconic. 



I remember reading somewhere or other, 

 though I cannot at the present moment call 

 to mind where it was that I read it, a remark 

 that you would find more really good fellows 

 at the covert-side than you would in any 

 other assembly of a like number of men in 

 any other place ; and I firmly believe this 

 to be substantially true, though all men you 

 see out hunting are not sportsmen ; the very 

 fact of their being there goes far to prove 

 that they are there with the idea of their 

 being thought or fancying themselves so. And 

 what a thoroughly English scene is that same 

 covert-side, with its brilliant array of mostly 

 , well-dressed, well-mounted men, from the tip- 

 top aristocrat, with his faultless bit of pink, 

 his immaculate and well-fitting leathers, his 

 highly-polished boots, his bright, long-necked 

 spurs, mounted on his good-looking, powerful 

 thorough-bred hunter, both of them looking 

 as cool and unconcerned as if an immediate 



