242 Silk and Scarlet, 



one heart and one pulse, to Epsom Downs and Don- 

 caster Moor. Twelve years have gone by since " John 

 Davis " became its Tyrtseus in " The Ring." He spoke 

 proudly then of 



*' The sport which Grafton loves, 

 Which Spencer, Portland, Albemarle approves ; 

 Which kings have fostered, and a country's pride, 

 Protest who may, will never cast aside" — 



and who is there to gainsay him ? 



CHAPTER IV. 



SCARLET. 



** Each season has its joys, 'tis true, 

 And none should wisdom spurn ; 

 But those who nature rightly view, 

 Enjoy them in their turn ; 

 The angler, racer, courser, shot — 

 As each to each is borne, — 

 But the season of seasons, is it not 

 When the huntsman winds his horn ?" 



RAMBLE THE FIRST. 



Prophets of \T 7'HEN great authorities assure us 

 Evil. Y V that fox-hunting is nothing more 



or less than " a number of horsemen riding furiously 

 after a nasty smell," and cheerfully append their 

 decision that " the whole thing must soon come to an 

 end," it requires more than ordinary faith and elas- 

 ticity to write upon the subject, with such words of 

 doom in the air. Still the recollection of the scores 

 of quiet evenings which we have spent, note-book in 

 hand, not only with Dick Christian, but in certain 

 snug little Nimrod shrines, from Durham to Dorset- 



