THE ROYAL BUCKHOUNDS. 



According to long- established custom the first meet 

 for the season of the Queen^s hounds came ofi" yester- 

 day at Salt Hill. The morning was dark and lowering 

 and the rain fell heavily at intervals, the atmosphere 

 being close and altogether uninviting to those who 

 merely came to see tne sight, but to those who meant 

 business there was nothing to prevent the chance of a 

 good run on the opening day. The ten o^ clock special 

 train from Paddington arrived at the Slough Station a 

 quarter of an hour after time, bringing down seven- 

 teen horse boxes and a numerous array of ladies and 

 gentlemen on pleasure bent. I cannot compliment the 

 managers of the Great Western Railway on their 

 arrano-ements for disembarking the horses. I think 

 that a better mode could be adopted than making 

 some forty or fifty hunters traverse the platform, whilst 

 having to pass by the noisy engine, on their way 

 through the passenger exit. I for one should be sorry 

 to see a horse in high fettle subject to such treatment, 

 and I call attention to the fact, as a hint may amend a 

 dangerous practice. 



The usual motley assemblage was to be seen on my 

 arrival at Salt Hill. Carriages of all sorts and sizes ; 

 pedestrians innumerable, and a number of men more 

 or less well mounted ; and a sprinkling of ladies, who, 

 the weather notwithstanding, had resolved to join in 



