232 Tally ho, 



chase course. The very neat man on the handsome 

 grey, whose name is suggestive of Banks and hohdays, 

 is found in practice to be extremely good at banks and 

 ditches; and if you follow his lead too closely, you 

 may perchance find your account on the wrong side of 

 the hedge, for as Spenser observed, ^^ He that strives 

 to touch a starre. Oft stombles at a strawe/^ But 

 here comes Tom Firr, the premier huntsman of 

 England, as I once heard him called by an exceed- 

 ingly good judge, 



A very neat horseman is the huntsman of the 

 Quorn, as bold as a lion, exceedingly quick in get- 

 ting to his hounds, and showing sport whenever he 

 has an opportunity. It must be remembered that 

 whoever hunts the Quorn will always find that he 

 has great difficulty to contend with, from the fact 

 of the ^*' field ^^ disdaining to wait for the hounds 

 in their anxiety to get a good start. But it must 

 not be forgotten on the other hand, that he that hesi- 

 tates is lost, for the Quorn Lave a habit of slipping 

 away at a racing pace ; and if you want to be in the 

 front rank, you must get away close to the pack, or 

 you will find yourself nowhere at all. 



With regard to ladies riding regularly to hounds. I 

 have before spoken ; and it must now be considered 

 an established fact that the presence of a considerable 

 number of good sportswomen is always to be looked 

 for with every first-rate pack. As a guide to those of 

 the 'fair sex who may intend to join in this favourite 

 amusement, I may as well say that the costume of 

 a hard-riding huntress of the present day consists of a 

 short, closely-fitting habit of blue cloth of difieren* 

 shades, or, in some cases, of light grey, with collars 



