THE ESSEX UNION. 



A LOVELY spring morning, a brilliant sunshine, a 

 balmy atmosphere, a quiet stroll along Piccadilly, a 

 leisurely lounge in Hyde Park, a smile from the 

 prettiest girl honouring that place of fashionable resort 

 with her presence, a cordial invitation to luncheon at 

 the pleasantest club of the period — the Badminton — 

 and a suggestion that a ride on the following day, 

 with the Essex Union Foxhounds would be an ex- 

 ceedingly good way of passing the time, were things 

 eminently calculated to put a man on good terms with 

 himself; and it was this happy combination of cir- 

 cumstances that led me to fall so readily in with the 

 idea, and fixed my determination to try, after a 

 lapse of many years, a gallop across the " country '' in 

 which, half a century since, I first learned to ride to 

 hounds. Now, I like hunting at all times, but I have 

 an especial predilection for pursuing the noble sport 

 in the spring time of the year, 



" Wlien daisies pied, and violets blue, 

 And lady-smocks all silver white, 

 And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue 

 Do paint the meadows with dehght." 



Many are the good runs that I have enjoyed during 

 the month of March; the "country" usually rides 

 light and well, and if you get on the line of a good 



