3 1 6 Tally ho, 



is well worthy of a visit. The hounds are very fast 

 and steady ; the country, as 1 have before said, is a 

 stiff one, and requires a man and a horse to go across 

 it ; and it is a fine, wild, hunting district, at present 

 little damaged by railways and building speculations, 

 where you are sure of a good day^s sport and a rattling 

 gallop if you have a nag that can carry you, and the 

 pluck to ride him straight over the yawners that pre- 

 sent themselves. In olden times this ^' country ^' was 

 hunted by Lord Petre, who had a magnificent esta- 

 blishment at Thorndon Hall, a splendid pack of hounds 

 and grand stud — no expense being spared to render 

 the turn-out complete. The best part of the country 

 lies between Brentwood and Chelmsford, and in the 

 days of my youth I have had many and many a good 

 run in the vicinity of Ingatestone, Margaretting, etc. 

 But it is time to be thinking of wending my way 

 homewards, and I jog leisurely along through Up- 

 minster, passing by Hornchurch Lodge with '^ a sigh 

 of remembrance,^^ almost " a tear of regret," as I call 

 to mind the merry times passed beneath that once 

 hospitable roof; and so on until I reach Romford 

 again, and, catching a fast train at once, 1 am quickly 

 landed in Liverpool Street, and, for the first time in 

 my life, ride through the City in hunting costume, 

 passing the busy haunts of men as I journey along 

 Old Broad Street, by the Mansion House, and over 

 the water to Stamford Street, a dirty looking little 

 shoe-black touching his hat respectfully, and inquiring 

 if I had had good sport. He was a country-bred one, 

 Fll bet, and should be polishing top-boots, not black- 

 ing down-at-heel highlows for a living. 



