RIDING TO FOX-HOUNDS 



of discomfiture and vexation, if it leads in the 

 same direction as the Hne of chase. On its firm, 

 unyieldinp^ surface your horse is regaining his 

 wind with every stride. Should a turnpike- 

 gate bar your progress, chuck the honest fellow 

 a shilling who swings it back and never mind the 

 change. We hunt on sufferance ; for our own 

 sakes we cannot make the amusement too popular 

 with the lower classes. The same argument 

 holds good as to feeing a countryman who assists 

 you in any way when you have a red coat on 

 your back. Reward him with an open hand. 

 He will go to the public-house and drink "fox- 

 hunting" amongst his friends. It is impossible 

 to say how many innocent cubs are preserved by 

 such judicious liberality to die what Charles 

 Payne calls "a natural death." 



And now your quiet perseverance meets its 

 reward. You regain your place with the hounds, 

 and are surprised to find how easily and temper- 

 ately your horse, not yet exhausted, covers large 

 tlying fences in his stride. A half-beaten hunter, 

 as I have already observed, will "lob over" high 

 and wide places if they can be done in a single 

 effort, although instinct causes him to "cut them 

 very fine," and forbids unnecessary exertion ; but 

 it is "the beginning of the end," and you must 

 not presume on his game, enduring qualities too 

 long. 



189 



