AN AUTUMN GALLOP. 21 



little clue can we gather of its make and width till we 

 see that Mr. H. T. Barclay is safely landed — and we 

 wonder why his horse should have taken no note of the 

 grass-grown rivulet beyond, which ours emphasized with so 

 pronounced a peck on his knees and nose. Up the brow 

 the next is a fair, pleasant jump, and so is the following 

 one. But " Ware wire ! " sends a chill down our backbone 

 as we approach tlie third — and right ghidly do we mark the 

 pack turning along the dreaded barrier. At this time 

 of year above all others is wire our phantom, too often 

 our embodied, enemy. Not only is the tight stretched 

 strand far more difficult to perceive through the leafy 

 branches of October, but the h^t stock has not yet found 

 a market, and the farmers are loth to weaken their 

 fences too soon. Year by year, however, we gladly and 

 thankfully notice a marked diminution, even during the 

 summer, in the quantity of wire set to guard the fences 

 of the Midlands. It is found to be so fruitful of injury to 

 cattle, so easily knocked out of order, and withal so in- 

 different a protection against the bull-headed pertinacity 

 of a restless shorthorn, that its apparent economy is no 

 longer a recommendation, and very few lines of wii-e 

 fencing are now either fresh set or renewed. Soon may 

 the old-fashioned oxer again reign paramount, to invite 

 or repel with its rugged honesty — according to the 

 measure and prompting of our years (a pun would be a 

 vile thing even in the cause of pusillanimity) and our 

 discretion. But the wire in question stretches only half 

 the breadth of the field ; and with the regard for their 

 followers that so constantly characterised the movements 



