290 ON STEEPLE-CHASING. 



we may be sure, generally a stiff one ; and 

 very little of the race could have been 

 visible to the spectators, unless indeed these 

 rode alongside, or after, the actual com- 

 petitors, which from old prints we gather 

 they were allowed to do. It was doubtless 

 on this account that, the sport becoming 

 popular, the flagged course (first on one 

 side only, and then on both) superseded 

 the point-to-point, which, however, has lately 

 been revived at hunt-meetings. The flagged 

 course was made as nearly circular as 

 possible, so that a large number of spec- 

 tators could, by taking advantage of any 

 adjacent eminence, or from the elevation 

 of a stand, see pretty well the whole of it, 

 without trouble or risk to themselves. At 

 first the flagged course was as purely 

 natural as in the point-to-point ; Aylesbury, 

 St. Albans, Leamington, and Warwick 

 having been some of the earliest and most 

 notable of cross-country fixtures. 



