claims to notice even of the Oxford representatives. The fact is, that in the late Mr. Drake one saw what one does not see every day—I thought so at the time, and I think so now-a man so well assured of his own title to respect that he was not obliged to keep a pack of hounds for anything but the pure enjoyment of the thing. He had no electioneering turns to serve; he was not obliged to burden himself with a troublesome business, for the sake of keeping in with the county gentlemen for seven years at a stretch; he had no new or false position to maintain, to be done by riding or drinking himself into good society, for the sake of men who like to "bell the cat" at as little personal expense or trouble as possible; but he was a straightforward English gentleman, of a school passing away, who loved hunting for itself, and was only jealous of his privilege of making others as happy as himself. I have ridden up against him, and into the middle of his hounds, more than once or twice, in former times. It might be an equivocal mode of demonstrating my respect; but I felt it, and always shall.

Whether it is too wet, or whether it is too dry, or too hot, or too cold, somehow or other it will happen that in November one does not always find immediately. Upon the present occasion the family was "not at home." We called at next door with no better success; a fourth and fifth cover was drawn in the same hopeless state; and about two o'clock in the day you could have drawn nothing so blank as our faces. Then my Lord Tom Noddy recollected that they were lying out, as he had met with one in a turnip field a few days before: Binks thought we wanted rain, to drive them out of the drains where they had taken refuge: Young Snaffles thought they were on the stubbles, because the covers were too wet : and old Farmer Cruppers, who was always miserable about wheat or something else, shook his head gravely, and thought there was "something wrong somewhere." Everybody agreed that it was a bore; some took to their sandwichboxes and sherry, some to cigars; and a few old files, whose horses were not quite fit, and whose notions of sport were not over keen, unless there was likely to be a deal at the end of it, betook themselves home. The Oxford brigade, Daly, Plummer, and myself among them, with a dozen or two more, stuck to the sport, and were rewarded for our perseverance in the following manner:

I am happy to say that I am old enough to have forgotten where we now were; somewhere, however, beyond the Banbury side of the country, and, as it seemed, getting towards a very pretty vale, with plenty of grass, good fences, and a tolerable brook, which ornamented its meadows, and causes sometimes anything but a pleasant sensation of excitement in the breast of the sportsman. Perhaps it might have been towards Eydon, or Trafford Bridge, or Boddington, or Wardon; but this I know, that, after drawing a very pretty cover on the side of a hill blank, in crossing a turnip field, straight in front of a remarkably stout pack of bitches, up jumped Charlie, and away he went, closely followed by all the horsemen, and as many of the hounds as could thread the crowd. It was hardly fair upon the fox; for what with the yells of delight and the being constantly headed by some of us, after several doublings, he seemed inclined to take refuge down the throat of the leading hound. Luck saved him this time; for as Agitator, as a mere matter of pulling, had decidedly the best of it, I

could not stop him before he had rolled Old Modesty over among the turnips, and released Renard from the jaws of death. A sharp race for the hedge-row ensued; and just as a magnificent young bitch made a snap at his brush, the fox bolted through the hedge. "Now we shall have a run, said old Griff Lloyd; and as the foxhound fell back, foiled in her attempt to muse the fence, the body of horsemen so thronged every gap, that it made the confusion worse than ever, and gave Renard the chance he wanted. "Now then, gentlemen, let the huntsman come;""Let the hounds through;" Pray go on, sir;"Pray hold hard, sir." And in the midst of this clatter of tongues, and with a very strong sense that the last request had been addressed to me, I felt Agitator close his antiquated teeth upon the bit, and with a rush perfectly irresistible to any human force, go full tilt at the thickest part of the hedge. He cleared it magnificently, pulling me on to his shoulders, and lighting amongst three couple of hounds who were just hitting off the scent up the hedge-row. Happily, I was unable to listen to the conversation behind me, for I was forcibly carried, in no pleasant position, a few yards a-head of the leading hounds, up the furrow of a damp turnip field. To my right and left, at different distances from the body of the pack, I could just manage to see that I was followed by the élite of Oxford, shire and city. The pace was first-rate; so that I had scarcely regained the pigskin before another fence appeared in view. I do not know that I could be said to be, strictly speaking, funky; I did not mean to shirk, and the fence was nothing very formidable; but (seeing these are confessions) I did try a little to let the man just behind me have it first. I was saved from all exhibition of pusillanimity by Agitator, who was no sooner in sight of the obstacle than away he went at a perfectly uncontrollable pace; and long before I had made up my mind about jumping at all, we were well in the next field. This time not on a hound; in fact, I was on what is called a rusher, and although we crossed about three miles of country at steeple-chase pace, and I was so tired that I would have given something to have tumbled off decently, he gave me neither time nor opportunity to do

so.

He never made a mistake; and a stiff bit of timber, or a wellplashed hedge with a broad ditch, did more for him than a spur whenever he began to fail. At length we had a check, and few and far between were the arrivals. I was in a sad state of confusion; but, from the compliments I received, I must really have cut out the work from beginning to end; and even the master himself had forgotten my unlucky start in my brilliant performance. Admiration and jealousy divided the field. The only dissatisfied person was myself. Candidly, I had done enough for the satisfaction of my vanity, and was not inclined to do much for the honour of the thing. A few minutes past in an unsuccessful cast, and I began to fear that Agitator would be getting his second wind; so whilst my friends were retailing their hairbreadth escapes, and multiplying the dangers of their extraordinary performances, I was wisely looking out for any available bit of lane in the direction the fox seemed to have taken. Nothing of the sort was within sight. Priestess (as I was kindly informed) challenged, the rest of the pack flew to the joyful note, and away we went again. We had nearly a second edition of the same work, save only that Agitator became more dangerous as he became more tired,

and I became more and more anxious to cut this horrible business while I had a chance. Seeing the coast pretty clear, with only about eight or ten men left with the hounds, and these a tolerable distance from me, I turned through a white gate which led me to a fine, marshy-looking common, terminating in a muddy lane and a tolerably steep ascent. I never looked round till I had half mounted the hill, and then, over the hedge to the right, I saw, thank Providence! the hounds going right away from me, followed by a few besotted admirers, as I then thought. Having ascertained that I was not seen, and finding nobody to whom to apply for information as to the road home, I pulled Agitator into a walk, and began musing on the satisfactory impression which my early performance had created. Having lighted a cigar, I again jogged slowly on, and now began to perceive that I was in a wild, bleak-looking country, without a house near me, or any sign of a soul to speak to, or symptoms of sound but a thin misty rain among the autumnal leaves. Sound! I was wrong-what was that? Why, those detestable hounds again, as I live. And here they come, at straggling intervals; four men in scarlet, and one in black; their horses nearly beat, the scent cold, and the pace_reduced to a trot, with an occasional canter of a hundred yards. Now was the time for Agitator to show again; and as the drizzling rain had reduced the appearances of all to pretty much of an equality, I had no fear of detection. Stealthily jogging round a corner of a fence, I proceeded to pick up any stray crumbs of information for my Oxford friends as to the latter part of the run. I discovered a brook and a double post and rails; the former of which had swamped the few that were left of the general ruck, and the latter of which had seen the end of the last of the Oxford men-no other than my friend Daly, on his chesnut horse, Ballinasloe.

"We most likely changed foxes at the last spinney we came through, Tom," said Mr. Drake; "and 'tis too cold and late to go on with him: the rain has spoilt it for us."

"Never mind, we've had a very fine run, right into Northamptonshire; and I'm off to Banbury at once," said a gentlemanly-looking man on a very handsome grey horse. "If that's your way, nued he, addressing me, "we might jog on together. Where's your hack?"

conti

"At Bicester; but as 'tis late I shall leave my horse at Banbury, and post on to Oxford. I must send for him to-morrow."

66

Post, then, to Bicester, and get your hack. But here we are. Now for a little lunch, and some mulled ale, and then I'll join you in a chaise."

The journey was pleasant enough. First, we lighted our cigars, having no great coats, to keep the cold out; then we warmed each other with compliments upon our mutual prowess: how admirably I had led for the first two or three miles-so many men can go second, so few can take a lead; the pace I had gone was enough to beat any horse, but he supposed mine came again. "Yes, he certainly did!" But I did not add, "up a dirty lane at a foot's pace by the merest accident in the world, and because I happened not to know my way home." My friend Dixon was a good man, and so was Mr. Daly, but they were both beat at the brook; the only place to take it was

where he had it, and where I had it, he supposes, just to the left of the foot-bridge. I think at that time I should not have told a wilful falsehood; but I really had not moral courage enough to undeceive my new acquaintance: so we parted with the mutual conviction that we had both of us had about the best of it, more or less-with how much truth on one side the reader knows.

"Mr. Leveson's hack, Jem. Tell Seckham's man to go back in the chaise to Banbury; and see to the brown 'oss. Had a tremendous thing, I hear, sir; Mr. Daly and Mr. Plummer came through here at four o'clock. Tis just clearing up; good night sir."

And out of Bicester I cantered on the groggy hack.

Not having much to employ my mind on the road, with a wonderful precocity I began to amuse myself by calculating the expenses of a day's hunting at this rate: I say precocity, for not one man out of twenty thinks of such mental employment until his fourth year, and scarcely then, if the duns will only desist from bringing the subject prominently forward. Hunter, thought I, two guineas—and not dear, if he had'nt been a rusher; hack, thirteen shillings; posting, lunch, gates, and sundries, say one guinea; man's expenses, two days, with horses, four-and-twenty shillings-about a fiver. The "freshness of morning" was beginning to wane, when I discovered that it would be cheaper to keep a horse altogether for myself; and I must admit that it-that is, the identical horse I kept-was cheaper, only I added the other item to it: and the way to make a candle shorter is to burn it at both ends; my candle burnt fast enough, at all events.

"Holla! Caradoc, here's Leveson; he'll tell you all about the run he saw it. Why, Leveson, are you only just come home? what a run, was'nt it? How did you get over the brook? Daly went in and out; but his horse was so beat, that he stood still at the post and rails."

"What a pace you led at first! I wonder the old horse stood it; he's a first-rate animal. Oh! do you know, Martin Caradoc has laid a pony on the old horse, with you up, against Dixon on Longshanks, four miles, to be run any time fixed before we go down. I saw you ride him to-day, and so I've laid out a tenner; and Plummer has backed you, too. I'll be hanged if Dixon has anything in his stable that can go with the old horse, if you'll steer him."

Now that's what I call pleasant! I had just made up my mind to some virtuous resolutions of not indulging in such very extravagant amusements, at least for some time to come; before the sun of my vanity they melted at once. Could I throw over my friends? Could I throw over myself? What! at eighteen proclaim myself an impostor, and honestly confess that I had about as much real horsemanship in me as the man in the moon! Oh! impossible. And so my vanity triumphed, and my resolutions were gone; and in one short fortnight I had established myself as the leading man of my college over a country, and was backed to do four miles against a long-headed young gentleman for about one hundred pounds, of which it was expected that I should find head, tail, horseflesh, and a fifty. If hunting stopped even in the university with hunting, why 'tis a more gentlemanly amusement, and not a very much more expensive one, prudently done, than many another; but when it leads to an extra

bottle, and the results of that are taken into consideration, it is not always so desirable an enjoyment for younger sons of thrifty parents to indulge in.

(To be continued.)

HORSES,

ANCIENT AND MODERN.

BY CECIL.

When the enormous sum of eighteen hundred guineas-heretofore an unheard-of price is given for a yearling colt of high extraction, the unlearned may be excused for jumping at the conclusion that racing stock is not produced in numbers equal to the demand. The impression, however, is, to a certain extent, confuted by the fact that every succeeding year chronicles an increase. That the British courser has degenerated, and fallen from the high estate of his ancestors, is an opinion somwhat industriously promulgated; but how is the slander substantiated, in the face of the aforesaid realities? Moreover, there is no other class of horses in existence, whose value approaches the standard of the English thorough-bred horse, whether we adopt an aggregate or single out individual instances. The strongest argument the partizans of the ancient worthies can bring forth is the scarcity of riding-horses of first-rate character, and they say it proceeds from defects in the progenitors. On the first point, however, it may be asked at what period were good-saddle horses very numerous ? If our grandfather possessed a hunter which carried him to his satisfaction, his excellencies are proclaimed to succeeding generations, his feats and performances eulogized with enthusiasm: while his portrait graces the dining-room of the ancestral hall, it enables him to pass encomiums on his favourite's symmetry and power, without affording us any opportunity of confuting the good old gentleman's arguments while we express our doubts concerning the probable deficiency of speed, and the favourite steed is pronounced a prodigy. That he was superior to most of his competitors may be admitted; but that is no evidence of his qualities as compared with those of his successors. And that he was well adapted for the usages of the time when he was in existence may likewise conceded; but scepticism precludes us from supposing that he would hold a distinguished position among the stars of the present day. The hack or roadster of olden times comes in for his share of laudatory commendation; for prior to the construction of good roads, and before convenient carriages were invented, he was an animal of much importance. When a journey had to be performed on horseback, it was doubtless delightful to possess an animal which would travel a distance of fifty or sixty miles with safety and ease to himself and to his rider. Where is the soul so dull which would not listen with attention and sympathize in the enjoyment of "a thrice-told tale," when the fancy, irradiated with the

be