fifteen feet of 'metal main' around him, and
I only hoped that a plumber accompanied the expedition. My humanity,
however, led me astray; the pagoda was destined for the accommodation
of a stag, who always assisted at the _chasse_, whenever no other game
could be started. This venerable beast, some five-and-twenty years
in the service, was like a stock piece in the theatres, which, always
ready, could be produced without a moment's notice. Here was no
rehearsal requisite if a prima donna was sulky or a tenor was drunk;
if the fox wouldn't show or the deer were shy, there was the stag,
perfectly prepared for a pleasant canter of a few miles, and ready,
if no one was intemperately precipitate, to give a very agreeable
morning's sport. His perfections, however, went further than this; for
he was trained to cross the highroad at all convenient thoroughfares,
occasionally taking the main streets of a village or the market-place of
a bourg, swimming whenever the water was shallow enough to follow him
on horseback, and giving up the ghost at the blast of a _grand maitre's_
bugle with an accuracy as unerring as though he had performed at
Franconi's.

Unhappily for me, I was not fated to witness an exhibition of his
powers; for scarcely had we emerged from the wood when the dogs were
laid on, and soon after found a fox.

For some time the scene was an animated one, as every Fleming seemed
to pin his faith on some favourite dog; and it was rather amusing to
witness the eagerness with which each followed the movements of his
adopted animal, cheering him on, and encouraging him to the top of his
bent. At last the word 'Away' was given, and suddenly the dogs broke
cover, and made across the plain in the direction of a great wood, or
rather forest, above a mile off. The country, happily for most of us
(I know it was so for me), was an open surface of gentle undulation,
stubble and turnips the only impediments, and clay soft enough to make a
fall easy.

The sight was so far exhilarating that red coats in a gallop have always
a pleasant effect; besides which, the very concourse of riders looks
well. However, even as unsportsmanlike an eye as mine could detect the
flaws in jockeyship about me--the fierce rushings of the gentlemen who
pushed through the deepest ground with a loose rein, flogging manfully
the while; the pendulous motions of others between the mane and the
haunches, with every stride of the beast.

But I had little ti