things, let him give a wide berth to the new-laid meadows
of artificial grasses. They are never large, and may always be shunned.
To them the poaching of numerous horses is absolute destruction. The
surface of such enclosures should be as smooth as a billiard-table, so
that no water may lie in holes; and, moreover, any young plant cut by a
horse's foot is trodden out of existence. Farmers do see even this done,
and live through it without open warfare; but they should not be put to
such trials of temper or pocket too often.

And now for my friend the hunting farmer in person, the sportsman whom I
always regard as the most indispensable adjunct to the field, to whom I
tender my spare cigar with the most perfect expression of my good will.
His dress is nearly always the same. He wears a thick black coat, dark
brown breeches, and top boots, very white in colour, or of a very dark
mahogany, according to his taste. The hunting farmer of the old school
generally rides in a chimney-pot hat; but, in this particular, the
younger brethren of the plough are leaving their old habits, and running
into caps, net hats, and other innovations which, I own, are somewhat
distasteful to me. And there is, too, the ostentatious farmer, who rides
in scarlet, signifying thereby that he subscribes his ten or fifteen
guineas to the hunt fund. But here, in this paper, it is not of him I
speak. He is a man who is so much less the farmer, in that he is the
more an ordinary man of the ordinary world. The farmer whom we have now
before us shall wear the old black coat, and the old black hat, and the
white top boots, rather daubed in their whiteness; and he shall be the
genuine farmer of the old school.

My friend is generally a modest man in the field, seldom much given to
talking unless he be first addressed; and then he prefers that you shall
take upon yourself the chief burden of the conversation. But on certain
hunting subjects he has his opinion, indeed, a very strong opinion, and
if you can drive him from that, your eloquence must be very great. He is
very urgent about special coverts, and even as to special foxes; and
you will often find smouldering in his bosom, if you dive deep enough to
search for it, a half-smothered fire of indignation against the master
because the country has, according to our friend's views, been drawn
amiss. In such matters the farmer is generally right; but he is slow to
communicate his ideas, and does not recognize