up to my waist-succeeded in hauling us by main strength to “terra firma,” where, with natural curiosity, he proceeded to inquire how we came into our present plight, and what train of events had produced the very unusual spectacle of two dismounted gentlemen, clad in hunting costume, standing waist-deep in water, towards the commencement of a dark and stormy winter's night. “ Glad to see ye, Squire Nogo,” said the hospitable yeoman, as he strode before us towards his farm, greedily listening to an explanation. " Glad to see ye, even in such a plight as yon. My men 'll find your horses, I'll warrant, and hounds as well ; and, meanwhile, you're heartily welcome, and you too, sir,” with which words he ushered us into his ample clean-looking kitchen, where a blazing fire, lighting up all the etceteras of that most comfortable apartment, vividly suggested to us the kindred ideas of supper, warmth, and accommodation, which but a few minutes before had seemed so utterly hopeless and unattainable. The host was in earnest, the hostess active, and the visitors nothing loath to be comforted; and when, an hour afterwards, I stretched my legs beneath the farmer's mahogany, in his best parlour, and surveyed myself in a suit of his homely clothing, “ a world too wide" for my less robust proportions, I forgot my hounds, I forgot Bill, I forgot Mrs. Nogo, and, mixing myself a steaming glass of hot gin-and-waterno bad conclusion to a plentiful repast of cold boiled beef, hot eggs and bacon, the richest of home-made butter and cheese, and the strongest of home-brewed ale-I pledged my jolly host, with a lively perception of that merriest of all symposiums,” an accidental jollification, that greatest of all luxuries, rest after labour, ease after anxiety, internal warmth after external cold-in fine, pleasure after pain. As for the Doctor, to use a common, but forcible expression, there was no “holding him." Enveloped, I may say lost, in the farmer's clothing, nothing much more ridiculous can be conceived than the little man, holding his half-emptied tumbler to his eye and pledging his delighted host with an enthusiasm hardly warranted even by such an oceasion as the present. Cæsar after Actium, Napoleon after Austerlitz, Wellington after Waterloo, were but faint examples to typify that hero which the Doctor felt himself in his own person. What was it to him that the harriers were probably lost-that Bill was undoubtedly at that moment bivouacking with a tired horse on the open moor-that he himself would unquestionably be crippled for a fortnight by his day's work, and, in all likelihood, rheumatic for life from his evening's immersion? What was that? Had he not gone a run ? Had he not ridden to his own satisfaction, in what would hereafter take its place in the annals of the country as “ Squire Nogo's day with a wild fox ?" Had he not jumped a veritable hunter over a real stone wall ? and was he not sitting in a strange farm-house, the actual impersonation of one of Alken's successful sportsmen, who, having tired his horse and worn out his clothes, is dependent for shelter and costume upon the first strangerthat may take pity on his forlorn condition? All this the Doctor felt ; and, to give him his due, he acted the character well. As the ginbottle waned, and fresh kettles of hot water steamed upon the hob, so did the still commencing relation of the medico's exploits trench more and more upon the marvellous-border more and more on the sublime. With a vividness of description, not to be brought out by any liquid save “ hot with," brewed by the orator to his own peculiar fancy, he recounted his adventures and his success. How he had mastered the grey horse-" a hunter that nothing but a workman could ride"-how he had viewed the hounds away, and told “ Bill ” he was sure "it was to be a run"-how he had led the field over the five-foot wall! and distinguished himself when even Mr. Nogo's horse was beat !-how he had preserved his presence of mind when on the point of destruction in "the river at the back of the house, sir ;' and how nothing but his extraordinary proficiency in swimming “had preserved him from an untimely death :" all this he told again with a delight that, much as it amused our open-mouthed host, it was impossible for him not to share ; and when, towards eight o'clock at night, “ Bill ” made his appearance with the lost hounds and the head and brush of the game fox, that they had gallantly accounted for some twenty minutes after we had declined the chase, and that they had eaten in the dark, with no other witness than my undeniable young whipper-in, whose presence at the finish seemed little short of miraculous-the Doctor, whose triumph wanted but this culminating finale, embraced us all round with tears in his eyes, and, falling prostrate on the ground, was carried off to his dormitory a Bacchanalian Nimrod, feebly struggling with his potations, and to the last endeavouring to describe to us how well he had been going all day, and the exact method in which Blueskin had jumped the wall, &c. Luckily for my hounds, Bill, though not knowing the least where he was, had hit upon a cart-track, which, after many circumvolutions, at last led him through the darkness to the very farm-house we were occupying, and by ten o'clock men, hounds, and horses, snug and warm for the night, were enjoying that repose which an unusually severe day renders so grateful to man and beast. The last toast proposed by our hospitable entertainer, after we had disposed of the Doctor, was “ Success to fox-hunting," and I sought my welcome couch with the stentorian refrain of his jolly song, “ Tally-ho the hounds, sir," ringing in my ears. Nor was it without many a kind invitation to return, and many a hearty good wish, that he allowed us to commence our homeward journey on the morrow, jaded, stiff, and weary, but triumphant notwithstanding ; though I am bound to confess that the Doctor had a splitting headache, and I myself was not without misgivings as to the sort of reception which, after being absent without leave all night," I should experience from Mrs. Nogo. - - LETTERS FROM MY UNCLE SCRIBBLE. MY DEAR NEPHEW, I think I see you, the glow of self-satisfaction lighting up your countenance, when you descend to your breakfast-parlour, in what vou imagine to be the most correct of costumes-your want of reflection within having been well supplied by your mirror from without, and that top-boot-and-leather-breeches swagger, which is only the old age of the first round-jacket and pockets of your juvenile days! What a precious set of grown-up babies we all are, to be sure ! and what is it all for?-to ride in pursuit of an animal that smells offensively, and is not good to eat. It is a toy about upon an equality with the other stars and garters of this world. We all have our own fox to ride after; and most of them smell, faugh! villan. ously, and are not good for much when we've got them. How the politicians are jostling one another just now! and while the slow. coaches are struggling in the gateway, the fast men are over the fence into their neighbour's wheat, and running into their game. Oh! hang this moralizing! I want you at the breakfast-table. Mind what you eat, and drink, and avoid. Feeding has a great deal to do with constitutional animus. Look at our mercurial neighbours : light breakfasts, light dinners, light suppers, light wines, and light hearts. Chateau Margot and cotelettes au point d'Asperge, fricassées au diable, &c., are not the things to make a foxhunter. Cold boiled beef and undeniable Twining give a coolness and moral weight to the feelings, which contemplate with professional sang froid a five-yearold bullfinch or double post-and-rail. I do not like a chasse café. Dutch courage begins and generally ends in cherry-bounce. I suppose, for the life of you; you could not mount your hack without a cigar in your mouth. Alexander never smoked a pipe on the back of Bucephalus; and if you want a fine hand and indomitable nerve, eschew tobacco. Look at old Hudson's last year's bill : you may have a park hack for the money. However, 'tis a matter of taste ; and if hunting cannot be done without it, I'm the last man in the world to put your pipe out. There, finish your toilette ; light your British havannah ; and get on your hack, or you will be late for cover. If you are a swell you cannot exhibit your bad manners more perfectly than by keeping the hounds and the field shivering in a November fog. And if you are not a swell, you will not be waited for --at least, not in the midland counties; so do not be late at cover. There are several ways of going to a meet. Do not go on footat least, it is not generally adopted by those who intend seeing the run. Besides, walking in top-boots, especially if tight about the calf, is not an agreeable occupation. There are a few gentlemen in scarlet remains who still do so-one with the Queen's, one with the Pytchley, and one with the Warwickshire. The latter gentleman began hunting in Wales; then he got to Will Staples and the Shropshire; from that he has reached the Warwickshire, and he now threatens Leicestershire or the Pytchley. I suggested the stag-hounds; but he considers jackass-hunting a move in the wrong direction. You may go by train. An amusing friend of mine, and an excellent sportsman, sometimes adopts it. He is, however, evidently ashamed of it, as he puts it down in his diary as a hack, under the soubriquet of Puffing Billy. First of all you must, in getting there, be sure that it will keep its time. A burst boiler, a stoppage in a tunnel, an inopportune nap, might chance to spoil your hunting. If you resort to this expedient for saving yourself some riding, be sure to look out for a sawbones. There are lots on the rail now-men without any particular practice of their own, but general practitioners -speculators in legs and arms. Keep close to any rather seedylooking individual, who appears to have a case of instruments peeping out of his pocket, and his hat full of bandages : he may be useful, and enable you, not to go out hunting, but to go home again by the next train. If you make up your mind in spite of these little ob. stacles to patronize the stoker, mind you look out well for the return trains. And here I think you should employ some fellow rather clever at figures, say a Camford nian; and if he has been somewhat irregular in his habits, he will be the more likely to unravel a Bradshaw. I'm the most regular fellow alive, but hang me if I can ever make out either time, train, or anything else. A scarlet coat and dirty top-boots is very taking with the ladies on the line, and will Becure you first-class attention from the guards and porters, by whom you will be permitted to smoke in defiance of all rule; and if you button your pilot-coat, so as to show nothing but the ends of the skirt and the whole of the collar, it will exhibit a very pretty sample of the “pride that apes lumility.” I have little or nothing to say against wheels, as a conveyance to the meet. You may divide them into two classes—the twos and the fours. If you determine on a buggy I should advise your going alone, unless you are short of ready money (which is the case with Oxbridge men sometimes), and then the pikes will prove inconvenient. If you take a friend on two wheels, be sure you have two horses : 1 might add bridles and saddles to boot : and I will tell you the reason why. It is well to be provided against mishaps. Wheels come off; gate-posts are always to be found, sometimes when least expected; and shafts will break, or what would become of the coach-makers? and then there is no difficulty—you finish your journey in the saddle, It has happened to me to do so—it may to you. I mention the two horses and the bridles and saddles, because I appeared at the meet in blinkers, hames, terretts, and a friend on the crupper, to say nothing of an extra false collar between us, or rather before us; and to say the least of it, it looked a little singular. A phaeton and posters will do. You neither soil your gloves, nor dirty your boots; and the postboy pays for turnpikes and all. You come out, just as you got in, unless he is stupid enough to put you all down, in which case, having got in on your legs you come out on your head-often the safest place, as the thickest. This mode of conveyance has but ong real objection. If you are late (as gentlemen in phaetons very often are apt to be), and your groom is gone on to the cover-side with your hunter, you will find four wheels very inconvenient for crossing a country. It just doubles the danger. If you get two wheels safe over a gate or a fence with a buggy, you may consider yourself rather fortunately landed; but if you get two wheels of a phaeton out of one enclosure into another, there will still be two more, and you will be most confoundedly fortunate indeed if you can persuade them to follow. I may add that this is one great and paramount reason which would induce me always to prefer a hacka good easy-going, thoroughbred hack-a canterer, wiry about the legs and feet, not more than fifteen and an inch, and able to jump a big fence upon occasion. In your progress to cover you will probably have to pass through a few villages. You will be greeted, most likely, like the French President, with sundry cheers and much notice by people who do not care three straws about you. You may set it down to your dashing appearance. The credit will be your tailor's, and the brilliancy of your colours, or that innate love for sport so natural to a rural population. It will not be necessary for you to respond to these demonstrations, either by cracking your whip or tallyhoing with the enthusiastic little boys; and it will not be absolutely necessary to indulge in a wink at old Joulter's daughter. She is not lost in admiration of you, and pays the same compliment to every blockhead that wears a red coat, civil or military. She prefers the latter. I think you may manage ten or twelve miles without a glass of pale ale. As you proceed on your journey, should you be ignorant of the road, you need not trouble yourself to inquire of any agricultural labourerthey are all “ a little hard o'hearing,” and have the most undefined notions of time and space. A turnpike-man or a farmer is the safest finger-post. Your approximation to the meet will be indicated by the appearance of all the fustian jackets and poachers in the neighbourhood. You need not follow them, as their course is irrespective of gates or bridle-roads. Grief before the run is very unseemly. A beetle-browed, stumpy-tailed protectionist in fashionable brown tops is a safe man to follow: he is not a beast “ To lead a timid man Say that of them." And they are always in time. Their watches are warming-pans of the prime old English regulation cut, and none of your skittish nowfast now-slow thoroughbred Geneva fritters, which lead people into all sorts of miscalculations on the score of punctuality. And moreover, though you go only for the fall in fallows, or to show your breeches and your nerves, they go to talk about the price of turnips, and the fall in wheat; and the talking of falls cannot be done so well in a run as before it, whatever the practice may be. The plot thickens as you advance. If you know and are knownthe more the merrier : if you are a stranger, you are likely to remain so for the present, and must do the best you can for yourself. It will not be etiquette to inquire of some well-got-up incognito, who partakes in your pleasure of being thrown out, “ who made his boots ?” nor of a more seedy-looking unfortunate, “who boiled them?” their horses will be much safer grounds upon which to commence an acquaintance, especially if you have anything favourable to say of them; and the horses must indeed be villanously bad, or you villanously stupid, if you can't manage something complimentary, without lying When you get to the place of rendezvous, as the fashionable novelists insist upon calling the meet, it will be a very fortunate circumstance to know nobody. It will give you an opportunity of seeing what you may not have the opportunity of seeing again that day-I mean the hounds. These beautiful animals, which contribute to our sport about a hundred to one more than any thing or body besides, excepting the fox, never appear to me to receive the slightest notice, excepting from the master, the huntsman, and the whips (the |