σε You have a nice horse there," he continued, "more than up to your weight." "I am proud of the compliment, Mr. Mayor, for as the man says in the play, approbation from (Mr. John Bannister) is praise indeed.” "Your mare, too, is quite of the right sort, and I warrant she's a good one." "Why, I have seen worse," replied the chief magistrate, "by the way, I almost forgot to tell you that Lord Maryborough was anxious to know whether you were on leave, or at the barracks." During this conversation, especially when mention was made of Sir William, and the above noble lord, the mighty Nimrod looked a little surprised, and not a little pleased. "I beg your pardon, Sir," said he, "I was not aware of the honour-" "Oh !" I interrupted him, "look upon me as a brother sportsman, that's a tie that is acknowledged all over the world. But we must not lose our start, old Merryman is on the scent. I was right; away went the pack, followed by a troop of equestrians and a company of pedes trians, holloaing, and shouting, and making a noise that would well have suited the modern performances of the Ojibbeway Indians, and the skeleton hunt in the popular opera of Der Freyschütz. "Follow me," I exclaimed; "we must not take too much out of our horses. I'll take you to a spot where the ditch is scarcely broader than a gutter." Away I went, followed by my friend, who kept rather too close to be pleasant. Tis true, I was well mounted; but as accidents will happen in the best regulated establishments, I could not help feeling that if Comus (so my hunter was named, as having been bought from Milton, he of the Mews, not muse) should happen to make a mistake, I`should be ridden over by Nimrod. He would have to write my epitaph; and the event would furnish an excellent, "true" article for the dreadful catastrophe writers of the morning press. In order to avert this sad calamity, I" got up the steam," as I approached the ditch, and charged it gallantly a few yards in advance of my shadow, at rather a broad part. Keep to the right," I exclaimed, "near the hedge; you'll find it nothing." "Where? where ?" shouted my friend, who was now pulling and hauling at his horse's mouth, as if, in nautical language, he was "bousing the helm up with a griping ship." But, to carry the metaphor still farther, the fiery steed would "not answer;" and, goaded by the spurs by which my hero stuck on, following my track, he plunged right into the middle of as dirty a ditch as that of Datchet Mead, immortalized by Shakspeare as the spot close by the Thames side, where the amorous "Falstaff varlet vile," had his courage cooled through the machinations of the Merry Wives of Windsor. Looking round, upon hearing the heavy splash, I saw the accident that had befallen my friend, and in the most un-hunting like fashion, I pulled up to offer him my assistance. Jumping off my horse, which I gave to a labourer who had perched himself up in a willow tree to see the sport, I caught firm hold of the tree, and leaning forward, held out my whip, which I begged the affrighted Nimrod to seize hold of, and which Keep to the right," I exclaimed, “near the hedge; you'll find it nothing." "Where? where ?" shouted my friend, who was now pulling and hauling at his horse's mouth, as if, in nautical language, he was bousing the helm up with a griping ship." But, to carry the metaphor still farther, the fiery steed would "not answer;" and, goaded by the spurs by which my hero stuck on, following my track, he plunged right into the middle of as dirty a ditch as that of Datchet Mead, immortalized by Shakspeare as the spot close by the Thames side, where the amorous “Falstaff varlet vile," had his courage cooled through the machinations of the Merry Wives of Windsor. Looking round, upon hearing the heavy splash, I saw the accident that had befallen my friend, and in the most un-hunting like fashion, I pulled up to offer him my assistance, Jumping off my horse, which I gave to a labourer who had perched himself up in a willow tree to see the sport, I caught firm hold of the tree, and leaning forward, held out my whip, which I begged the affrighted Nimrod to seize hold of, and which |