His upturned blue eyes were moistened with tears, and his voice trembled with emotion. I led him gently away and to the doorstep of the Hospital of St. John the Baptist, where we parted in silence, and forever.
Supping at the Swan Inn, I took the late train for Liverpool and home, bringing with me an ideal Lichfield, to which it would perhaps have been rash to hold the light of a Lichfield day.
FOX-HUNTING IN ENGLAND.
On entering the Regent Hotel at Leamington the first object that attracts attention, after the stuffy old porter who hobbles about to see some one else handle the luggage, is a small frame, over the smoking coal-fire, which contains the following notice, decorated with an old cut of a fox’s mask:—
MERRY & CO.’S HUNTING APPOINTMENTS, AND GUIDE TO THE DIFFERENT COVERTS.
| December 30, 1872. | |||
| Warwickshire,—at 10.45. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Days. | Meet at | Miles. | To go through |
| M. | Goldicote House. | 11. | Wellerbourne and Loxley. |
| Tu. | Radway Grange. | 12. | Tachbrook and Kineton. |
| W. | Snitterfield. | 7. | Warwick and Stratford Road. |
| Th. | Red Hill. | 13. | Warwick and Snitterfield. |
| F. | Pebworth. | 16. | Warwick and Stratford. |
| North Warwickshire,—at 11. | |||
| M. | Solihull. | 14. | Warwick and Hatton. |
| Tu. | Cubbington Gate. | 2. | Lillington. |
| Th. | Stoneleigh Abbey. | 4. | On Kenilworth Road. |
| F. | Tile Hill. | 9. | By Kenilworth Castle. |
| Pytchley,—at 10.45. | |||
| M. | Naseby. | 26. | Princethorpe and Rugby. |
| Tu. | Hazlebeach. | 31. | Dunchurch and Crick. |
| W. | Dingley. | 33. | Rugby and Swinford. |
| F. | Cransley. | 36. | Maidwell. |
| S. | Swinford. | 19. | Princethorpe and Rugby. |
| Atherstone,—at 11. | |||
| M. | Coombe. | 12. | Bubbenhall and Wolston. |
| W. | Harrow Inn Gate. | 20. | Coventry and Nuneaton. |
| F. | Brinklow Station. | 12. | Bubbenhall and Wolston. |
| S. | Corley. | 14. | Stoneleigh and Coventry. |
| Bicester,—at 10:45. | |||
| M. | Fenny Compton. | 12. | Radford and Ladbrook. |
| Tu. | Trafford Bridge. | 19. | Southam and Wormleighton. |
| Th. | Hellidon. | 14. | Southam and Priory Marston. |
| S. | Steeple Claydon. | 40. | Gaydon and Banbury. |
Twenty-two meets in the week, all within easy reach, by road or rail. Let us dine and decide. At table we will leave the menu to the waiter; but let him bring for consideration during the meal the list of meets. “Brinklow Station, twelve miles”; that seems the most feasible thing in the catalogue for the morrow, and who has not heard that the Atherstone is a capital pack? But then the Pytchley is even better known, and the train reaches Rugby in time for the meet. Let the choice be decided with the help of coffee and cigars and possible advice, during the soothing digestive half-hour in the smoking-room. Dinner over, wander away through the tortuous, dim passage that leads to the sombre hall where alone in English inns the twin crimes of billiards and smoking are permitted, and, while writhing under the furtive glances of the staid and middle-aged East-Indian who evidently knows you for an American, and who is your only companion, decide, with your nation’s ability to reach conclusions without premises, whether it shall be Pytchley or Atherstone. Don’t ask your neighbor: he is an Englishman, and have we not been told that Englishmen are gruff, reticent men, who wear thick shells, and whose warm hearts can be reached only with the knife of a regular introduction? However, you must make up your mind what to do, and you need help which neither the waiter nor the porter can give; the “gentlemanly clerk” does not exist in England (thank Heaven!) and you have not yet learned what an invaluable mine of information “Boots” is,—faithful, useful, helpful, and serviceable to the last degree. I salute him with gratitude for all he has done to make life in English hotels almost easier and more home-like than in one’s own house. It is safe to advise all travellers to make him an early ally, to depend on him, to use him, almost to abuse him, and, finally, on leaving, to “remember” him. Not yet having come to know the Boots, I determined to throw myself on the tender mercies of my stern, silent companion, and I very simply stated my case. My stern, silent companion was an exception to the rule, and he told me all I wanted to know (and more than I knew I needed to know) with a cordiality and frankness not always to be found among the genial smokers of our own hotels. His voice was in favor of the Atherstone as being the most acceptable thing for the next day.