repaired to the inn, and at five o'clock eighteen of them sat down to a
dinner consisting of every delicacy of the season, the Lord High Keeper
in the chair. Being all "hungry as hunters," little conversation passed
until after the removal of the cloth, when after the King and his
Majesty's Ministers had been drunk, the President gave "The noble, manly
sport of stag-hunting," which he eulogised as the most legitimate and
exhilarating of all sports, and sketched its progress from its wild
state of infancy when the unhappy sportsmen had to range the fields and
forests for their uncertain game, to the present state of luxurious ease
and elaborate refinement, when they not only brought their deer to the
meet, but by selecting the proper animal, could insure a finish at
the place they most wished to dine at--all of which was most
enthusiastically applauded; and on the speaker's ending, "Stag-hunting,"
and the "Surrey staghounds," and "Long life to all stag-hunters," were
drank in brimming and overflowing bumpers. Fox-hunting, hare-hunting,
rabbit-hunting, cat-hunting, rat-catching, badger-baiting--all wild,
seasonable, and legitimate sports followed; and the chairman having
run through his list, and thinking Jorrocks was getting rather mellow,
resolved to try the soothing system on him for a subscription, the
badgering of the morning not having answered. Accordingly, he called
on the company to charge their glasses, as he would give them a bumper
toast, which he knew they would have great pleasure in drinking.--"He
wished to propose the health of his excellent friend on his right--MR.
JORROCKS (applause), a gentleman whose name only required mentioning in
any society of hunters to insure it a hearty and enthusiastic reception.
He did not flatter his excellent friend when he said he was a man for
the imitation of all, and he was sure that when the present company
recollected the liberal support he gave to the Surrey foxhounds,
together with the keenness with which he followed that branch of
amusement, they would duly appreciate, not only the honour he had