2 MEMORIES OF THE SHIRES 



love very strongly developed may consider them- 

 selves amongst the lucky ones of the earth, because 

 they have an all-absorbing pursuit of which they 

 will never tire. I have never yet met anyone who 

 has said he was bored with a good run in which he 

 had held a foremost position, but I have met many 

 men, keen sportsmen, who have confessed to being 

 sick of blazing away at pheasants for a whole day. 

 I am saying nothing against shooting, but am merely 

 pointing out that in one sport success is capable 

 of palling on and satisfying the appetite, whereas 

 in the other the most perfect run will only whet the 

 appetite for more. 



A well-filled purse, backed by a good gamekeeper, 

 will generally ensure plenty of shooting, but riches 

 do not command good sport in the hunting field. 



One occasionally reads in a novel of the hero, 

 who apparently hunts about once in a season, 

 leading the whole field in an extraordinary run, and 

 then turning homewards with the remark that it is 

 an overrated sport. Such things, however, do not 

 occur in real life, and the man who has been lucky 

 enough to ride close up to hounds through a good 

 run is brimming over with happiness at the time, 

 and whenever he recalls the incidents his pulses 

 will quicken with the remembrance of those exciting 

 moments. Novelists, I regret to say, with a few 

 exceptions, do not think it necessary to know any- 

 thing about their subject when they write on 

 hunting, and it is a sport they are very fond of 

 introducing, to lend colour to their stories. 



Since the time of Beckford it has been the 

 custom of the literary brotherhood to look down 

 with scorn on anyone connected with sport. It 



