The Merry Past 



The amusements and recreations of the old- 

 fashioned squire were summed up in one word, 

 " sport," which to him was the main end and object 

 of earthly existence. Whilst it is possible that he 

 contributed little to the so-called progress of the 

 world, he contributed much to the general happiness 

 of those amongst whom he lived, and for this reason 

 most of these old squires were sincerely lamented by 

 the crowd of friends and retainers who respectfully 

 followed them to their last home. 



The race of men who made field sports the sole aim 

 and end of their existence was the product of the 

 immediate era in which it lived. 



The Squire Westerns, who dined in scarlet and 

 buckskins, drank ale in preference to wine, and smoked 

 clay pipes, acquired such habits as the natural result 

 of their environment and of an existence passed in a 

 sort of robust rural isolation. 



The old English gentleman — fond of fox-hunting 

 and other field sports, and pursuing them as they were 

 formerly pursued, in a manner equally conducive to 

 his health and independence, and the well-being of his 

 friends and dependents, was a national asset. Alas, 

 the day has come when he is almost no longer known, 

 and in a few years it seems likely that it will be re- 

 corded only as a matter of history that such men were 

 once the pride of Old England. 



The country gentlemen were the direct opposites 

 of Horace Walpole and his school, once contemptu- 

 ously dubbed ethereal essences of foolscap, and 

 declared to be likely to hold their bergamoted cam- 



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