The Hunt in Literature 15 



the Knight looks upon with great Satisfaction, be- 

 cause it seems he was but nine Years old when his 

 Dog killed him. A little Room adjoining to the 

 Hall is a kind of Arsenal filled with Guns of several 

 Sizes and Inventions, with which the Knight has 

 made great Havock in the Woods, and destroyed 

 many thousands of Pheasants, Partridges and Wood- 

 Cocks. His Stable Doors are patched with Noses 

 that belonged to Foxes of the Knight's own hunting 

 down. Sir Roger showed me one of them that for 

 Distinction sake has a Brass Nail stuck through it, 

 which cost him about fifteen Hours riding, carried 

 him through half a dozen Counties, killed him a 

 brace of Geldings, and lost above half his Dogs. 

 This the Knight looks upon as one of the greatest 

 Exploits of his Life. The perverse Widow, whom 

 I have given some account of, was the Death of 

 several Foxes ; For Sir Roger has told me that in 

 the Course of his Amours he patched the Western 

 Door of his Stable. Whenever the Widow was 

 cruel, the Foxes were sure to pay for it. In propor- 

 tion as his Passion for the Widow abated, and Old 

 Age came on, he left off Fox-hunting; but a Hare is 

 not yet safe that sits within ten Miles of his House. 

 There is no kind of Exercise which I would so 

 recommend to my Readers of both Sexes as this of 

 Riding, as there is none which so much conduces 

 to Health, and is every way accommodated to the 

 body, according to the Idea which I have given of 

 it. Doctor Sydenham is very lavish in its Praises ; 

 and if the English Reader would seethe Mechanical 

 Effects of it described at length, he may find them 

 in a Book published not many Years since, under 

 the Title of Medicina Gymnastica, For my own 

 part, when I am in Town, for want of these oppor- 

 tunities, I exercise my self an Hour every morning 



