HUNTERS. 291 



cnced sportsmen in the back ground of the 

 picture with mortification and disgrace. 



It should be indelible in the mind of every 

 juvenile and recent sportsman, that to bring 

 a horse into the field out of condition, incurs 

 instantaneous suspicion, if not contempt ; the 

 curiosity (not to say insulting indifference) 

 of every spectator is excited, who fortunately 

 excels in the figure or qualifications of his 

 steed, and the superiority of his equip- 

 ments. And this is not at all to be won- 

 dered at, when those entirely unacquainted 

 with the fact are informed, that as much 

 emulation is perceptible in the display of 

 a sporting apparatus, as in the exulting splen- 

 dor of a birth-day appearance in the vici- 

 nity of St. James's : not only the Hiders 

 but their Horses, are fraught with the 

 infectious spirit of rivalship ; and impatiently 

 w^ait the moment, that inspires each, with 

 the vigour of general contention. 



Horses imperfect in their appearance, with 

 fulness of legs, foulness in the coat, cracks in 

 the heels, or poverty in tlie frame, are 

 immediately surveyed v/ith the eye of atten- 



u 2 . 



