HUNTERS. 293 



never submit to acknoAvlecloje its utility, till 

 the total loss of one horse and an irreparable 

 injury to another, demonstrate the absurdity 

 of their ill-founded objections; compulsively 

 adding them in rotation to the annually in- 

 creasing list of converts to a rational sj'ste- 

 matic mode of stabularian improvement. 



Such obstinate non-compliance with the 

 justified dictates of safety resulting from ex^ 

 perience, can arise oiaiy from a total want of 

 thought, or knowledge of the animal eco- 

 nomy ; by which every secretion, evacuation^ 

 motion and labour is regulated, or action 

 controlled. From the recurring force of this 

 reflection, let every Sportsman whose mind 

 is at all open to the rays of refinement (and 

 who has not, like Tony Lumpkin, imbibed 

 his entire stock of penetration from the apron- 

 string of a jMrs. Hardcastle^ conducting his 

 whole affairs by " the rule of Thumb/') con- 

 sider the absolute necessity of bestowing 

 some little occasional attention'to the indica- 

 tions of NATURE ; the direct process of ali- 

 inent and digestion, with its subsequent source 

 oi nutrition ', enabhng himself to ascertain (at 

 least with some degree of precision) the state 



