THE WRITER'S CHIEF OBJECT 11 



be equally good in every country ; I shall think 

 myself sufficiently justified in recommending such as 

 have been tried with success in the countries where 

 I have generally hunted. As almost every country 

 has a different dialect, you will also excuse, I hope, 

 any terms that may not be current with you: I will 

 take the best care I can that the number shall be 

 small. It is needless, I think, to advise you not to 

 adopt too easily the opinions of other men. You 

 will hear a tall man say, It is folly to ride any but 

 large horses ; and every little man in company will 

 immediately sell his little horses, buy such as he 

 can hardly mount, and ride them in hilly countries, 

 for which they are totally unfit. Pride induces some 

 men to dictate ; indolence makes others like to be 

 dictated to ; so both parties find their account in it. 

 You will not let this mislead you : you will dare to 

 think for yourself. Nor will you believe every man, 

 who pretends to know what you like better than 

 you do yourself. There is a degree of coxcombry, 

 I believe, in everything. You have heard, I make 

 no doubt, that greyhounds are either black, or white, 

 or black and white ; and if you have any faith in 

 those who say they know best, they will tell you 

 that there are no others. 1 Prejudice, however, is 

 by far too blind a guide to be depended on. 



I have read somewhere, that there is no book so 

 bad, but a judicious reader may derive some ad- 



1 There is a fashion in greyhounds: some coursers even pretend, that 

 all not being of the fashionable colour, are curs, and not greyhounds. 

 Greyhound seems to be a corruption from some other word ; most pro- 

 bably from gaze-hound. 



