CHAPTER XV 



HABITS AND CUSTOMS 



No kingdom enjoys the same opportunities of partici- 

 pating in field sports as merry England; neither is 

 there any other nation where the same social inter- 

 course sheds its genial influence through all classes. 

 There is a freemasonry which binds all who engage in 

 the delightful excitements of the chase with ties para- 

 mount to those of any other amusement. It produces 

 acquaintance, promotes friendship, and affords a topic 

 of highly interesting conversation. While it establishes 

 health it inures the rising generation to activity and 

 disregard for danger. The inducements to enjoy a 

 country life are possibly in some measure diminished 

 by the facility for travelling afforded by the railways, 

 but still fox-hunting has a good tendency in that 

 respect. Landlords are brought into communication 

 with their tenants to the manifest advantage of the 

 latter, among whom considerable sums of money are 

 circulated through various channels connected with the 

 chase. 



If the landed proprietor were to be deprived of his 

 rural amusements and attraction to his country seat he 

 would naturally seek his pastime elsewhere. By the 

 union of interests everything that is agreeable, satis- 

 factory, and profitable is produced. Hunting, of all 

 other amusements, maintains and is maintained by 

 that union. One country gentleman may be fond of 

 shooting; he may not hunt, but yet he preserves the 

 foxes for those who do ; and he gains by that act of 

 courtesy a vast deal more social pleasure, and the 

 interchanges of friendship produce for him infinitely 



