208 APOLOGY FOR FOX-HUNTING. 



pack, while the tip of Reynard's tail disappears over the 

 wall at the top of the hill ! 



"And, lastly, tired, successful, hungry, happy, the 

 return home, when the shades of evening, closing round, 

 give a fantastic, curious, mysterious aspect to familiar 

 road-side objects ! Loosely lounging on your saddle, 

 with half-closed eyes, you almost dream the gnarled 

 trees grow into giants, cottages into castles, ponds into 

 lakes. The maid of the inn is a lovely princess, and 

 the bread and cheese she brings (while, without dis- 

 mounting, you let your thirsty horse drink his gruel), 

 tastes more delicious than the finest supper of cham- 

 pagne, with a pdte of tortured goose's liver, that ever 

 tempted the appetite of a humane, anti-fox hunting, 

 poet-critic, exhausted by a long night of opera, ballet, 

 and Roman punch. 



"Are you fond of agriculture? You may survey all 

 the progress and ignorance of an agricultural district in 

 rides across country ; you may sound the depth of the 

 average agricultural mind while trotting from cover to 

 cover. Are you of a social disposition ? What a fund 

 of information is to be gathered from the acquaintances 

 made, returning home after a famous day, ' thirty-five 

 minutes without a check.' In a word, fox-hunting 

 affords exercise and healthy excitement without head- 

 aches, or heartaches, without late hours, without the 

 ' terrible next morning ' that follows so many town 

 amusements. Fox-hunting draws men from towns, pro- 

 motes a love of country life, fosters skill, courage, tem- 

 per; for a bad-tempered man can never be a good 

 horseman. 



" To the right-minded, as many feelings of thankful- 

 ness and praise to the Giver of all good will arise, sit- 

 ting on a fiery horse, subdued to courageous obedience 



