PREFACE ix 



critics to remember that I wrote only as a civilian 

 who believes that fox-hunting enables a man to 

 gain a more accurate knowledge of the country 

 than any other sport or pastime. 



My readers may occasionally recognise an old 

 acquaintance in a new garb, but, excepting my own 

 contributions to hunting literature, I have to the 

 best of my belief always stated the name of my 

 authority. In regard to my own writings, I must 

 tender my warm thanks to Mr. Knowles, the editor 

 of The Nineteenth Ceittury, for allowing me to quote 

 from my article on " Fox-hunting and Agriculture," 

 which appeared in the magazine in May, 1898, and to 

 Mr. A. J. Stanton, the editor of Country Sport, for 

 similar permission to quote from various articles 

 which I have written for his paper since the com- 

 mencement of 1896. I must also thank Mr. G. S. 

 Lowe, the editor of the Sporting Life, for the advice 

 and assistance which he has always rendered me 

 during our journalistic acquaintanceship. For the 

 chapter which deals with the bibliography of hunting 

 I am mainly indebted to my old friend Mr. J. Herbert 

 Slater. I wish that it had been within my power 

 to embrace in this chapter a survey of hunting 

 engravings and prints ; but in the first place I 

 should have been trespassing upon Mr. Slater's 

 preserves, and in the second place a comprehensive 

 survey would have been beyond the limits of the 

 book. 



It may be said that I have left unwritten much 



