viii PREFACE 



say that it was with great diffidence that I began 

 this, and with greater diffidence that I concluded 

 it. After an experience of fourteen years as a 

 hunting journaHst I knew at the outset that the mass 

 of material which it would be my duty to condense 

 would be enormous ; but it was not until I had made 

 some considerable progress that I realised how great 

 was the task which I had undertaken. From time 

 to time I was compelled to change the plan of the 

 work, for every week new methods of treating my 

 subject suggested themselves. Three points I always 

 kept in view : I had to demonstrate that fox- 

 hunting has been an important factor in the 

 agricultural economy and social country life of 

 the century ; I had to place certain statistics 

 before my readers ; thirdly, I had to place before 

 my readers certain reliable biographies and anecdotes. 

 Hardly, however, had I commenced my work before 

 the South African War broke out, followed by the 

 enrolment of the Imperial Yeomanry, which de- 

 nuded the hunting-field of many of the keenest 

 supporters of fox-hunting, and suggested a com- 

 parison with the Napoleonic and the Crimean Wars, 

 and the influences of fox-hunting on cavalry warfare 

 and scouting. In view of the increased importance 

 of scouting in modern warfare and the disasters 

 which happened to our troops through inferior 

 scouting, I wrote the chapter on " Fox-hunting and 

 Warfare," to demonstrate that fox-hunting is an 

 excellent school for scouting ; but I must ask my 



