ii6 THE CONDITION OF HUNTERS 



these minor evils are light in the scale against a long 

 continuance of good hard meat and pretty regular 

 exercise. 



If we convince a man against his will, we are told 

 that we do nothing, for he immediately relapses to 

 his former opinions. This reminds me of a passage 

 in Cicero, when writing on the immortality of the soul : 

 — " I know not how it is," says he, " but when I read 

 I assent ; but when I put away the book, and begin 

 to think on the subject, all that assent vanishes." 

 So much for the effect of prejudice in a mind so highly 

 cultivated as his ! How, then, can we wonder at its 

 taking still stronger hold on many of us less favoured 

 mortals ? Cicero, however, could not satisfy himself 

 by experiment ; but we can : and let me conclude 

 this part of my subject with the exhortation to every 

 sportsman who rides hard, and wishes to be carried 

 well over a country, never to let his horses get out of 

 what is called " good hard meat " — the only ground- 

 work of condition. It may be asked, would I work 

 them in summer ? Certainly not ; but of the two 

 extremes I have no hesitation in saying that gentle 

 work, with com, is better for a hunter than no work 

 without corn, for reasons which I have before shown. 



Having mentioned in a former Letter (p. 49) that 

 I should have something more to say on physic, 

 I conceive the present to be the most proper time for 

 communicating it. It is true that in strengthening 

 and augmenting the capacities of the body beyond 

 their ordinary powers, whether in a man or a horse, 

 the evacuating process is always had recourse to ; but, 



