198 THE CONDITION OF HUNTERS 



adopted by others, I should have been naturally 

 prepared for opposition ; but in these communicative 

 times I am only surprised that the advantages of it 

 have not circulated throughout all sporting countries 

 — even to the county of Forfar. 



My first opponent was the Bit of a Jockey ; but 

 I have done with him — not conceiving that (though, 

 perhaps, a useful writer on other matters) a person 

 whose sporting days, by his own account, were ended 

 before ours began, and who never saw Buckle ride,^ can 

 be an authority for any practical system now adopted 

 in the sporting world. As well might a man sit down 

 and write a topographical description of London and 

 Westminster, and in the concluding chapter inform 

 us that he had never seen Charing-cross ! 



My next opponent was The Old Sportsman, who 

 talked of " mashed potatoes and Swedish turnips " ^ 

 as the best food for hunters, and wished us to believe 

 that horses and dairy-maids did their work better 

 when rough in their coats. His hounds, however, 

 were all for the pot, and, by his own account, found 

 more hares than foxes. The first blow is said to be 

 half the battle ; but I had the last with him, and I do 

 not think he will resume the contest. 



Next comes a correspondent under the signature 

 of " X. B.," who commences his letter by saying, 

 " Does not your valuable correspondent Nimrod 

 think too much of his horse having five years' old 

 oats and beans in him ? If this were absolutely 



^ See Sporting Magazine, vol. xiv. N.S, p. 144. 

 ^ See Sporting Magazine, vol. xi. N.S. p. 268. 



