2i6 THE CONDITION OF HUNTERS 



to the reader from an argument in which I may, with- 

 out presumption, assert my opponent is no match 

 for me. " What impudence ! " says one : " What 

 assurance ! " says another : and many there are, no 

 doubt, who think that impudence and assurance are 

 synonymous terms ; whereas nothing can be more 

 opposite to each other. The one is a mere boldness 

 which a man assumes from a pretension to qualities 

 he does not possess ; the other, the natural conse- 

 quence of that consciousness of being right which arises 

 in every man's breast when he knows that he is so. 

 To the one we owe nothing ; but to the other we are 

 indebted for the greatest treasures of antiquity — for, 

 neither Cicero nor Demosthenes, neither Ovid nor 

 Horace, would have written as they did, had they not 

 talked of the immortality of their works, and of the 

 monuments that would be raised to their posterity ; 

 and I honour the judgment of a people who allowed 

 them a reputation which it was their interest to support. 

 Notwithstanding what I have said, I am in perfect 

 good fellowship with X B. , and shall be happy to hear 

 from him on any other subject than that of the con- 

 dition of hunters and race horses, on which I not only 

 repeat my conviction that he has nothing worth com- 

 municating to the sporting world ; but there are not 

 wanting those who think that he has obtruded his 

 opinion without any pretensions to its being heard. 

 It is true, as he asserts, philosophers of old did believe 

 a thing possible, and attempted to prove it afterwards ; 

 but where, may I ask, is X. B.'s proof ? Surely not in 

 the boy (what a specimen of grooming !) who had the 



