406 OUTDOOR LIFE IN ENGLAND 



regard to keeping his own line ; to avoid doing 

 damage to crops ; and last, but by no means least, 

 never to maltreat his horse at any time, especially 

 in the hunting-field. To brutally punish an animal 

 is ungentlemanly and cowardly. Oftener than not 

 the poor brute is made to err through the ignorance 

 of its rider, and even if this is not the case, the 

 hunting-field is not the place for breaking horses. 

 It is fortunate that the hunting public have ceased 

 to tolerate the insensate exhibitions of cruelty 

 which were at one time by no means infrequent, 

 though chiefly confined to a-certain class of persons. 

 Under no circumstances is the character of 

 individuals more apparent than in the hunting- 

 field, and if good qualities are requisite in a 

 hunter, equally so are they in the man who 

 bestrides it. Alas, how often is it that the 

 animal possesses the greater share ! The hunt- 

 ing-field is no place for the mean man, the 

 coward, or the nerveless drunkard ; and I cannot 

 believe that, provided he could afford to hunt, 

 any man has ever been justly able to assert that, 

 barring accidents, he has ever been anything but 

 the better, both physically and morally, for 

 having participated in a sport which is so 

 thoroughly English and manly. 



