PERSONAL HINTS FOR HUNTING MEN 141 



did, but in the age when to get drunk means social 

 ostracism the advice is unnecessary. 



But one of the chief objects of every hunting man 

 is to be able to ride a light weight, and he regards 

 any adipose food with alarm. Ladies do not forget 

 their ages nearly as often as hunting men forget their 

 weights, and the good-natured man who does not 

 object to mount his friends would do well to keep 

 a weighing machine on the premises. As we do not 

 pretend to any medical science, we do not wish to 

 write a treatise on banting, but confine ourselves to 

 stating that in the majority of cases it is our firm 

 belief that it is liquid, more especially effervescing 

 liquid, which generates fatty substance. We do not 

 suggest abstinence from or any serious diminution of 

 alcohol, but we do protest against the present ex- 

 cessive use of mineral waters. Let the hunting man 

 drink as much whisky as he thinks good for him 

 overnight, but let him drink it with plain water, 

 and not soda water, for not only does the excessive 

 drinking of mineral waters generate fat, but it gener- 

 ates fat round the heart. 



Though we have warned the novice against mineral 

 waters, it would be impertinent for us to hazard an 

 opinion about alcoholic stimulants or tobacco. If he 

 wishes to become a first-flight man and always to 

 be in the same field with hounds, he will have to 

 live by rule, but he will discover for himself what 

 that rule ought to be long before he has served his 

 apprenticeship in the hunting-field. We can advise 

 him only to allow any change in his consumption of 



