HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS. 53 



THE ESSEX UNION HOUNDS. 



(Taken from The Field), 



With all its humidity, there must be some- 

 thing in the air of Essex that conduces to the 

 longevity of man, and to the preservation of 

 pristine vigour to a green old age. Whether 

 it may be the plentiful supply of ozone borne 

 from the North Sea across the eastern marshes, 

 or the many mingled odours that are wafted up 

 from Barking and the Thames, or the cheery 

 good fellowship that makes life pleasant, or the 

 combination of all these, I cannot pretend to 

 say ; but certainly few hunting fields with which 

 I am acquainted can boast so many veteran 

 sportsmen, who, in their seventh decade, are 

 still going with all the vigour of boys, as the 

 Essex Union. If it were possible to estimate 

 the influence of fox hunting on health, we 

 should probably find that it adds many more 

 years to the sum of human life than are taken 

 away by the accidents which sometimes form a 

 sad chapter in hunting records. 



Although this article was written over thirty 

 years ago the same thing strikes strangers now, 

 and we who were going then, are the old ones 

 now, and pride ourselves many of us still take 

 a lot of beating. 



If this side of the picture could only be 

 made clear to the dyspeptic grumblers who 

 denounce our sport as childish and irrational, 

 more of them would probably join our ranks, in 



