PREFACE. 



Owing to the kindness of Bailfs Magazine, The Sporis7?ian, 

 Land and Water, and The Cou?ity Gentleman, I have been 

 able to reproduce such of these poems as have already 

 been in print before. '' The Flea-bitten Grey," " The 

 Squire," and "The Sporting Parson" appeared in Bailfs ; 

 " Dairymaid," " A Day in the Vale," " Twelve Miles in the 

 Open," "The Pace was Too Good to Inquire," and " Riding 

 and Reason," in Land and Water; " There's Life in the Old 

 Horse Yet," " Foreman," " A Deal with an Irish Horse 

 Dealer, &c.," and " The Grave in the Vale," in The County 

 Gentlejiian ; " Lord Lonsdale's Drive," " The Senator's 

 Race," and " A Plea for the Royal Buckhounds," in The 

 Sportsmafi ; the rest, eleven in number, have never been in 

 print before. 



If the reader should perchance find anything worthy of 

 merit in this book I would request him to give credit where 

 it is due, namely, to Horse and Hound. When I go into 

 the kennel in the morning I find more poetry in Nancy's 

 beautiful face than in a whole library, and when I am riding 

 alone over these wild downs I find the chestnut mare's 

 saddle flap such a wonderful writing desk that I really feel 

 as if I was " writing at a gallop." One by one the lines 



