PREFACE. 



The elder DiSRAELl, writing of * Prefaces ' in his 

 Curiosities of Literature, remarks : ' A Preface being 

 the entrance to a book, should invite by its beauty. 

 An elegant porch announces the splendour of the 

 interior. . . A good preface is as essential to put the 

 reader into good humour as a good prologue is to 

 a play, or a fine symphony to an opera, containing 

 something analagous to the work itself.' 



But the day of such elaborate prefaces as ISAAC 

 Disraeli discourses upon has gone. The public has no 

 time to waste upon ' Forewords.' Like the great DUCROW 

 it wants to ' cut the cackle and get to the 'osses,' and 

 the only use of a preface is to warn the impetuous 

 reader against rushing to erroneous conclusions as to the 

 object and character of the book before perusing it. 



Now, to prevent any possible misunderstanding, the 

 compiler of the present work wishes to explain at the 

 outset that it has not been his object to give a history 

 of Hunting or set himself up as an authority on 'the 

 Noble Science.' Those who seek information of that 

 kind will find it admirably given in the volume on 

 * Hunting ' in the Badminton Series, and in the exhaustive 

 articles on the subject in the Encyclopcsdia of Sport. 



In these pages I have simply aimed at giving in- 

 teresting and entertaining Anecdotal Memoirs of some 



