iBo Tktnas of tbe 1fDimting*3fielt) 



success. ' Nimrod ' took the advice and threw the 

 manuscript into the fire. 



It was not till five years later, in 1822, that he made 

 his next timid step in authorship. He sent an article 

 on ' Fox-hunting in Leicestershire ' to the Sporting 

 Magazine, then under the editorship of Mr Pittman. 

 The contribution was promptly accepted, and Pittman, 

 recognising that he had found the very man he wanted, 

 engaged him permanently on the staff, supplying him 

 with three first-class hunters and a groom in order that 

 his contributor might cut a proper figure in the hunting- 

 field. The popularity of ' Nimrod's ' ' Hunting Tours ' 

 was extraordinary — the circulation of the Sporting 

 Magazine was soon trebled, and the payment that the 

 author received was princely. I doubt whether any 

 writer, sporting or other, has ever been paid at such a 

 high rate for contributions to a magazine as ' Nimrod ' 

 was. He is said to have received as much as TWENTY 

 POUNDS PER PAGE for his articles in the Sporting 

 Magazine. This, I imagine, means that his hunting 

 expenses and salary amounted to a sum equivalent 

 to ^20 a page. But, for three or four years at any rate, 

 ' Nimrod's ' income must have exceeded ;^3000 a year, 

 though in later days his magazine pay was but a guinea 

 per page. 



The 'Hunting Tours' were a novelty in sporting 

 literature, and though at first they were not altogether 

 popular with masters of hounds, who resented even 

 the kindliest and gentlest criticism of their establishments, 

 yet eventually they were hailed with genuine pleasure 

 by everyone who took any interest in hunting. For 

 ' Nimrod ' had two qualifications for his task which made 

 him both liked and respected. In the first place, he was 



