744 MANUAL OF MODERN PARKIER Y. 



FOX-HUNTING. 



For horses of the turf and hunting no country has been 

 able to cope with those of Britain ; and our hounds have for 

 many centuries surpassed all others. Our aristocracy have 

 for ages been zealously addicted to the pleasures of the 

 chase, which maintains its ground to the present day, being 

 pursued with unabated ardour. Fox-hunting is a sport at 

 once exhilarating and healthful, and, to those who have a 

 taste for it, one which contributes much to raise the animal 

 spirits. Indeed, the energising effects of hunting can hardly 

 be conceived by those who have not participated in the 

 sport ; and a condensed description of it is no easy task. 

 This has, however, been very successfully treated by a zeal- 

 ous and accomplished sportsman, who has gone minutely into 

 the prominent points, and even many of the most essential 

 details, with such graphic and poetic effect, that it at once 

 conveys to the mind's eye of any one who has followed the 

 sport a better delineation than we could attempt without 

 the accusation of plagiarism being imputed to us. We shall 

 therefore give it in the words of its accomplished author : — 



" The hour in the morning most favourable to the diver- 

 sion is certainly an early one ; nor do I think I can fix it 

 better than to say, the hounds should be at the cover at 

 sun-rising. Let us suppose we are arrived at the cover- 

 side — 



* Delightful scene ! 

 Where all around is gay, men, horses, dogs j 

 And in each smiling countenance appears 

 Fresh blooming health, and universal joy.' 



SOMERVILLE. 



" Now let the huntsman throw in his hounds as quietly as 

 he can, and let the two whippers-in keep wide of him on 



