XIV PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



I may truly say that I rode before I walked. 

 My practice in this particular did not, therefore, 

 begin very late in life. This, as a matter of 

 course, soon led to a pony being wanted, and at 

 six years old I was first blooded by Lady Salis- 

 bury's huntsman on seeing my first fox killed. 

 At eight years old I could ride my father's horses 

 as straight as he could ; at twelve boasted two of 

 my own ; and at sixteen had a regular stable of 

 them, with an allowance, that only made it a 

 matter of surprise that I did not soon go some- 

 where headlong. However, I did not then, 

 though I have since, at times, been about as happy 

 as if I was there ; but let me in gratitude allow I 

 have also had hours, days, and years, when I felt 

 as if I was on the diametrically opposite tack. 



It may be asked, from what I now say, or, very 

 probably, from what I have written, whether I 

 was ever at school ? Yes, Reader, I have been 

 at various schools, some of them very odd ones, 

 but never at the sort of school that, if the question 

 was asked, it would refer to. No ; Mamma would 

 not part with her only one, so I was managed in 

 this way at home. I loved hunting and horses 

 enthusiastically, and hated Horace and Homer 

 as cordially as any young gentleman living : but 

 the bargain was, Horace, Homer, and hunting, 



