THE ABUSE OF THE SPUR. 65 



with incessant application of the spurs, his poor horse is 

 hurried wildly at the leap. That it gets over without 

 falling, as happens oftener than might be supposed, 

 seems due to activity in the animal rather than 

 sagacity in the rider, and a strong instinct of self- 

 preservation in both ; but such a process, repeated again 

 and again during a gallop, even of twenty minutes, 

 tells fearfully on wind and muscle, nor have many 

 hunters sufficient powers of endurance to carry these 

 exacting performers through a run. 



Still the " h. f. " would be nothing without his spurs, 

 and I grant that to him these instruments are in- 

 dispensable, if he is to get from one field to another ; 

 but of what use are they to such men as Mr. Gilmour, 

 Captain Coventry, Sir Frederic Johnston, Captain Boyce, 

 Mr. Hugh Lowther, and a host more that I could 

 name, who seem to glide over Leicestershire, and other 

 strongly-fenced countries, as a bird glides through the 

 air. Day after day, unless accidentally scored in a fall, 

 you may look in vain for a spur-mark on their horses 

 sides. Shoulders and quarters, indeed, are reddened 

 by gashes from a hundred thorns ; but the virgin spot, 

 a handsbreadth behind the girths, is pure and stain- 

 less still. Yet not one of the gentlemen I have named 

 will ride without the instrument he uses so rarely, if 



F 



