192 RIDING RECOLLECTIONS. 



every minute of his toil is cheered .by their companion- 

 ship, and, having no leeway to make up he need 

 not be overpaced when they are running their hardest, 

 while he finds a moment's leisure to recover himself 

 when they are hunting their closest and best. In 

 those long and severe chases, to which, unhappily, 

 two or three horses may sometimes be sacrificed, the 

 " first flight " are not usually sufferers. Death from 

 exhaustion is more likely to be inflicted cruelly, though 

 unwittingly on his faithful friend and comrade, by 

 the injudicious and hesitating rider, who has neither 

 decision to seize a commanding position in front, nor 

 self-denial to be satisfied with an unassuming re- 

 tirement in rear. His valour and discretion are im- 

 properly mixed, like bad punch, and fatal is the 

 result. A timely pull means simply the difference 

 between breathlessness and exhaustion, but this oppor- 

 tune relief is only available for him who knows exactly 

 how far they brought it, and where the hounds flashed 

 beyond the line of their fox at a check. 



I remember in my youth, alas ! long ago, " the old 

 sportsman " a character for whom, I fear, we enter- 

 tained in my day less veneration than we professed 

 amongst many inestimable precepts was fond of pro- 

 pounding the following : 



