232 RIDING RECOLLECTIONS. 



to compare notes hereafter in those self-deceiving 

 moments, when 



" Dined, o'er our claret, we talk of the merit, 

 Of every choice spirit that rode in the run. 

 But here the crowd, Sir, can talk just as loud, Sir, 

 As those who were forward enjoying the fun ! " 



No. In the provinces our young sportsman must make 

 up his mind to take his own part, to study the coverts 

 drawn, and find out for himself the points where he can 

 see, hear, and, so to speak, command hounds till they 

 go away ; must learn how to rise the hill with least 

 labour, and descend it with greatest dispatch, how to 

 thread glen, combe, or dale, wind in and out of the 

 rugged ravine, plunge through a morass, and make his 

 way home at night across trackless moor, or open storm- 

 swept down. By the time he has acquired these accom- 

 plishments, the horsemanship will have come of itself. 

 He will know how to bore where he cannot jump, to 

 creep where he must not fly, and so manage his horse 

 that the animal seems to share the intentions and 

 intelligence of its rider. 



If he can afford it, and likes to spend a season or two 

 in the shires for the last superlative polish, let him go 

 and welcome ! He will be taught to get clear of a 

 crowd, to leap timber at short notice, to put on his boots 



