THE THROW OFF. 



T is often alleged that the Nimrod of to-day prefers a 

 short, sharp burst of twenty minutes over a nice 

 jumping country to a long, slow hunt, full of hound 

 work and echoing with music. There is some truth 

 in the charge. The evolution which has brought 

 about this disaffection for meandering has had its influence 

 upon journalism. One of the arts of the scribe of to-day is the 

 power of condensation. Be terse, be pithy, be brief, in short 

 be anything but long-winded. Such is the prevailing cry in the 

 face of which I am flying. 



I set out to write the history of the Hurworth Hunt, and, 

 as I worked out the line, I found that the characters and events 

 in the story embraced sportsmen and sport over almost 

 the whole of the North. The chronicling of facts regarding 

 both are essential to the completeness of the history of the pack 

 and its personnel. So the book goes forth under the more 

 comprehensive title of Northern Sport and Sportsmen. I have 

 chosen this course rather than that of condensation, believing, 

 in my conceit, that much in these pages will be found worthy 

 of preservation, even though such matter is connected only by 

 a slender thread with the history of the Hurworth Hunt, and 

 will rather justify the title. 



Northern Sport and Sportsmen is issued in parts at a 

 "popular" price for a dual reason, (i) Many of my good 

 farmer friends have expressed regret at their inability to 

 purchase previous sporting works from my pen, owing to their 



