18 THE HUNTING FIELD 



The compliment, we believe, was turned for the 

 ladies, but we are going to " diwide it," as the dentist 

 said, when he threw the bucket of dirty water over 

 the blind fiddlers. 



We should say, that a foxhunter and his wife can 

 not only make to-morrow cheerful as to-day, but they 

 can make winter as pleasant as summer — that is to 

 say, if they go the right way to work. 



Even in sweethearting a foxhunter is worth a dozen 

 such fellows as Fribbleton Brown — fellows who hang 

 about a drawing-room all the morning, fumbling in 

 women's workbags, stealing their thimbles, and stop- 

 ping their worsted work. Women like to have men 

 "in tow," no doubt, but they don't like to have 

 fellows lying "at them" all day, like terriers at fox- 

 earths. The foxhunter goes out to " fresh fields and 

 pastures new," hears all the news, the fun, the non- 

 sense, the gossip of the world. His mind's enlarged, 

 his spirits raised, his body refreshed, and he comes 

 back full of life and animation. If he has had a 

 good run, and been carried to his liking, his harvest- 

 moon heart loves all the world. He'll do anything 

 short of accepting a bill of exchange. Our esteemed 

 friend, the author of the " Pleasures of Hope," albeit 

 no sportsman, or at least not a master of hounds, 

 shadowed out the feelings of a sportsman, and of a 

 sportsman's lady-love, when he sung 



" Who that would ask a heart to dulness wed, 

 The waveless calm, the slumber of the dead? 

 No ; the wild bliss of nature needs alloy ! 

 And falls and tumbles fan the fire of joy ! " 



We are not quite sure that "falls and tumbles" are 

 the words he used; perhaps not. They savour of 

 tautology, but again that looks more like a non-sports- 

 man, as Campbell was. Be that as it may, they suit 

 our purpose. There is no doubt, however, that the 

 roughings, and scramblings, and wettings and rollings, 



