THEIR PHILOSOPHY OF THE CHASE. 95 



accustomed to the saddle, and acquire a seat not to be 

 acquired in any other way. 



Reynard is also the chief factor in improving and main- 

 taining the breed of our horses. To him belongs the 

 credit of attracting foreign buyers to our shores ! Likewise 

 of giving people the opportunity to meet in friendly 

 concourse under exhilarating conditions mostly of genial 

 and kindly intimacy. 



To sum up, so far as space will allow, whilst I would 

 indignantly repudiate any palliation of cruelty, I have 

 endeavoured to give a fair and unprejudiced exposition of 

 the inevitable conditions by which alone the fox is per- 

 mitted to exist, from which it must be concluded that fox 

 hunting is, so far as the laws of nature will allow, a 

 perfectly humane, legitimate, and beneficial institution. 



Having thus, I trust, satisfactorily disposed of the chief 

 objections raised to the Parson's participation in the chase, 

 it will surely be recognised that, without imposing any 

 irksome restraint, his presence alone, in the hunting field, 

 as elsewhere, must exercise a wholesome influence, and be a 

 guarantee, if such were needed, against any undue excesses. 

 Moreover, no reasonable being could grudge His Reverence 

 that healthy exercise and recreation which, by giving him 

 the chance to keep in touch with his fellows, prevents him 

 from growing rusty, and far from causing him to neglect 

 his parish, fits him the better to perform the duties of 

 his calling. 



