THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



disasters, but would have been able to have taken the field 

 with the harriers to-morrow, whereas you will now be obliged 

 to remain at home, as I fear not even the raw beef-steak would 

 have prevented your having a black eye, in which case you 

 could not, of course, appear abroad.' At the mention of 

 the word battle, the blood rushed to Frank's face, conceiving 

 tliat the ' murder was out ' ; but such was not the case. Con- 

 trary to expectation, the doctor did not hlah, and the event of 

 the fight never reached beyond the walls of the servants' hall 

 of the Abbey, although it was widely spread among the 

 surrounding villagers, who were loud ii] their praises of the 

 young Dares. 



Mr. Egerton, the tutor, was one of those old-fashioned 

 clergymen of the Church of England, once so highly looked up 

 to by the people, but now supplanted, in too many instances, 

 by a new-fashioned sort, who, by preaching for an hour or 

 more on subjects which their hearers do not understand, and 

 too often creating doubts which they cannot themselves remove, 

 drive thousands from their churches to seek for instruction 

 elsewhere. 



He was old-fashioned enough to consider the true philosophy 

 of life, as well as the duty of his profession, to consist in 

 endeavouring to assuage the evils of human nature by any 

 means, provided they war not against the soul. Fanaticism, 

 with its long train of gloomy terrors, he left to those who 

 practised it, and was inclined even to think, with Lord vShaftes- 

 bury, that gravity is too often but another word for imposture. 

 He considered that we are entitled to enjoy the good things of 

 this life when honestly procured, and that it were the height of 

 ingratitude not to taste with satisfaction the liberal bounty of 

 Providence. All he insisted upon was — that when our wishes 

 are gratified, and the cup of fortune full, we should not drink 

 it to the dregs. 



Having said this, it is almost needless to add, that Mr. 

 Egerton entered fully into the pleasures and amusements of 

 Amstead Abbey, to the society of which, by his many agreeable 

 accomplishments, he was no small acquisition. There was, 

 however, one species of amusement in which he did not often 

 participate ; he rarely hunted, not tliat he thought it unbe- 

 coming his clerical situation, but because lie was so bad a 

 horseman that he feared he might break his neck. Neither 



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