CHAPTER II 



The first great step in the life of our ' Sportsman ' : he is entered to hare — The 

 Chapter concludes with many choice Aphorisms concerning the Noble 

 Science, and sundry anecdotes, M'orthy being recorded in letters of gold. 



' What is to be done to-morrow,' said Mr. Egerton to his 

 pupils in the evening, ' as Lady Charlotte has asked for a 

 holiday ? ' ' / shall hunt' exclaimed our hero, his eyes 

 brightening with delight ; and he was out of the room, to give 

 orders for Rodney to have no water in the morning, before his 

 brother had returned an answer to the question. ' / shall 

 walk to the rectory,' said Andrew ; ' I promised the Miss 

 Chapmans I would bring them the books my uncle sent me 

 last week from London, and they are very anxious to read 

 them.' ' There is no disputing about tastes,' observed the tutor, 

 addressing our young sportsman, on his return to the drawing- 

 room, and hinting that he should not let Rodney give him 

 another black eye, as nothing had so ungentlemanlike an 

 appearance. ' Besides,' continued he, ' it savours of awkward 

 horsemanship, in which, as you seem bent on being a fox- 

 hunter, some day or another, you ought to endeavour to 

 excel. Indeed, all gentlemen should ride well; and you will 

 remember my telling you that, in the letters of Lord Chester- 

 field to his son, and of Lord Chatham to his nephew, it is 

 insisted upon, as part of their education, to enable them to 

 make a good appearance in the world, as Horace had insisted 

 before them, in his advice to youth. You also remember my 

 drawing your notice to several passages in history, in which 

 the accomplishment of riding well is either pointed out, or 

 boasted of, by still greater men. Hannibal, for example, is 

 said to have differed in nothing in his appearance from the 

 ordinary men of his day, unless in the peculiar neatness and 

 elegance of his horses and their furniture, and likewise his seat 

 in the saddle ; and it was only yesterday that your brother 

 was readhig of Cicero, wlio, addressing his son Marcus, told 

 him that, as the eyes of the world would be upon him, on 

 account of his father's fame, he was delighted to hear that he 



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