THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



leaping into a feticc, as every Imnter ouglit occasionally to do, 

 when required, he could scarcely be made to go near enough to 

 his fences before he rose at them, so great was his dislike to 

 feel a thorn or brier about his legs. His pace was also far 

 better than Rupert's — good enough, indeed, for any country 

 and any hounds ; he was capital at both timber and water, 

 and, barring the imperfection which gave him his name, one 

 of the most accomplished hunters of his day. This, indeed, 

 may be inferred from the following rather uncommon fact : — 

 A nobleman, residing in Oxfordshire, but then hunting in 

 Leicestershire, offered him 400 guineas for Topthorn. His 

 answer was laconic, but creditable to him, and m-Aj be said to 

 have ' given token of a goodly day to-morrow.' 



' I shall not take 400 guineas for my horse,' said this 

 promising young sportsman. ' I am not in debt ; and I see 

 no reason why I should not ride a good horse with hounds, as 

 well as his lordship.' 



As may naturally be supposed, Hargrave was not only 

 looked to as a pilot in the tield, by all the novitiates in the 

 ' noble science ' at that time in the Universit}' ; but Frank 

 Raby, who had been well entered to hounds, previously to his 

 matriculation at Christchurch, looked to him for instruction 

 and improvement. And he need not have gone much farther 

 for instruction : his seat was firm, and altogether good, with 

 his body pliably erect ; his feet well out in front ; the knee 

 nearly straight, and not bent at an angle by short stirrup- 

 leathers, as it was too often seen in those days ; on the con- 

 trary, he sat well down upon his fork, with his head up, and, 

 as he said of himself, he rode with a light hand and an easy bit. 

 As for the bay horse, that is to say, Rupert, a child might have 

 almost ridden him to hounds ; but it required a horseman to 

 handle Topthorn ; and it was from seeing Hargrave's per- 

 formance on him, that Frank Raby acquired lessons which he 

 never forgot, and which afterwards perfected him in the horse- 

 man's art. 



In proportion to the number of young men of family and 

 fortune rising up in the world, will be the proportion of the 

 various occupations and pursuits which their several inclina- 

 tions lead them to engage in. That fox-hunting has ever been, 

 and, it is to be hoped, ever will be one, it is scarcely necessary 

 to add ; although, at the time I am alluding to, there were 



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