THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



shilling expense. Now, as I have often told him, I object not 

 to his being a sportsman, and he may drive his own coach, 

 when he has one, if he thinks he can do it better than his 

 coachman ; but I did hope to see him something beyond a 

 sportsman and a coachman — (jualified, in fact, which I cannot 

 at present consider him, for the useful and elegant intercourse 

 of common life, in the first place, and serviceable to his country 

 in the next.' 



' You do me honour,' replied the Baronet, also with a smile 

 on his countenance, ' by attributing to me influence over a 

 mind so capable of judging for itself as that of our friend 

 Frank is. His coaching propensities may, perhaps, be laid at 

 my door ; but when you recollect that his father sent him 

 a-hunting before he was twelve years old, I plead not guilty to 

 the other charge. As to his declining going abroad, I confess 

 I agree with him that, without a better knowledge of foreign 

 languages than lie possesses, it would be two years of his life 

 wasted, which I certainly considered to have been the case with 

 myself, because my heart was all tJte time at home, where his, I 

 am sure, would be also. And then, with respect to his being 

 in Parliament, I scarcely know what to say on that subject. 

 To be sure, one reason for declining — that of being occasionally 

 interrupted by a call of the House in the hunting season — is 

 of rather a childish nature. If every gentleman were to refuse 

 to sacrifice a few of the comforts of life to his duty to his 

 country, where should we find statesmen to carry on the 

 business of the country ? Still, it is my opinion there should 

 be a kind of ad valorem consideration here; a man may, I 

 think, with propriety say this to himself: — "By going into 

 Parliament I shall make a great personal sacrifice, and the 

 question is, shall I be, beyond the value of my vote, worth 

 anything, when I get there ? Had I not better (supposing him 

 to be aware that he will be of no further value than by his 

 vote) leave the vacant place to be filled by some one who 

 is better qualified than I am for so important a situation ? " 

 And, friend Beaumont,' continued the Baronet, ' as you are 

 fond of a classical allusion, I refer you to something like a case 

 in point, in ancient days. Xenophon describes Socrates in 

 conversation with a very young man, whom he knew, and who 

 was, at that time, soliciting for a principal post in the army. 

 To what does he compare him ? To a sculptor who undertakes 



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