THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



shire ; of Mr. Musters, in Nottinghamshire ; ot" Lord Dar- 

 lington and Mr. Ralph Lanibton, in Durham ; Mr. Leehc and 

 Sir Richard Puleston, in Cheshire; Mr. Farquharson, in 

 Dorsetshire ; Lord Fitzwilliam, in Huntingdonshire and Cam- 

 bridgeshire ; and Lord Vernon, in the Atherstone country. 

 The masters of these hounds are all of them eminent sports- 

 men, and, by a close observance of their proceedings, you will 

 learn much, and be better al)le to appreciate what you may 

 afterwards experience in countries more distinguished for their 

 capability of showing sport, and which, perhaps, deservedly 

 stand at the head of all others.' 



This somewhat unwelcome advice was listened to with 

 attention by our hero, rendered the less welcome, in fact, by 

 the recent publication of the Billesden Coplow poem, by 

 Mr. Lowth, which not only added greatly to the i-eputation 

 of Leicestershire as a hunting country, but, from its spirit- 

 stirring lines, had very much increased his desire to make one 

 of the many choice spirits whose names and exploits gave 

 birth to them.^ His good sense, however, at length got the 

 mastery over his desires, and to the great satisfaction of the 

 Baronet, he yielded to his friendly advice. 



' As Horace says of Anacreon, to relish this poem we shoukl transport our- 

 selves, in idea, to the time in which it was written ; but one of its great 

 recommendations is, the author having- been an eye-witness of a great part of 

 what he relates. As the poet says : — 



' He on whose natal hour the queen 



Of verse hath smiled, shall never grace 

 The Isthmian gauntlet, or be seen 

 First in the famed Olympic race ; ' 



and that Mr. Lowth did not go to the end of this terrible run, is not a matter of 

 surprise ; for it took place over, perhaps, the severest part of all the Quorn country. 

 There are a few typographical inaccuracies in the last edition published (altliough 

 they appeared, I believe, in the original one), such as Wardle for Wardell, and 

 ' short home ' for ' sweet home.' The first-named error led to the confounding 

 the late Colonel Wardle, of Mary Ann Clarke notoriety, with the person intended 

 to be introduced — viz., the late Jacob Wardell, who, although not making a con- 

 spicuous figure here, became, afterwards, a first-flight man, and sold one of his 

 hunters for 800 guineas — a great price in those days — in consequence of his carry- 

 ing him through a famous run. Again, for the sake of the rhyme, justice is not 

 done to the Hon. Martin Ilaickc, who is said to liave been reduced to a ivulk, 

 wiiereas, although that might have occurred at one period of the run, I have good 

 reason to know that he was up at the end of it, and rode his mare afterwards to 

 Melton, twenty-one miles, in company with the late INIr. Germaine. 



