24 LIFE OF MVTTON. 



that the object of her affection will neither bridle 

 his passions nor restrain his actions at her bidding; 

 nor indeed, as was unfortunately the case with 

 the memorable subject of this memoir, at that of 

 any other human being. But was not such always 

 the case ? The Lacedaemonian lawgiver, at all 

 events, was of this opinion, when he ordered the 

 two hounds to be brought into court to illustrate 

 his argument in favour of moral restraint. One 

 took after a hare, and the other ran to his dinner, 

 as each had in his youth been instructed to do. 

 " There," said the Spartan, " is the effect of early 

 discipline ; those animals were whelps of the same 

 litter, but the difference of education has made one 

 a good hound, that seldom misses his game, whereas 

 his brother is a cur, fit for nothing but to lick the 

 dishes." And thus it is in the stable. 



" Fingit equum teiiera docilem cervice magister 

 Ire viam, quam monstrat eques," — 



writes Horace, when he shows that the temper of 

 the horse depends upon his treatment when a colt. 

 It is scarcely necessary for me to observe that, 

 before he was ten years old. Master Mytton was as 

 finished a Pickle as the fondest mother and his own 



