290 RECORDS OF THE CHASE 



them, without the trouble of taking them from home. 

 If they cannot sell them to their landlords or the 

 gentlemen who hunt in the country they can to the 

 dealers, who are always on the look-out for horses of 

 character. It is the interest of every landlord and 

 every farmer, whether they participate in the pleasures 

 of the chase or not, to promote it to the utmost of their 

 ability. Well-got hay and well-harvested oats will 

 always command a higher price in a popular hunting 

 district than elsewhere. The farmers will sometimes 

 say that gentlemen generally buy their oats from the 

 dealers, which is true, but then the dealers buy them 

 from the farmers who grow them, and there is a reason 

 why the custom is generally most convenient to the 

 consumer. He can have them from the dealer, who 

 keeps a stock, in any quantity and at any time he may 

 require them ; but he can only procure them, except in 

 a few instances, from the farmer when it suits him to 

 thrash. Farmers also argue that the dealers supply 

 foreign oats ; but he is a bad judge who ever gives his 

 hunters any oats that have been shipped, even if he 

 buys them at a reduced price. 



If we impartially canvass the social and practical 

 condition of the chase, together with all its attendant 

 customs, advantages, and interests, we must come to 

 the most satisfactory conclusions. Since fox-hunting 

 has been established as a national amusement, the 

 present facilities for participating in the soul-stirring 

 pursuit have never been exceeded, I may justly add, 

 equalled. Every part of England capable of affording 

 sport is aroused in due season with the enlivening sound 

 of horn and hound. The unfriendly prejudice which at 

 one period existed among a few preservers of game 

 against the foxes is almost obsolete. Experience has 

 convinced them that they may have game for them- 

 selves and foxes for the recreation of their friends. 



It has long since been determined that a gentleman 

 who devotes his winter mornings to fox-hunting is not 

 on that account an unfit companion for the drawing- 



