424 NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 



there was nothing amiss with the country, and some of the field seemed 

 to look well disposed to go the pace. Just as the hounds were enabled 

 to keep going, Mr. Lambton's horse turned sulky with him, at a double 

 fence ; stood stock still on the cop, or bank ; and would neither leap, 

 nor *' wade through" the second ditch ; I conclude it was what we 

 called at Rugby, his " first fault." 



We were joined at dinner this day, by Mr. Robert Surtees, of 

 Hamsterley Hall, who, as his father has done before him, has long 

 enjoyed the intimate friendship of Mr. Lambton ; I should have found 

 him at Merton, indeed, had he not been unable to reach it, on the day 

 previous to my arrival, in consequence of finding himself far from it, on 

 a tired horse, at the end of a capital run with his friend's hounds. 



On the following morning, I set out for London, on my road home, 

 not without wishing*, as I had before wished, that it had been in my 

 power to have given the Promethean touch of youth to the celebrated 

 sportsman who had so kindly received me, a second time, under his 

 roof. "Whether fox-hunting is on the decline, I am unable to determine ; 

 I can only say, / hope it is not ; but it is such men as Mr. Lambton 

 who give it the best support — men who stick to it, on system, for many 

 many years, in the same country, and thus endear themselves to the 

 people over whose property they hunt, and not such as take to countries 

 one year and give them up the next, for the sake, perhaps, of having it 

 said, they were once masters of hounds. Then again, I wish fox-hunting 

 to flourish on another account — on my country^ s account ; for, as was 

 said of the Coliseum of Rome, which neither time nor nature would have 

 been able to destroy, so long as fox-hunting stands, England will stand, 

 preserved by the manly spirit engendered by the pursuit. Let it flourish 



