354 RIDING TO IIOT^DS 



think it bou(jath his Imperial dignity. Hannibal, we arc told, was 

 the best horseman of his day. In his dress he differed in nothing 

 from the ordinary men of his time ; but in everything that related to 

 his horses and their accoutrements, he was superbly magnificent and 

 fastidiously correct. In battle, he was the first to engage, and the 

 last to retreat. 



From the days of the young Ascanius to the present hour, riding 

 to hounds has formed one of the cliief amusements of men of all 

 ages, and in all situations in life ; and it appears by Tibullus, that 

 there w'as a "painful pre-eminence " in the lield in his time. That 

 riding over a country was in fashion in the Augustan age, w'e learn 

 From Virgil 's * directions for breeding, where he tells us we should 

 not leap a mare when she is in foal. Ossian compliments the son of 

 Torran with being first in the chase ; and Addison observes, that 

 " some find their account in heading a cry of hounds, as much as 

 others would in the dignity of Lord Chancellor." What figure these 

 ancient Nimrods would have cut by the side of a good Meltonian of 

 the present day, it is not in my power to conjecture. The best Kings 

 and Emperors, however, encouraged all such manly exercises ; and 

 Horace wrote his Carmen Sccularc in their praise. The pursuits of 

 the field in particular, being more or less attended with risk, have a 

 tendency to increase natural courage ; and, l^y rendering men 

 familiar with danger, make them less liable to lose their presence of 

 mind when in it, and less anxious to get out of it. As the foil is the 

 semblance of the naked sw^ord, the chase is the image of war ; and 

 after all, "it is the contempt of danger which ennobles the life of a 

 soldier." 



Biding to hounds on paper, or over a bottle of wine by a good fire 

 side, is one thing"; and riding alongside them for an hour when going 

 their best pace over a strongly- enclosed and deep country is another. 

 Than the one nothing is more easy — gates, stiles, brooks, and fences, 

 are all taken in stroke, and nothing is too high or too wide. Than 

 the other nothing is more difficult — body and mind are both at work, 

 and every now and then the "courage must be screwed up to the 



* Xou saltu supci'are viaiu sit pussus. 



