364 RIDING TO HOUNDS 



muscles of the breast, which are so apparent in some horses, and 

 which word is apphed by the same author to the Hon. I have never 

 met witli any observations on bone ; but in their descriptions of this 

 line animal they descend to the most minute points, such as the 

 nostrils, which they tell us should not be narrow, but they do not 

 say they should be wide, which they certainly should not be. They 

 apply the epithet " hilaris " to the temper, which implies everything 

 we could wish — lively, but docile. As to the colour, Virgil is not 

 quite so intelligible. He says bay horses are reckoned stout 

 (honesti), as also greys ; but condemns the white. Now as I believe 

 there never was a white foal, it is difficult to separate the virtues of 

 the one from the other. 



In one point of view, our present method of riding to hounds 

 bears some analogy to ancient times. It is a sort of Saturnalian 

 amusement, in which all ranks and privileges are set aside, and he 

 that has the best horse and the best nerve takes the precedence for 

 the day. A butcher's boy upon a pony may throw the dirt in the 

 face of the first Duke in the kingdom. This, however, though little 

 thought of, is one of the many advantages arising from a land of 

 liberty. 



In proportion to the number of young men of family and fortune 

 that are rising up in the world, will be the proportion of the different 

 occupations and diversions which their several inclinations will lead 

 them to pursue. Nature, however, has something to do with this ; 

 for some bodies are less vigorous than others, and must be content 

 with diversions of a less fatiguing description than hunting, which, 

 when well followed, is the most laborious of all pursuits of the field ; 

 and he who pursues it in earnest should be in proportion as strong 

 and as sound as the horse he rides. 



It was remarked by a Northamptonshire Baronet, too universally 

 distinguished for his knowledge of hunting, and his determined and 

 desperate manner of riding to hounds, to require any mention of his 

 name — that he considered it part of a man's moral duty to preserve 

 his health for the sake of riding to hounds ! That it is part of every 

 man's moral duty to avoid dissipation, and to take care of his 

 constitution, no one will dispute : and that men w^ho are devoted to 

 hunting generally live temperately, those who live willi tbeni can 



