:37i> RIDING TO HOUNDS 



Though Solomon may never have tried it, hunting has l:)een a 

 favourite sport with kings since the days of the princely Cyrus. 

 Our Second Henry — acknowledged to be one of our greatest kings — 

 was such a determined sportsman that I shall give a little sketch of 

 liim in that character in the words of one of his historians. 



" He neglected his hands," says this pleasing writer, " never 

 wearing gloves but in hawking. His clothes were short, calculated 

 for expedition, his l:)Oots plain, and his bonnet unadorned. His feet 

 and legs were generally in a bruised and livid state, from the 

 repeated blows of his horses, yet he never sat down unless when 

 unavoidable. His chief amusements were those of the field, which 

 he pursued with immoderate ardour. He was on horseback before 

 the sun was up — often fatigued the most robust sportsman in the 

 chase ; and returning -sometimes late, sat down to a frugal meal, 

 which was soon despatched, and he was again on his feet till 

 an early hour called him to his couch. Thus, by exercise and 

 abstemiousness, he opposed a disposition to corpulency, which 

 indulgence would soon have rendered troublesome and unwieldy. 

 His hawks were l^rought from Norway, and some from Wales ; but 

 he was particularly curious in his hounds, that they should be fleet, 

 well-tongued, and consonous. His vices were the vices of the man, 

 and his virtues were the virtues of a Prince. He wished to make 

 his people happy by easing their burthens ; and mitigated the 

 severity of the forest laws, in the eye of his ruling passion. 

 Notwithstanding this," adds his biographer (but perhaps his 

 sul)jects were unreasonable), "he was little loved, and died un- 

 regretted." 



The character I have now transcribed is the character of a man, 

 as well as that of a prince ; and we might find some parallels to it in 

 modern days. I have already mentioned the opinion of a sporting 

 Baronet in Northamptonshire, that it was the moral duty of every 

 man to take care of his health for the sake of riding to hounds — an 

 opinion in which I heartily concur ; and as to the bruised and livid 

 state of his Majesty's legs, we might also find a comparison here ; 

 for it is said of Frederick Berkeley, that at the end of one season in 

 Leicestershire, his body was " black and blue," as it is termed, from 

 the bangs and blows he had encountered in riding to hounds. 



