P) THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 



The Roman poet, speaking of Diana, the goddess of 

 hunting, says, " Deas supereminet omnes." From the 

 time of Nimrod to the present, hmiting has ever ranked 

 first and foremost of all exercises, whether by man, in an 

 uncivilized state, as the natural means of subsistence, or 

 by the most enlightened and refined, as a soul-inspiring 

 source of pleasure. 



Furthermore, I will add that fox-hunting ever has 

 been, still is, and, I trust, ever will be, enthusiastically 

 upheld by men of the highest endowments, — by men pos- 

 sessed of all the noblest and best attributes of human 

 nature, many of whom have devoted themselves to its 

 objects with an assiduity alone sufficient to prove the 

 worthiness of the cause. 



Its operations upon agricultural produce, are, also, 

 sufficiently well known, though, I fear, hardly enough 

 appreciated by that class, the " fortunati nimium, sua si 

 bona norint, agricolae." I will, in an appendix, dedicate 

 to the farmers of my own county a letter which I pub- 

 lished some eight years since, in the Sporting Magazine, 

 upon the subject of riding over wheat ; but I will here 

 hold hard, nor allow myself to be led further into a 

 repetition of truisms so thoroughly established. 



Convinced, myself, that, for the health, the recreation, 

 the general good, there is nothing to bear a moment's 

 comparison with hunting, taking it relatively, or collec- 

 tively ; taking it as affecting the physical condition of 



