106 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 



in the length of runs, than in flying countries. I do 

 not mean to say that a man may not make a fight 

 through gaps, and, with the aid of lanes, maij make one 

 at the end of a run, in the provincials, upon a horse on 

 which he would have been pounded and lost in the Har- 

 borough country ; but he will have seen just as little of 

 the hounds during the run. Far be it from me to dis- 

 courage any adept at " oihng a screw," from " darning 

 away" merrily, and beating more than half of the better 

 mounted ; but I shall be borne out by those who are 

 in the habit of riding as much from Melton as from 

 Markyate-street, in my assertion, that to be xtith hounds 

 in Herts, you cannot be too well mounted — videlicet, 

 you must have a hunter. The size and shape of horses 

 best calculated for cramped countries may differ, perhaps, 

 in some respects; and the small, short-legged, are pre- 

 ferable to the very large and overgrown, when quick- 

 ness in turning and constant activity are more important , 

 than great stride and power of extension. Moreover, 

 where there is limited space, it may be necessary to have 

 a better command over horses than where there is 

 plenty of sea-room for sailing a-head : but, in nine cases 

 out of ten, I should like to take my chance of being 

 mounted upon the horse most distinguished in North- 

 amptonshire — in the part which I hold to be the stifFest 

 — to follow hounds in any other country. There is one 

 great consolation to those who cannot afford to purchase 



