THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 113 



school, who stick at nothing— men who would be in the 

 first flight for a time, at least, with any pack in the 

 United Kingdom, without being conspicuous in any way 

 for amiable qualities, or possessing one redeeming virtue 

 but that of bravery. I say bravery, not courage ; for 

 there is, between these two, a wide distinction. I take 

 leave, however, to doubt much whether these men of 

 nerve are more than mere riders, without pretension to 

 the name of horsemen. They cannot make the most 

 of a good horse, or the best of a bad one. A httle 

 jealousy is inseparable from the emulation which the 

 character of the sport engenders. A generous rivalry is 

 only an essence of the spirit of the chase ; but that 

 spirit is the offspring of mirth ; it is nourished by the 

 milk of human kindness, and is pregnant with all the best 

 feelings of human nature, which she annually brings forth, 

 in the shape of good fellowship, and social harmony. The 

 art of riding well to hounds is one of those in which the 

 " suaviter in modo" may be so happily blended with the 

 " fortiter in re" A degree of physical power is requisite, 

 and this is the only way in which we can account for 

 the fact, that men of twelve, and fourteen stone weight, 

 have always "held their own" with the hght weights ; but 

 muscular strength is not absolutely indispensable. Any 

 one who wishes for an apt illustration of the knack of 

 holding a horse, as compared with power, has only to 

 Q 



