THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 117 



and, probably, of .nerve, in the man who made them — for 

 it has been well observed, by good judges, that nothing 

 betrays a want of nerve more than a kind of desperation 

 in charging every sort of fence in a reckless, neck-or- 

 nothing style, the effect of anything but coolness and 

 confidence. He who excels in anything is never in a 

 hurry. The beauty of riding over a country is in doing 

 it quietly. It should appear as the pleasure which it is, 

 rather than as a laborious effort to man and horse. It 

 is only young Hair-brain— Messrs. Harum Scarum and 

 Co. — that are tearing up the ground, here ; making the 

 sphnters fly, there ; dashing, splashing, crashing : now, 

 well on the back of one unfortunate hound, then over 

 another, slamming a gate in the face of one man, 

 begging pardon of the next, bruising their own knees, 

 losing their hats (their heads have been long gone), and 

 ending their sport with a regular " grasser" which dis- 

 poses of them less to their own satisfaction than to that 

 of their dearest friends, for the remainder of the day. 

 Observe the Rev. Mr. Mallard, who does honour to his 

 cloth alike in the field as in his parish. He is never out 

 of his place with the hounds, but you can hardly tell 

 how : — he is never in a fuss. Look at Mr. B. ;— he seems 

 calmer than still water ; but who can beat him ? Who are 

 going better than Lord C. R. and Mr. G., if half so well? 

 But they are never at their wits' end, and, consequently, 

 never lost. Nothing will turn their heads, and they will 



