THE NOBLE SCIENCE. - 131 



however chimerical— to disregard the timidity of the 

 wary, and, hke 



• " Fools, rush on where angels fear'd to tread." 



We have httle or nothing to do with politics, but 

 when we utter the heartfelt sentiment, " May fox-hunt- 

 ing flourish a thousand years hence," — convinced that 

 it is intimately connected with the internal welfare and 

 happiness of our once merry, still happy, and prosper- 

 ous country,— we cannot but shudder at the \iew of 

 any measures calculated to drain to the source the 

 very springs of its existence, to dry up the fountains by 

 which it is supported, to change our habits and pursuits, 

 transform the rural soil into one vast gridiron, and 

 render us Hterally, what Napoleon termed us, " a mere 

 nation of shopkeepers." — Our maxim must be that of 

 my old favourite Horace — 



" Dona prsesentis cape Isetus horse, et 



Linque severa." 



Let us be thankful that fox-hunting is such as it is 

 in our time. We will not inquire whether it ever 

 was better, but trust that it will remain as good. 



In conclusion of my prose in behalf of a good and 

 deservedly valued hunter, let me recommend, at the 

 close of his career, that he be not subjected to those 

 vicissitudes which have been so affectingly depicted by 



