THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 249 



in his neighbourhood, there can, in no part of England, 

 be any serious difficulty in the prosecution of a diver- 

 sion, the taste for which is born and bred with the occu- 

 pants ; a sport to which those are by nature inclined, 

 upon whose countenance it very materially depends. 



But all this esprit du corps is still more, if possible, 

 incumbent upon the master of the hounds in the coun- 

 tiy, for the time being. It is always desirable that he 

 should be able to found some claim to support upon 

 his property and influence in the county ; for an itine- 

 rant professor will never (however he may entitle him- 

 self to the good-will of those amongst whom he may be 

 naturalized) command the respect which is generally 

 so freely accorded to him who has, as it were, a birth- 

 right in the cause. 



The feeling with which a master of hounds should 

 regard the country he has undertaken to hunt, should 

 partake largely of the character, and be scarcely inferior 

 to that, which constitutes the love of our country in a 

 more comprehensive sense. It should be a modification 

 of the purest patriotism ; the good of the country should 

 be the mainspring of all his actions, the focus in which 

 all that he does should centre. He should do his 

 utmost to promote the breed of horses and the growth 

 of crops, and cherish every friendly relation with the 

 agricultural part of the community. By thus ingratiat- 

 incf himself with his neia^hbours, he will add a zest to 



