THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 11 



to compare great aflfairs with those comparatively of little 

 consequence — should a master of foxhounds, upon join- 

 ing, at the covert side, a host of followers, all " with 

 souls in arms, and eager for the fray ;" when contem- 

 plating the responsibility which rests with him, — when 

 reviewing the numbers looking up to him as arbiter of 

 what that day shall bring forth, be enabled to say to 

 himself, '' I have done my duty to the best of my judg- 

 ment ; I have fixed to draw the covert, which, of all 

 others, it is most expedient to draw ; I have ascertained 

 the more than probability of finding here, or in the 

 neighbourhood ; I am not at variance with any farmer 

 or landholder who might have been propitiated ; I have 

 brought an effective establishment into the field; in 

 short, I have done, and shall do, all within my power 

 towards the sport, which, all must know, will ever very 

 much depend upon the elements, and a variety of circum- 

 stances over which I have no control, and which, whether 

 favourable or otherwise, will affect me, at least as much 

 as, if not more than, any one else." He will thus be 

 supported through all the trying events of the day, by 

 a consciousness that his field lack none of that zeal and 

 energy which he should supply. He will, under failure 

 of scent, or any of the catalogue of miseries to which he 

 is exposed, even to the heading of a fox, patiently, if 

 not cheerfully, submit to evils which he cannot sur- 

 mount ; and should all go right, and "merry as a 

 marriage bell," who, in the whole of that well-pleased 



