1 4 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 



other ; that the' greatest talents in a huntsman may be 

 equally unavaihng, unless backed by an inthnate ac- 

 quaintance with all peculiar circumstances with which 

 he may have to contend. 



It may be supposed that I have quoted a strong 

 case for my own purpose, and that the Hambledon 

 country might have been found impracticable for sport ; 

 but my case is confirmed by the sequel, in proof of 

 what may be done by that knowledge of country which 

 I hold so requisite, and by adapting the principles of 

 the noble science of fox-hunting to the hunting of the 

 fox wherever he is to be found. A good run is a good 

 run anywhere, and is, I believe, at the present time, no 

 uncommon occurrence in that same province, although 

 beset by wood and bog on one side, and wood and 

 flint upon the other. But to my point without further 

 digression. 



It was not, I think, more than two or three seasons 

 after Mr. Osbaldeston's brief sojourn in Hants, that 

 Mr. Smith, who has since arrived at the height of dis- 

 tinction as a huntsman and master of hounds, but who 

 might then have been styled " a youth to fortune and 

 to fame unknown," suddenly emerged from the retire- 

 ment of rural avocation, and became somebody of greater 

 importance to the good cause than any light which had 

 yet dawned upon that sphere. 



With a very indifferent, and, I believe, so inadequate 

 a subscription, as to call for many demands upon his 



