THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 75 



horse in the field ; I do not, of course, mean to say, that 

 horses, like all other animals, are not liable to sudden 

 dissolution, and that, from a variety of causes for which 

 the rider is not responsible, a good hunter may not fall 

 a sacrifice to his ardour ; but a man must be a fool who 

 perseveres, in ignorance, to goad a willing horse to death, 

 long after exhausted Nature has cried, "Hold, enough :" 

 — and, on the other hand, must be devoid of humanity, 

 ergo a brute, if he persists in making a bad fight, instead 

 of a decorous retreat, after he is sensible of any failing 

 in the powers of progress. 



To your Leicestershire heroes, and others of that 

 school — to your pinks of the first water — all this may 

 sound as twaddle, and may entail upon me and the 

 progeny of my pen the fate of being damned beyond re- 

 demption ; but — doucement,doucement — remember none 

 of this is addressed to grandees, or to those enjoying a 

 change of horses upon every hill. These hints are 

 intended for those who, instead of having three or four 

 horses out on one day, have, perhaps, not that number in 

 their stable ; who wall, upon one horse, lead the van 

 through the whole of a day, and bring him out, to 

 take the same place in another, within a week ; — for those 

 younger brothers and other good fellows who follow the 

 chase for the pure love of the thing ; who would rather 

 ride their hunters on to covert themselves in the morn- 

 ing, than miss the day, and who are, generally speaking, 

 far better sportsmen, and have ten times more fun for 

 their money than the more favourite sons of fortune. 



