100 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 



through gaps, and, with the aid of lanes, may make one 

 at tlie end of a run, in the provincials, upon a horse on 

 which he would have been pounded and lost in the Har- 

 borough country ; but he will have seen'^n^t as little of 

 the hounds during the run. Far be it from me to dis- 

 courage any adept at " oiling a screw," from " darning 

 away " merrily, and beating more than half of the better 

 mounted ; but I shall be borne out by those who are 

 in the habit of riding as much from Melton as from 

 Markyate-street, in my assertion, that to be with hounds 

 in Herts, you cannot be too well mounted — videlicet, 

 you must have a hunter. The size and shape of horses 

 best calculated for cramped countries may differ, perhaps, 

 in some respects ; and the small, short-legged, are pre- 

 ferable to the very large and overgrown, when quick- 

 ness in turning and constant activity are more important 

 than great stride and power of extension. Moreover, 

 where there is limited space, it may be necessary to have 

 a better command over horses than where there is 

 plenty of sea-room for sailing a-head : but, in nine cases 

 out of ten, I should like to take my chance of being 

 mounted upon the horse most distinguished in North- 

 amptonshire — in the part which I hold to be the stiffest 

 — to follow hounds in any other country. There is one 

 great consolation to those who cannot afford to purchase 

 hunters at their price, that, with a good hand, seat, and 

 plenty of nerve, they may make raw horses, and increase 

 the value of them, according to their scale of education^ 



