136 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 



or on the man who rises discontented from a feverish 

 bed, to curse the custom which prevents the more 

 protracted indulgence of sloth ; and still more, on him 

 Avho inwardly kmients that no interposition of a friendly 

 frost had spared him the necessity of *' doing as others 

 do at Rome," would any word upon the details of the 

 science, and what thereto appertains, be other than 

 utterly wasted. It is by the real sportsman, by the true 

 admirer of Nature and of Nature's God, by the man 

 fraught with a lively sense of the boon of existence, of 

 thankfulness for the health and happiness he is per- 

 mitted to enjoy, by the man at peace with himself, and 

 in charity with all men, that the exhilarating inspira- 

 tions of a hunting morning will be felt and appreciated. 



But we are at the place of meeting ; we have no 

 business to inquire into the motives of any one ; all 

 have a right to hunt to please themselves, and as long 

 as they do no mischief, may take the country as it comes, 

 or the road as it goes, according to their own pleasure. 

 — Out of a hundred merry faces, you will probably find 

 many who have ridden long distances, and are constantly 

 at great trouble and expense, out of pure love of the 

 sport. The whole field wears, at least, the appearance 

 of happiness, and, taking them all in all, they are 

 probably a better set of fellows than you could find 

 congregated together upon any other occasion. 



The place of meeting should never be too near the 

 covert intended to be drawn. No one should ride by 

 the side of it before the hounds are thrown off, as a 



