270 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 



usual establishments of Leicestershire and Northamp- 

 tonshire, not omitting those of Sir Pt. Sutton, Lords 

 Yarborough and Fitzwilliam, in adjoining counties, 

 might either of them serve as examples. They stand, 

 with regard to capabilities and advantages of country, 

 in the position which Newmarket occupies in the racing 

 world. The temptations which such entries offer 

 to the enterprise of a master of hounds — the support 

 which is naturally afforded to hunting, where men most 

 do congregate for this especial purpose — leave no room 

 to question that these things are as they should be. It 

 is taken for granted, that, in these districts, nothing is 

 wanting that judgment or liberality can supply ; and 

 the supposition, generally speaking, is warranted by the 

 experience of those who have had opportunity of ob- 

 taining evidence of the fact. In directing the humble 

 efforts of my pen towards the encouragement of hunt- 

 ing in every country capable of raising " a cry of dogs," I 

 have not dwelt upon those localities where its due support 

 should ever be considered as a matter of course. I have 

 studied rather for the benefit of those who are strangers 

 to Melton, to whom the Coplow is a terra incognita, 

 who are, and should be, contented with hunting as they 

 find it, whose duty it is to make the best even of a bad 

 country ; to bring out in bold relief the bright instances 

 of less favoured provinces, where the return of sport has 

 not only equalled, but far exceeded, the utmost exhi- 

 bited in those countries where Nature has been most 

 profusely lavish of her gifts. 



