110 UNASKED ADVICE. 



But the sale of horses is not the subject about to be 

 discussed, so we will take leave of it, with the remark 

 that hunters are so entirely fancy articles that, whilst 

 indifferent animals belonging to some well-known cha- 

 racter often fetch fancy prices at the hammer, other 

 horses, superior in every respect, but the property of a 

 nobody, are almost certain to fetch none but the most 

 moderate sums. It is universally allowed to be a fact, 

 by sportmen in " the shires," that two years' good con- 

 dition is needful to enable a horse to cross those favoured 

 tracts of country with safety to his rider and satisfaction 

 to himself that is, supposing the rider to be a "cus- 

 tomer." Men who don't ride to hounds may summer 

 their horses in the fields, and yet have them equal to the 

 duties they are required to perform. Not but that the 

 shirker does an immense amount of galloping ; but still 

 he must stop to open the gates, pull down the fences, &c., 

 and has in no case any excuse for distressing his horse. 

 It is far otherwise with the first-flight man, who has not 

 only to live with the hounds, but to prevent, as far as it 

 is in his power, any one of, perhaps, two score of rivals 

 getting any nearer to the pack than he is himself. 



The two extremes of hard men and funkers are, when 

 working as it were in concert, the fox's best friends. A 

 fox goes away from a gorse, the hounds get away pretty 

 close to him, the " customers" a trifle closer to him than 

 the hounds. The shirkers dash impetuously along some 

 lane parallel to the line of chase. Eventually bold 

 Reynard wishes to cross this lane ; he sees an advancing 

 phalanx. Disliking the looks of them, perhaps fearing 

 that they may be attended by a supernumerary pack of 

 hounds, he alter his plans and his course is in fact 

 headed. Up come the hounds, with the " hard" division 



