178 ANNALS OF THE ROAD. 



a high degree of excellence in any undertaking unless he 

 were endowed with a competent share of enthusiasm. 

 The enthusiasm of Nimrod, and the warmth of his 

 hobby-horsical feelings, are apparent in his every sen- 

 tence. 



I shall say no more, but only note the remark made 

 by one after reading the Essays : ' Though I don't know 

 much about driving, I shall feel a greater pleasure than 

 ever in getting alongside the coachman on the stage.' 



Nimrod introduces his Essays in the following words, 

 addressed to the editor of the ' Sporting Magazine ' : ' I 

 am not aware of the road ever having been treated by 

 anyone who could do so from a real practical knowledge 

 of it — and it is one that will not admit of theory alone. 



' There has always appeared to me to have been a 

 vacuum in the sporting world, and that is, not the 

 opinion of a sportsman who never saw a hound, not the 

 opinion of a coachman who never was through a dozen 

 turnpikes in his life, not the opinion of a judge of horses 

 who never bought one but to ride up Rotten Row, not 

 the opinion of a groom who has only had to get them 

 into condition for such purposes ; but the result of the 

 real practical observations of one who, for twenty years 

 of his life, has driven coach horses, purchased and ridden 

 hunters, and been a close observer of the management 

 and condition of them in the stable. 



' How far I may be qualified for this task, time will 

 show. My title to the qualification is experience, and 

 that is said to make even a fool wise. I shall, therefore, 

 only add, that for twenty years I have been in the habit 



