126 CURIOUS ATTITUDES REQUIRED. 



was knock-kneed to a deformity. Set before me a man 

 that is long from his hip downward, closely ribbed up, and 

 with powerful loins ; take care that he be straight, and of 

 the happy medium between slim and stout ; let his muscle 

 be of marble, and his sinews of steel. Great Jove, how the 

 fellow will step out ! And what tremendous odds are half 

 a foot in every step ! See with what an elastic spring he 

 recovers his legs ! I swear by Atalanta, and Achilles the 

 swift of foot, that this is the man I would back to go 

 right up the Andes without deviating an iota from the 

 straight line. I must add, however, that his lungs should 

 be pre-eminent, because in long runs (say six or seven 

 miles at a stretch), through bogs and over mountains, wind 

 will be found an article most particularly in demand. 

 After all, a man should be trained in the way he should 

 go as soon as he is out of petticoats ; if not, the symmetry 

 of the Antinous will avail him nought. I have not the 

 slightest doubt, indeed, but that Pan w r ould have caught 

 Daphne much sooner than Apollo. He would have made 

 a much better run, and probably a better thing of it 

 altogether. 



Now this is all very well ; but your consummate deer- 

 stalker should not only be able to run like an antelope, 

 and breathe like the trade winds, but should also be en- 

 riched with various other undeniable qualifications. As, 

 for instance, he should be able to run in a stooping position, 

 at a greyhound pace, with his back parallel to the ground, 

 and his face within an inch of it, for miles together. He 

 should take a singular pleasure in threading the seams of a 

 bog, or in gliding down a burn, venire a terre, like that 

 insinuating animal the eel, accomplished he should be in 



