152 THE HORSE AND HIS EIDER. 



the well-known and splendid run that ensued. Not only, 

 however, do our limits forbid us to do so, but as we 

 shall shortly have to quote hunting-anecdotes from a 

 very superior pen, we willingly pull up to make, in 

 cool blood instead of in hot, a very few remarks. 



Effects caused by the Sight of Hounds. 



A description of a fox-hunt is not very agreeable either 

 to read or to write, — firstly, because it records a series of 

 events of no very great importance when they are over ; 

 and secondly, because the picture generally bears the ap- 

 pearance of exaggeration ; the reason being, that it is 

 composed of two parts, one of which it is almost impos- 

 sible accurately to delineate. The danger or difficulty 

 which a man and horse incur in taking any particular 

 leap depends on the one hand upon the size of the fence, 

 and on the other upon the combined amount of weight, 

 strength, and activity which the horse can bring up to 

 it. In trade, if a given weight, whether small or great, 

 be put into one scale, it can be at once overbalanced 

 by putting a still greater weight into the other scale. 

 But while the dimensions of a fence can accurately be 

 measured, it would be not only very difficult to determine 

 the physical powers of a hunter, but, even if the state- 

 ment could be made, ninety-nine people out of every 



