166 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 



this respect possess powerful attractions, which, unless 

 they were to be neutralized or rather counteracted by 

 national attachments of still greater power, would inevit- 

 ably drain from the United Kingdom, especially from the 

 country, a large proportion of those wealthy classes whose 

 presence, expenditure, and charity have proved so bene- 

 ficial to their respective neighbourhoods. In like manner, 

 as Nature abhors a vacuum, so, if the affluent among the 

 middle and lower classes, with a little money and leisure 

 on hand, were to find themselves without some whole- 

 some recreation, it is proverbial that a certain sable 

 personage, who delights in idleness, would very soon, in 

 his own service and in his own peculiar way, " set them 

 to work." 



But however wise it may be for an individual within 

 his own precincts to create recreation to suit his particular 

 palate, it is not so very easy to concoct any amusement 

 that shall be pleasing to the taste of many ranks of the 

 community as well as be generally beneficial to the whole. 



A public racket-court or fives-court can only contain a 

 very small party. 



The far-famed national game of cricket (the stock in 

 trade of which consists of a ball, some bats, half-a-dozen 

 stumps, and eleven players) is adapted only to that bright, 

 joyous, sunshiny half of the year, which, with its flowers 

 and fruits, hardly requires to be enlivened, leaving the 



