THE BRITISH ISLES 363 



a great, walloping beggar blobbin' about the market gardens near 

 London, and call that diversion! Puss-'unting is werry well for 

 cripples and those that keep donkeys, Coursin' should be made 

 felony ! Of all the daft devils under the sun, a greyhound's the 

 daftest. And as for racing," said he, "it's only fit for rogues." 



I have quoted Jorrocks — or perhaps rather I ought to say Surtees, 

 who modelled and made him — because for one reason I believe that, 

 quaint and humorous as were his remarks and opinions, he was in 

 the main correct in his views, and, for another reason, I believe the 

 utterances of John Jorrocks will dwell in the minds of men centuries 

 hence, when all the heaviest or cleverest perorations of politicians are 

 lying forgotten and enveloped in dust, shelved in some old vault near 

 St. Stephen's. 



But I have quoted Jorrocks for yet another reason, that all sports 

 were to him waste of time compared to the hunting of the fox. Not 

 that it is possible to compare hunting with fishing, or fishing with 

 shooting, although Whyte Melville pauses in one of his poems and 

 soliloquises as to the merits of a run with the fox and a run with the 

 salmon, and, if I remember rightly, he somewhat hesitatingly gives 

 the pride of place to the sport connected with horse and hound. 



Looking back, it surprised me to find that hunting the fox with 



a pack of hounds is a comparatively modern sport, and dates no 



further back than one hundred and fifty years, having 



Fox-hunting, 

 apparently rushed into general favour almost at once. 



Doubtless in the heyday of life, there can be no more exhilarating 



or enchanting feeling than riding behind hounds in a good run. 



Hunting can only be conducted in counties where landowners 



