34 REMINISCENCES OF 



gentlemen ; and it is curious to observe the wide 

 contrast of style between Land and Water, and the 

 first classic among sporting writers. The difference 

 between their opinions with respect to the essentials 

 conducive to the noble sport is still more striking. 

 ' It is sometimes said/ writes Land and Water, 

 1 that the death of the fox is the test of good hunting. 

 For my part, I would only admit such a test with 

 qualifications. For the chance of a really good run 

 it may be sometimes right to risk losing the line' 

 Has Land and Water ever read Beckford's book ? 

 If he has, when he had penned these lines, he may 

 have been conscious of an indignant ghost at his 

 elbow ; he adds, ' Of course this is to be taken as the 

 expression of my own opinion, and not as committing 

 any one else '. There is a condescension in this which 

 is almost kind ; but the vision is still upon him, and 

 he becomes apologetic : ' Captain Thomson has many 

 ardent admirers, and, after all, the question is one of 

 taste. The best sportsman is he who shows the best 

 sport, and what is not sport is a question of taste.' 

 So our scribe finds refuge in taste, for which, it has 

 been said, no one can account. Is not this just the 

 fashion in which most of the modern heresies have 

 been, at first, timidly promulgated ? Perhaps Land 

 and Water s real taste is for a paper-chase, led by 

 a ' well-disciplined second horseman,' who knows 

 ' every little place that can be secured by turning a 

 trifle out of the direct route,' and who will leave the 

 hand-gates open, where the fences are inconveniently 

 strong. Our critic seems to have an eye to business, 



