104 THE HOESE AND HIS EIDER. 



not least,* ruin not only bodily but intellectual enjoy- 

 ments, they will act wisely by resolving to befriend 

 themselves as they befriend their horses, namely, by 

 prescribing for all and each an ample quantity of food of 

 the very best description, and, if more be required by a 

 greedy stomach the muzzle. 



DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LEICESTERSHIRE AND SURREY 

 HUNTING. 



When a stranger comes to hunt in " the shires " he is 

 surprised, and is usually a little alarmed, at the size of 

 the fences, until he learns, by experience, how very easily 

 they are crossed ; for although almost all non-hunting 

 people, especially ladies, fancy that it must be dangerous 

 to encounter a large fence, and easy to pass over a small 

 one, yet in practice the reverse, within moderate bounds, 

 may be said to be the truth : indeed, it is notorious that 

 of the bad accidents that happen in the hunting-field, at 

 least three-fourths occur either at small impediments or 

 at no impediment at all. For instance, perhaps the very 

 worst fall a rider can get is by his horse, at full speed, 

 stepping on the edge of a little rabbit-hole ; next comes 

 that occasioned by one of his fore feet in his gallop 

 dropping into a deep drain about six inches broad ; next 



