SS COUNTRY LIFE STILL POSSIBLE? 303 



with the busy class ; no " society " for the business 

 man. If he wanted a change, and a chance of meeting 

 fresh ideas in others, " e'en from the peasant to the 

 lord," he could only find it in the country ; and to the 

 country he went. 



That neither of the two causes which mainly kept up 

 the old English taste for the country retain their old 

 force, is certain, though the effect of their gradual 

 weakening is curiously sudden. Early association 

 certainly has less hold on the imagination of the present 

 generation than it had on their predecessors, mainly 

 because it is allowed so little time to act before it is 

 supplanted by rival interests. When the author of 

 Tom Browns Schooldays complained that " young 

 England " did not know their own lanes and fields and 

 hedges, he found a reason in the " globe-trotting spirit " 

 which sent young men abroad travelling, instead of 

 returning to the old country haunts. By a curious 

 irony, the later chapters of his book, in which the 

 author has so vividly painted the delights of organized 

 athletics, have appealed so powerfully to " young 

 England," that, with our usual instinct for doing one 

 thing with all our might, games of every kind have not 

 only in a great measure supplanted the old interest in 

 wild life, but even threaten to rival the taste for field- 

 sports which once seemed innate in every Englishman. 

 To be able to ride fairly, to throw a fly, and to shoot 

 with some skill himself, and without danger to his 

 neighbours, were the common accomplishments of an 

 English gentleman. Excellence at cricket, tennis, and 

 golf are now more important social qualifications ; and 



