THE HUMANITARIAN ASPECT. Ill 



On the first point Beckford says, '' It is a question which I 

 know not how to answer, as it depends as well on the quantity 

 of game that you have as on the country you hunt." 



In conclusion, I think that without doubt, when looking 

 back on the Great War, the country owes a deep debt of 

 gratitude to all sports which tend to make a man manly (I am 

 afraid I do not include such sports as coursing or pigeon shooting 

 among them, as I am of opinion that woodcraft is a sine qua non 

 to a manly sport). Of all sports hunting most engenders 

 initiative, close observation, quick decision, and courage, qualities 

 essential to all leaders in the several branches of the Forces of 

 the Crown, and which were conspicuous during the late War in 

 the cases of men who had been entered to hunting. The horses 

 too were a great national asset in that crisis. There could be no 

 better initial training for the hunting field than running with 

 beagles. I can look back on five years as M.F.H. and twenty-two 

 seasons with harriers, but my initiation was with the Eton 

 beagles, and I did not follow them without learning many useful 

 lessons in the noble art. I hope many future generations of 

 Etonians will profit by them. I still have a hare's pad set up 

 killed by them on 18th February, 1879. I have a warm feeling 

 for the hare, and never quite like shooting one : she has afforded 

 me much sport, much pleasure, and much benefit, and if I could 

 forget the fox — and, of course, the hound and the horse — I 

 could ao-ree with Martial that 



''Inter quadrupedes gloria prima lepus." 



