i8o FOX-HUNTING 



ignorance, or idiocy. I am always much 

 more struck by the patience and forgiving 

 disposition of masters than by their rough 

 words. It is hard for the eager and im- 

 petuous, with every desire to give room 

 to hounds, to have his forbearance re- 

 warded by seeing some less scrupulous 

 rider take his place. It is hard sometimes 

 on a tearing flyer to get him pulled in at a 

 moment's notice. But a follower of hounds 

 knows when he has done wrong, and seldom 

 does a man catch it without deserving it ; 

 and if he is a sportsman, whose zeal only has 

 outrun its discretion, he may be sure of 

 forgiveness. 



This is not the time to debate whether 

 fox-hunting has a long life before it in 

 crowded little England. Its existence 



