180 THE HORSE IN HISTORY 



devoted the better part of their lives to the sport 

 of hunting became to such a degree engrossed 

 in it that in time they could hardly be brought to 

 talk, or indeed to think, of anything else whatever. 



That the same can be said with truth of a 

 proportion of our modern hunting men is well 

 known, and the question is asked to-day, as it 

 was asked three hundred or more years ago — 

 How comes it that over-indulgence in the 

 chase has this odd effect upon us, whereas over- 

 indulgence in other forms of sport but seldom 

 makes its votaries shallow-minded to the same 

 degree ? 



Indeed Lord Herbert of Cherbury, eccentric as 

 he admittedly was, made many sensible observa- 

 tions upon this and kindred topics ; and there can 

 be no doubt that in decrying the then increasing 

 tendency of men and women of what were looked 

 upon as the educated classes to squander their 

 fortunes, he voiced the views held by a vast 

 proportion of the thinking population of this 

 country. 



A contemporary of Lord Herbert's wrote 

 practically to the same effect. His name was 

 Burton, and he reached his heyday about the 

 time that Shakespeare's era was drawing to a 

 close. The diatribe he launched against the 

 increasing spread of gambling upon the Turf has 

 probably never been surpassed in vigour. 



In one of his mildest passages he pronounces 



