284 HUNTING. 



this sum you became practically possessed of a hunter of your 

 own ; the stable keeper running all reasonable risks, supplying 

 the nag's place if disabled (unless by some glaring fault of your 

 own), keeping him, and finding all necessary service. What 

 the charges may be now we do not know ; but we have heard 

 the stables at Oxford are now filled mainly with bicycles, which 

 of course are much less expensive to keep. 



It may be thought that we do not think much of ' hunting 

 from London,' nor are keen to recommend it to our friends. 

 This is not quite so. It is certainly a laborous form of amuse- 

 ment, if pursued with ardour, and one which, we repeat, pre- 

 supposes youth, health, and a strong constitution at least, 

 without these good gifts we certainly should advise the 

 Londoner if possible to content himself with some other form of 

 exercise. It is costly also ; but then hunting is in no form a 

 cheap amusement, except if enjoyed after the fashions adopted 

 by Mr. Sponge and Mr. Facey Romford. Still, if a man sets 

 most store on fresh air and a wholesome exercise he will no 

 doubt find what he wants in the hunting fields round about 

 London, with pleasant company, and sport of a kind ; and he 

 will find these things without any undue labour or exertion, 

 whether he stable his horses in the country or carry them 

 backwards and forwards on the rail. But if his ambition soars 

 higher, he must go farther afield. If he wish to gallop and 

 jump, has an aversion to plough ; if, in short, it is riding to 

 hounds that he understands by the term hunting, he will not 

 be satisfied by the suburban delights of his more modest and 

 moderate neighbours. Then comes the real hard work 

 hie labor, hoc opus est. It can be done ; but it is no rose-water 

 fun. ' Brooksby,' of whose excellent little guide-books we have 

 already spoken, argues that it is just as easy to hunt in a good 

 country as in a bad. 'A horse,' he says, 'eats no more in a 

 good country than in a bad one ; hotel and stabling charges vary 

 on quite other principles (we know not what) than those of 

 locality ; in no country are you likely to ride a worse horse if 

 you can afford a better; the best saddlery is everywhere 



