BANDOM THOUGHTS ON HUNTING. 281 



duty toward God and toward his neighbor and to 

 chastise his vices, too without lapsing into indeli- 

 cacy ! Yet, since such things do happen, who but 

 a madman would apply himself to pull down the 

 pulpits thus desecrated, instead of purifying them 

 of their gross offences ? This is true wisdom ; this 

 is the true rule ! Let it be applied to the theatres ; 

 and while their immoralities are frowned upon and 

 repressed, let not the world lose the instruction and 

 delight which they are calculated to impart ! 



As to country amusements, it seems to me, that 

 they who denounce them should withhold their 

 censures, until they can substitute a recreation 

 more commendable than hunting. So far as physi- 

 cal education is concerned, it stands preeminent. 

 Its manliness none will deny; neither is there 

 wanting ground for supposing (startling as the pro- 

 position may seem) that its tendency is actually 

 promotive of good morals. For, whether it has 

 happened by accident, or whether it stands in some 

 unexplained relation of cause and effect, I know 

 not ; T)ut the fact is so, that of all the associates 

 who have acted with me in field sports, and were 

 interested enough to excel in them, not one has 

 been touched with the vice of gaming! Men 

 of fortune, men of leisure, peculiarly exposed, 

 from their social position, to this most demoralizing 



