22 THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



CHAPTER II 



The first great step in the life of our "Sportsman : " he is entered 

 to hare. The Chapter concludes with many choice Aphorisms 

 concerning the Noble Science, and sundry anecdotes, worthy 

 being recorded in letters of gold. 



" TITHAT is to be done to-morrow," said Mr. Egerton 

 VY to his pupils iu the evening, " as Lady Charlotte 

 has asked for a holiday ? " " / shall hunt," exclaimed our 

 hero, his eyes brightening with delight ; and he was out 

 of the room, to give orders for Rodney to have no water 

 in the morning, before his brother had returned an 

 answer to the question. " J shall walk to the rectory," 

 said Andrew ; " I promised the Miss Chapmans I would 

 bring them the books my uncle sent me last week from 

 London, and they are very anxious to read them." 

 " There is no disputing about tastes," observed the tutor, 

 addressing our young sportsman, on his return to the 

 drawing-room, and hinting that he should not let Rodney 

 give him another black eye, as nothing had so ungentle- 

 manlike an appearance. " Besides," continued he, " it 

 savours of awkward horsemanship, in which, as you seem 

 bent on being a fox-hunter, some day or another, you 

 ought to endeavour to excel. Indeed, all gentlemen 

 should ride well ; and you will remember my telling you 

 that, in the letters of Lord Chesterfield to his son, and of 

 Lord Chatham to his nephew, it is insisted upon, as part 

 of their education, to enable them to make a good appear- 

 ance in the world, as Horace had insisted before them, in 

 his advice to youth. You also remember my drawing 

 your notice to several passages in history, in which the 

 accomplishment of riding well is either pointed out, or 

 boasted of, by still greater men. Hannibal, for example, 

 is said to have differed in nothing in his appearance from 

 the ordinary men of his day, unless in the peculiar 

 neatness and elegance of his horses and their furniture, 

 and likewise his seat in the saddle ; and it was only 

 yesterday that your brother was reading of Cicero, who, 

 addressing his son Marcus, told him that, as the eyes of 

 the world would be upon him, on account of his father's 

 fame, he was delighted to hear that he had received the 

 praise of all the army for his excellence in riding." 



