viii PREFACE 



system of steeple- racing, is destructive of the sportsmanlike 

 manner of riding to hounds, to the great discomfort of 

 their owners," says a sixth. 



I am aware there is truth in some of these remarks, 

 consequently cause for alarm ; and it is on this account 

 that 1 have, in these pages, striven to the utmost to give 

 a high colour to a country life, and to represent the 

 real modern sportsman, such as I find him to be a 

 character not excelled in ingenuous feelings, in liberal 

 conduct, in extreme hospitality, in sincerity of friendship 

 and all other social virtues, by any class in which it has 

 been my lot to move. Where, indeed, was there a fairer 

 or better specimen to be found than in the late Mr. Warde, 

 fifty-seven years a master of foxhounds, and, therefore, 

 called "The Father of the Field?" Who ever heard 

 him utter an ill-natured word respecting anyone, either 

 living or dead ? Where was there a kinder friend, or a 

 better neighbour ? and, above all things, where was his 

 equal as a companion ? Neither can I stop here in 

 my panegyric on this fine specimen of the old English 

 country gentleman and sportsman. Rough as was his 

 exterior, Mr. Warde was accomplished and well informed, 

 and capable of adapting his conversation to any society 

 into which he might be thrown. In short, it is a matter 

 of doubt whether there has existed a man, whose name has 

 not been long before the public, either in the capacity of 

 a senator, a soldier, a sailor, or an author, so universally 

 known as Mr. Warde, of Squerries, in Kent, was to 

 Englishmen, in all quarters of the globe. Let me, how- 

 ever, not be understood to exhibit him as a pattern, in all 

 respects, for young men of the present day to imitate. 

 Although, doubtless, the somewhat rough exterior which 

 he adopted, was, in great part, adopted for the sake of 

 effect to the tout ensemble of his character, still a more 

 polished one than his was, may now be required, in con- 

 formity to the increased refinement of the age. 



In the following pages, there may be something to 

 amuse if not to instruct the female mind. At all events, 

 there is a little love-making, and its results ; and there is 

 one instance of a narrow escape by my young hero, of the 

 almost inevitable consequences of an unlawful attachment. 

 Upon the whole, however, the bright side of human nature 

 is displayed, and the cultivation of cheerfulness and good 

 humour earnestly recommended as the sovereign antidote 



