PREFACE vii 



road, as was my own case ; and, at length, he is not only 

 considered safe that is, fit to be trusted with the ribbons 

 but possesses as much execution on the coach-box as 

 falls to the lot of most aspirants to the very difficult art ; 

 and at length I place him in a very trying situation. By 

 the death of his elder brother, his uncle, and his father, 

 he becomes possessed of great wealth, and he does not 

 abuse the boon. On the contrary, he endeavours to 

 follow his father's example in fulfilling the duties of his 

 station, and I leave him in the possession of the esteem of 

 his neighbours and friends, without which the riches of a 

 Crccsus afford little real satisfaction to the possessor of 

 them. 



Then I had another object in my view. The most 

 careless observer of the course of worldly affairs must be 

 aware that as has been the case in all ages in propor- 

 tion as a country has arrived at the highest pitch of 

 wealth and refinement, the taste for the humble, but 

 nearly unalloyed pleasures of a country life, has more or 

 less declined. 



A tendency to this decline has been, to a certain extent, 

 observable in our own land, and fears have been expressed, 

 lest the noblest of all our country sports fox-hunting- 

 may yield to this chilling, if not demoralizing influence. 

 For my own part, I do not think it will. I entertain 

 that opinion of the force of the almost natural passion 

 for hunting, and other manly diversions which has ever 

 distinguished Englishmen from all other nations under 

 the sun, that induces me to believe it will continue to 

 uphold fox-hunting as the pride and boast of all our 

 national pastimes. We, however, do occasionally hear 

 unpleasant forebodings to the contrary. " Eailroads," says 

 one croaker on the subject, "spoil all hunting countries 

 through which they pass, and one is about to traverse the 

 cream of the Leicestershire hunts." " In a few years," 

 cries another, " Paris and Brussels will be accessible in a 

 few hours, as our fashionable watering-places already are." 

 " Melton Mowbray falls off," exclaims a third, " no new 

 settlers in the town, and the old ones will soon be giving 

 up." "Young men leave off hunting after about their 

 third season," says a fourth. " When many of the present 

 masters of foxhounds shall be taken from us, none will be 

 found masters in their stead, beyond a third or fourth 

 season," cries a fifth. " Game preserves, and the accursed 

 b 



