342 THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



" No fear," answered Frank ; " I shall live quietly in the 

 country in the summer, to provide for the winter cam- 

 paign ; and as I have given up the turf, and never play 

 for a sixpence, my income will stand the brunt." 



" But Parliament ! " remarked Hargrave " that will lie 

 a pull. You must be a good deal in London." 



" Not much of that," replied our patriot " at least as 

 little as I can help. I shall leave such other matters to 

 wiser heads than mine. What would my opinion be worth 

 on the affairs of the Elector of Bavaria, or the convention 

 with Russia?" 



Parliament not assembling till the usual period, it did 

 not interfere with the present views of its new member, 

 and when it did meet, nothing further was heard of him 

 than that he had taken the oaths and his seat. The 

 summer, however, was not wasted by him in the doubly- 

 heated atmosphere of London ; but, by the first day in 

 July, he was comfortably settled again at Farndon Hall, 

 with a select party of friends, enjoying the pleasures of 

 the coach-box, together with fishing and cricket, until be 

 took his departure for the Highlands, as he had done in 

 preceding years. On his return, in addition to the usual 

 pastime of the trigger during the months of September 

 and October, he entered upon another pursuit, though it 

 did not prove to his liking. Having what he considered 

 a fair kennel of greyhounds, he became a member of a 

 coursing meeting, and contended for some of the prizes. 

 Neither was he unsuccessful ; his dog, Champion, having 

 particularly signalized himself in several severe courses, 

 and was the winner of two cups. But coursing was not 

 to his taste, sufficiently so, at least, as to induce him to 

 enter into it as a science, and without doing so he con- 

 sidered it must be time thrown away in following it, 

 unless for the sake of what is called the parson's course 

 namely, " the hare at the end of it." This, however, 

 his keeper was able to provide for him. But he had 

 objections to coursing on several grounds. Firstly, the 

 prodigious number of rules and regulations to be observed 

 at least considered necessary to be observed in the 

 running of each course, naturally cause disputes, by the 

 difficulty of observing them to the satisfaction of the 

 loser especially. All emulative pursuits, he said, produce 

 excitement ; but he contended that he witnessed more 

 anxiety in the owners of greyhounds, when the contest 



