228 THE HORSE. 



metropolis, of which the sportsmen of London have 

 ever availed themselves. Of these packs, the Surrey 

 and Kent have been most distinguished ; and the train- 

 ing stables for them are at Barrows Hedges, Smitham 

 Bottom, and Croydon. 



But Leicestershire has long been the national head- 

 quarters of the foxhunt. It is said, that during the 

 last season, upwards of six hundred hunters were 

 kept at the different establishments in that county ; 

 and, estimating the annual expense of each horse at 

 601. the large sum of 36,000/. is, through this mean, 

 expended in the county, independent of the additional 

 sums which must necessarily be expended by the 

 proprietors. 



Mortal man is continually flitting off the scene, 

 giving place to his successors ; and nothing can be a 

 fairer sequence than, as men change, as all things 

 change — opinions, modes, customs, must of necessity 

 change likewise, and that with improvement, if there 

 be any virtue in experience. In this respect, our 

 field sports, foxhunting essentially, have been at no 

 rate behind other national affairs. We have dis- 

 carded the heavy, cumbrous, and slow, in all things 

 appertaining to the hunt ; whether as to customs, 

 animals, furniture, and toggery, costume for the field, 

 adopting every measure in almost an opposite ex- 

 treme. The morning hour for reaching the covert is 

 now ten, or perhaps eleven o'clock ; and as we have 

 ceased to be early risers, a good speedy covert hack 

 is an acquisition of some consequence. Indeed I 

 never could enter into that spirit of hardihood in our 

 forefathers, which seems to have experienced such su- 

 preme delight in being roused from their warm beds, 



