THE FUTURE OF HARE-HUNTING 317 



a lad, the Warwickshire, Bicester, Pytchley, and 

 Grafton countries, when not a yard of wire existed 

 throughout the length and breadth of those splendid 

 fields and pastures. Fox-hunting, I am afraid, has to 

 undergo a purge ; how it will emerge from the ordeal 

 remains to be seen. At present, it seems that, in the 

 best and most popular countries, only the man of the 

 longest purse can survive, a consummation not, perhaps, 

 the most desirable in the world. As for the man of 

 small means, who loves fox-hunting, he must either 

 betake himself to the unfashionable countries — where, 

 after all, some of the best sport is nowadays often 

 to be found — or condescend to harriers. 



For harriers I see no such symptoms of crisis. 

 Rather, as I have said, I believe, in its quiet way, the 

 sport is destined to go on and prosper, so long as 

 portions of England remain sufficiently rural. That 

 it may continue to do so must be the wish of every 

 true lover of sport and of wild life. It will be a bad 

 day for Britain, indeed, when her field sports are 

 brought to an end. In these days, when our country 

 is the object of envy, hatred, and malice to more than 

 one Continental power ; when her wealth and her 

 success attract the fiercest scrutiny and the most 

 savage desire ; it is in the last degree necessary that 

 her manhood should, by every means in their power, 

 prepare themselves steadily and pertinaciously for 

 that great combat which, sooner or later, must be our 

 destiny. The man who keeps himself fit, and active, 

 and hardy, whose eye is clear, whose muscles are 

 toughened, whose courage is high, and whose nerve 

 is steady ; who can ride, run, shoot, swim, march 

 long distances, and knows something of the country 

 and the life of the open air, must always be, inevit- 

 ably, far more valuable to his country than the man 



