The Southdown. 9 



this is not our present subject. The professed theme 

 under the head of Hunting Countries is how to lead 

 the Londoner afield for recreation or residence. And 

 so we come to Brighton to quaff ozone, tempered, as 

 taste may prompt, by Zoedone or Perrier Jouet — and 

 to take our turn with the Southdown. Hire if you 

 like at Brighton. It is cheap in the short run, if not 

 in the long. A hireling is the best of mounts over a 

 Down country. His life has been spent in one con- 

 tinued gallop with a loose rein. He has learned the 

 limit of his powers, or inclination, and will not go one 

 stride beyond either. In the after- glow of a gallop 

 on a hireling you may dine like a Briton ; have no care 

 while you sip your coffee as to whether your recent 

 mount is eating his corn, and in the morning know no 

 agony over filled legs or fevered frame. The 

 sovereigns (often four now where it used to be two — 

 though the Brighton and Lewes tariff remains, I 

 believe, unaltered) are the only blurr upon a pleasant 

 past. R.M.D. — a short quick process — cheap and 

 often disagreeable. Ask the British Subaltern on his 

 return from a spree. Ask the man who backs 

 favourites. A quick settlement, and sober method. 

 This the moral. The practice advocated in the special 

 instance is, after all — Keep your own horses wherever 

 you are. Put up with your lame ones and your dis- 

 appointments. Admit to yourself as much as you 

 please that, when things go wrong- (and when donH 

 they go wrong in a hunting establishment except 

 when owner doesn^t care if he stays at home or not ?) 

 that you are the one unlucky man in the world — howl 

 to yourself if you like that Fortune has for years been 



