SPORTSMEN PERSONIFIED. 15 



noble because their position is one for wliicb you 

 were not designed and are not fitted. Avaunt ! 

 ye soulless beings, who decry the glories of the 

 Chase because you have not hearts or means to 

 enjoy it. While Old England stands pre-eminent 

 among nations, so will its aristocracy stand among 

 men; and while this lasts, so will the glorious 

 Chase stand pre-eminent among our national sports 

 and pastimes. 



I am quite willing to admit that the man whose 

 avocation carries him no further than from Loth- 

 bury or Fenchurch to Clapham Common, and 

 whose appurtenances of his pursuits are comprised 

 in pen, ink, paper, wax, wafer, seal and sand, may 

 have in him the germ of a heroes courage and 

 enthusiasm; but he who has stood conspicuous 

 in bold relievo amongst his comrades in the 

 burst of blaze in a dozen sieges, leaves no doubt 

 of the materials he is made of ; and the man who, 

 cap in hand, rattles along his pack of fox -hounds 

 at a racing pace, shows at once the soul that is 

 in him ; and what he does will alu^ays be done 

 " en prince,''' whether it be bearding a tyrant 

 potentate and defying his threatened vengeance, 

 or soothing the wretched applicant and relieving 

 his gaunt necessities. 



A sportsman is, perhaps, among the generality 

 of men, a somewhat indefinite term. Each man 

 who follows any sort of sport calls himself a 



