THE TRUE MAN OF FEELING. 77 



I rather think the number of fired and s^vellinsr 

 legs^ and thick-winded horses, found in the 

 stables of our ancestors far exceeded those found 

 in our fastest Leicestershire stables now. One 

 thing is quite certain ; — horses in the then called 

 condition of 1790, could not live a forty minutes^ 

 burst in a fast country in 1850, and, if they did, 

 probably would never see another ; at least so far 

 as the majority of horses is concerned. 



I hope I shall never be induced to allow that 

 there is less humane feeling among fox-hunters 

 as regards animals than among any other class of 

 persons ; but from habit, and difference of ideas, 

 the result of habit, feeling is exhibited in dif- 

 ferent ways. A lady or an antisporting man 

 would indulge the favourite pony or cob in a five 

 miles an hour pace; the fast man w^ould not. 

 But the lady and the gentleman would unhesi- 

 tatingly keep the pet pony or cob Awaiting in the 

 cold, while one indulged in conversation on the 

 last new fabric for a dress, or the other on the 

 present value of three per cent, consols or the 

 struggles of wool versus cotton : — the fox- 

 hunter would not let his favourite horse endure 

 this to save the whole Stock Exchange, stock- 

 brokers, bank, and directors, from annihilation. 

 The prize-fighter thinks nothing of seeing his 

 dearest friend battered to a mummy for an hour 

 and a half. Why? Because he would think 



