196 THE MASTER OF HOUNDS 



" Although Mr. Jorrocks is a man of estabhshed repu- 

 tation, we trust the readers in perusing his freaks will 

 not be betrayed into a ' swell mob ' sneer at the 

 author for depicting the exploits of a jolly, free-and- 

 easy, fox-hunting grocer. We admit that Mr. Jorrocks 

 is ' wulgar,' but we would ask the reader to bear in 

 mind the distinction between describing vulgar people 

 and describing vulgar people vulgarly. Mr. Jorrocks, 

 at all events, has one recommendation ; he does not 

 pretend to be anything but what he is." That " Handley 

 Cross " was, and is, vulgar, and occasionally even in- 

 delicate, admits of little doubt ; but, though the very 

 refined critics were, and are, calling out about the 

 vulgarity, the slang, the smoke, the loudness of such 

 writings, yet they are always willing to laugh. Mr. 

 Surtees was a satirist and a- humorist, and was 

 helped in the production of his works by the first 

 caricaturist of the nineteenth century, viz., Mr. John 

 Leech. No wonder that fresh editions of these 

 works are being called for by the reading public every 

 year ! 



It seems an anomaly that a man possessing such a 

 fund of humour " on paper " should have been taciturn 

 in private life. Yet Mr. Surtees was not only a taciturn 

 observer, but preferred solitude to company in the 

 numerous excursions which he made about the country. 

 We cannot obscure the fact, however much we may 

 admire the author, that Mr. Surtees neither cared for 

 society, nor did society care for him. Satirists are 

 seldom popular, even when they confine their satire 

 within the limits prescribed by the usages of society ; 



