372 HUNTING. 



that, speaking generally, no man takes a view of a 

 country, at first sight, with equal facility to a 

 sportsman, particularly a sportsman who has been 

 accustomed to follow hounds. Indeed, unless he 

 have what is called in the field " a good eye to a 

 country," he cannot ride with judgment after 

 hounds in our enclosed or woodland districts ; and 

 when the chase is concluded, it is surprising to 

 witness the rapidity with which an experienced 

 fox-hunter sees the points of a country in wdiich 

 he is a stranger, that must lead him towards his 

 wished-for home. With respect to the other ad- 

 vantages alluded to by Xenophon, he had very 

 good authority for what he asserted of them. The 

 Olympic games were established by the Greeks for 

 tw^o distinct purposes : first, to inspire their youth 

 with a love of glory, as well as a taste for manly 

 and invigorating exercises, conducive to contempt 

 of danger, and -coolness wdien exposed to it ; and, 

 secondly, with a view of drawing together the lead- 

 ins: nien of the different states of Greece, which 

 gave them an opportunity of deliberating upon 

 matters of general concern. As regarded the other 

 various occupations of life which a gentleman is 

 called upon to fulfil and do honour to, we may 

 remark that an irreproachable moral character was 

 a necessary qualification for a competitor at those 

 games or sports. Drawing something like a paral- 

 lel, here, then, we may add, that neither is a sports- 

 man in our own country esteemed, how skilful so- 

 ever he may be, if his character be tainted with 

 fraud ; and we are not unmindful of the advantages 



