THE HUNTER. 591 



be believed that, while Britain preserves the opulence of a 

 great commercial and manufacturing country, the wealth of 

 the inhabitants will give encouragement to the production of 

 the best horses, as well as of every thing else which the 

 wants of such a community call for; but horses with the 

 properties required will not start up at the command even 

 of wealth, and we must take the means to preserve the pro- 

 perties which ages of diligent cultivation have communicated 

 to our horses, if we design to preserve them in the most 

 perfect state. While horsemanship is pursued amongst us, 

 as a pleasing and exhilarating exercise, and while the su- 

 perior saddle-horses are in request for the luxury of the 

 lighter equipages, it may be believed that there will always 

 exist a great demand for the races of horses combining 

 strength, action, and speed. But it is for the Hunting-field 

 that a large part of the supply will be required, and there- 

 fore it is to be desired that this elegant, manly, and popular 

 amusement should be so conducted, as to aid in the main- 

 tenance and improvement of that fine j*ace of horses which 

 is rendered subservient to it. 



The practice of the modern Hunting-field differs essen- 

 tially from the methods of pursuing game adopted in former 

 times in this country, or in others where the larger beasts 

 of chase abound. The dogs employed in the modern chase 

 are a variety of a race, which will be described in the sequel, 

 distinguished from the most ancient times by following their 

 prey by the scent, hunting in concert, and employing the 

 voice in the manner of certain wild dogs, for the purpose of 

 cheering their fellows or terrifying their victims. 



Of the kinds of hunting pursued in this country, that of 

 the Stag, Cervus Elephas, came to be regarded as the most 

 noble, and was eagerly practised when other kinds of game 

 had become scarce. During the reigns of the Norman Kings, 

 the preservation of this species of deer, and of the roebuck, 

 likewise an indigenous species, was especially aimed at in 

 those inhuman forest-laws which so long dishonoured the 



