226 Cross Country with Horse and Hound 



fox-hunting than many of the men who dress and feel 

 above them. 



I must confess, too, there is more snobbishness displayed 

 in the hunting-field in America than among the most 

 fashionable packs in England. One great charm of hunt- 

 ing in England is the entire absence of snobbishness. Dukes 

 and farmers, lords and merchants, meet for the day on one 

 common level. Riding to covert you will see a former 

 prime minister talking pleasantly to a tenant-farmer, a 

 wealthy duke chatting with a horse-dealer, an illustrious 

 knight asking the village cobbler for a match. I believe 

 some townsmen in America would faint away if a farmer 

 should ask them the time o' day. But an English gentleman 

 sportsman is the most gentlemanly gentleman in the world, 

 and perfect absence of snobbishness is one of his char- 

 acteristics. 



Edward VII, the present King of England, is, and as 

 Prince of Wales was, a lesson and example in this respect to 

 all snobs. If ever there was a genuine sportsman, His 

 Majesty is one. He goes in for breeding pure-bred cattle 

 and sheep, and his stock is seen at all the leading shows and 

 fairs in England, competing for prizes against the country 

 tenant-farmers. Neither King Edward nor the late Queen, 

 who was also a keen breeder and exhibitor, ever exhibited 

 anything except what was bred and reared on their own 

 farms. They could have sent about the country to buy up 

 a lot of prize-winners if they had wished, but their sports- 

 manship forbade such taking advantage of their competitors. 

 The King's stock, sent to any fair, receives the same treat- 

 ment as that of the farmer : is kept in the same stalls ; and in 



