HUNTING. 125 



tianity should deem a pleasure and privilege, 

 instead of, as now, a compulsory and doled- 

 out gift. I cannot expect to remedy these 

 wide and universal evils, nor yet can you; 

 but we are bound — you and I — to guard 

 against such things in our own management. 

 If your horse oppose you through nervousness, 

 you can conquer him by kindness ; if through 

 obstinacy, which is occasional but not fre- 

 quent, you must adopt a different plan. Use 

 your spur and whip, and shovv^ that you will 

 not be mastered, though you stay there till 

 the stars come out. You will be sure to 

 conquer ere long, unless your horse is one of 

 those inveterate brutes which are, fortunately, 

 rarely to be met with, and when you succeed 

 in getting him over the obstacle at which he 

 has sulked, put him at it again, making him 

 take it backwards and forwards, and he will 

 not be hkely to trouble you by a repetition of 

 Ms pranks. 



You must be very cautious in the hunting- 

 field not to leave yourself open to any 

 suspicion of over-riding the hounds; keep 

 close to them, but never so near as to be 



