CHAPTER XXIII 



THE PERILS AND PENALTIES OF 

 HUNTING 



Every season the hunting-field claims its victims. Still, 

 " those who play at bowls must expect rubbers," and those 

 who follow hounds must count upon falls. But, after all, 

 a fall in the hunting-field is not necessarily serious. 

 Assheton Smith had falls without end, yet he never broke 

 a bone. Another famous fox-hunter, Captain John White, 

 was less fortunate, and broke nearly every bone in his 

 body ; yet these accidents only made him ride the harder, 

 and, as he hunted until he was 'j'j, they can hardly be said 

 to have shortened his days. 



The odd thing is that most of the fatal accidents in the 

 hunting-field have not occurred during fast runs or under 

 circumstances in which there was peril to life and limb. 

 Whyte-Melville met his death when quietly trotting from 

 one covert to another. The Earl of Cardigan, leader of 

 the charge of the Six Hundred, was thrown from a restive 

 colt in a country lane, when hounds were nowhere near, 

 and broke his neck. And if space permitted I could quote 

 many similar instances. 



But the cry against the danger of hunting is no new 

 thing. Nearly a hundred years ago Peter Beckford thus 

 scornfully discussed the objection to his favourite sport on 

 the ground of the alleged dangers attending it : — 



"To those who think the danger which attends upon 

 hunting a great objection to the pursuit of it I must beg 

 leave to observe that the accidents which are occasioned by 

 it are very few. I will venture to say that more bad 

 accidents happen to shooters in one year than to those who 

 follow the hounds in seven. The most famous huntsman 



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