THE MOOK AND THE LOCH. 



INTEODUCTIOK 



THE superiority in pluck and endurance of hardship which 

 the inhabitants of the British Islands have so long held over 

 the other nations of Europe, is pretty generally admitted to 

 be in no small degree due to the love and practice of our out- 

 of-door recreations. Nowhere is this more fully acknow- 

 ledged than in our army, where year by year additional facil- 

 ities are given to colonels of regiments from headquarters for 

 granting those under them as much sporting leave as is con- 

 sistent with attention to duty. Many of our most distin- 

 guished commanders have openly expressed the opinion, that 

 although a man who devotes all his time and energy to mili- 

 tary duty may be an excellent and valuable parade officer, yet 

 in actual service, when anything dashing was done, it was, in 

 nine cases out of ten, by those who loved the hunting-field or 

 the grouse-mountain far better than the barrack-square ; and 

 that these were generally the most efficient officers in an 

 arduous campaign. 



The impetus given to the mental as well as the physical 

 powers by healthy exercise no one denies, though hundreds 

 profess themselves unable (more .truly, perhaps, unwilling) to 



