486 THE MOOR AND THE LOCH. 



sporting element of our constitution on the physique of our 

 own nation. 



It is not to be denied that a keen appreciation of toilsome 

 out-of-door sports and pastimes has made the sturdy race they 

 are out of British islanders, and that the young aristocrats 

 who have the most means and opportunity for enjoying them 

 are the finest young fellows in Europe. Our veteran generals 

 have often been heard to assert : " It is all very well to have 

 crammed-up successful competitors of military schools for 

 parades and peace campaigns ; but for active service in time 

 of war, for the far look-out and quick appreciation of the ad- 

 vantages to be seized by every diversity of country, give me 

 the Nimrods of the chase, or the swift-footed and keen-eyed 

 deathsmen of the grouse and the deer." 



What was it in time of war that made our young Guards- 

 men careless of hardship and examples of endurance to the 

 soldiers under them, but that when sport was changed into 

 earnest, they put in practice in the dread reality of war those 

 lessons they had learned in their mimic campaigns with the 

 beasts and birds of their dear native land ? 



" The chase I follow from afar, 

 'Tis mimicry of noble war." 



So says " The Douglas " ; and many a high-spirited son of 

 Albyn, after a long and weary day on the hills, will cordially 

 endorse the sentiment. 



Nor must we omit a word on our venturesome sportsmen 

 of the ocean those stalwart fishermen who so often brave 

 death in pursuit of their dangerous calling. In every coast- 

 hamlet those noble forms with resolute sunburnt faces, cased 

 in their peculiar fishing-garb, attract the notice and admiration 

 of the wayfarer, and a feeling of confidence and pride gladdens 

 his heart, well knowing that the pick and cream of these 

 splendid types of humanity form the rough material which 



