INTRODUCTORY 15 



no appeal. But the gratification of his pleasure in the 

 beautiful he defers until the trout has ceased from 

 rising and he from entertaining hope. When the day 

 is done and he rejoices in a well-filled creel, nature 

 rarely calls to him in vain. Not altogether in the 

 weight dependent from his shoulder lies the secret of 

 the exaltation which sustains him on his homeward 

 way and makes of no account the miles which stretch 

 across the wide brown moorland. 



Long may it be, Kingsley to the contrary not- 

 withstanding, before nature is entirely under man's 

 dominion. " Arable land is admirable, but I like to 

 see the brackens," as Captain Cutlass said. Agriculture 

 is an ancient and honourable calling, and there are still 

 a few waste places of the earth awaiting the attention 

 of the husbandman. But nature has in her possession 

 many nooks and corners not to be exploited for gain, 

 and God forbid that man should ever lay his touch on 

 one of these to "dress it and keep it." Nature's 

 attraction is in her very wildness, in her unconvention- 

 ality, and there are few spectacles more depressing than 

 that she presents as she emerges from the hands of the 

 artist. Should she ever be brought completely under 

 subjection, sport will be deprived of its essential element 

 — the pursuit of the wild animal in its natural environ- 



