SKETCHES 



IN 



THE HUNTING FIELD 



I. 



THE M.F.H. 



Since the days of Nimrod — very likely before, if we only 

 had record of it — mankind in all known countries has 

 delighted to hunt. The earliest Greek figures show men 

 sitting so well down on their horses that one cannot 

 doubt the Greek equivalent for " Gone away ! " has 

 been yelled by some enthusiastic sportsmen, and that 

 the artists intended to represent them as in full swing 

 after something or other. The " oiled and curled As- 

 syrian bulls " — if any poet of the time ventured so to 

 speak of the golden youth who were scandalised at the 

 proceedings of Semiramis — assuredly had those clumsy- 

 looking beards of theirs blown about in the ardour of the 

 chase ; and what was King Arthur doing when he ought 

 to have been looking after — 



" bandit earls and caitiff knights, 

 Assassins, and all flyers from the hand 

 Of Justice, and whatever loathes a law " ? 



B 



