202 THE SPORT OF KINGS 



I have hunted his foxes, and, better than all, 1 

 have heard him dilate with pride on the prowess 

 of some old veteran who has beaten hounds time 

 after time, and who " will make some of you 

 fellows look out for new horses before you kill 

 him, by Jove, sir ! " 



The next type of shooting tenant who claims 

 consideration is, in some respects, a mild reflection 

 of the good fellow of whose good qualities I have 

 spoken ; but in the great essentials he differs from 

 him. Like our friend, he has been an industrious 

 and hard-working man, toiling early and late ; 

 like him, he has succeeded in making his pile, 

 and, like him, he has a fancy for a country 

 life, and elects to take a shooting. But here 

 resemblance ends. His is a fancy to take to a 

 country life ; to our friend it was a taste inherent 

 in his blood. Shooting Tenant No. 2 takes 

 to a country life as a means to an end, the 

 furtherance of his political or social ambitions, 

 and those of his wife and daughters, who give 

 themselves airs that would be amusing were they 

 not offensive. 



Now the gentleman whom we have under con- 

 sideration wishes to do everything en grand seig- 

 neur ; it is his desire to stand well with his neigh- 

 bours ; he probably subscribes to the local hunt ; 

 and he certainly entertains largely and with princely 

 magnificence. He says it is his wish to preserve 

 foxes, he invites the M.F.H. to bring his hounds 

 to his house for a lawn meet, where his liqueurs 

 are dispensed to all comers with profusion. But 

 everything is spoilt by his overweening sense of his 

 own importance ; you feel when dining with him 

 that you are drinking my wine and eating my 



