266 THE SPORT OF KINGS 



examine these conditions. " When most of the 

 few men and women in the field are only there 

 because no other amusement is immediately avail- 

 able." This is begging the question with a 

 vengeance. The poet tells us that 



Genius is peculiar to no skies, 



And may hereafter even in Holland rise. 



And if genius, why not the love of fox-hunting ? 

 Is that necessarily confined to the grass countries ? 

 And because a man cannot afford to keep half a 

 dozen two-hundred-guinea hunters at Melton or 

 Harborough, is he therefore to be prevented 

 from enjoying his favourite sport on a ^50 screw 

 in the cramped and woody country in which his 

 lines are cast ? Perish the thought. And suppose 

 that the contention is right that most of the field 

 only hunt because there is no other amusement, is 

 that any reason why they should be deprived of 

 their only amusement at the bidding of those for 

 whom it is no amusement ? There is no reason 

 that I can see. 



Then again the question of subscriptions is 

 raised, and we learn that when the subscriptions 

 are so small that everything has to be done on the 

 cheap, it is a reason why hounds should not be 

 kept. A more selfish and one-sided way of look- 

 ing at the matter I never came across. Why 

 should a man's sport be stopped because he cannot 

 afford the expense of the cut-'em-down countries ? 

 Is a man to be deprived of hunting altogether 

 because he lives in an unfashionable country where 

 it is impossible to obtain a big subscription ? If it 

 became a question of subscription alone many a 

 country which has an historic name would soon be 



