The Sport of Our Ancestors 



squires. Does not their own poet make them say 



so ? 



' A Club of good fellows, we meet once a year.' 



Then come their noble sentiments : — 



* We hold in abhorrence all vulpicide knaves 

 With their gins and their traps, and their velveteen slaves. 



Since one fox on foot more diversion will bring 



Than twice twenty thousand cock pheasants on wing, 



That man we all honour, whate'er be his rank, 



Whose heart heaves a sigh when his gorse is drawn blank.' 



The Fox is the thing. Mr. Warburton sings of the un- 

 doubted superiority of hunting the Fox over deer-stalking, 

 hare-hunting, otter-hunting, fishing, shooting, cock-fighting, 

 and bull-fighting. It would be interesting if he had found 

 time to devote a line to pig-sticking. Pig-sticking is the 

 only field sport that might be favourably compared with 

 Fox-hunting by people who have done both. Fox-hunting 

 and pig-sticking alike produce a sensation that is afforded 

 by no other field sport, namely, the sensation of pace. Other 

 field sports, such as shooting on foot at dangerous game, 

 have the excitement of taking risks, but do not produce the 

 exhilaration of taking risks at full speed. It is true that 

 there are occasions, such as running away from a wounded 

 elephant, when full speed is the only thing. But this is 

 done on foot, and pedestrianism, however nimble, cannot 

 be compared with masterly equestrianism. Colonel John 

 Buchan, in his very charming ''Memoir oj Francis and Rivers- 

 dale Grenfell^^ quotes a letter from Francis to Riversdale, 



38 



