The Sport of Our <tAncestors 



which he discusses with so much assurance. But the not 

 too modest tone of his writings, fortified though it be by 

 a lavish use of the first personal pronoun, is a minor blemish 

 when it is set beside the masterly manner in which he has 

 illuminated the Sport of our Ancestors. For, indeed, when 

 he was not thinking too much about himself, he could write 

 well. His facility was inspired by his genuine love of 

 horses and Hounds, and enriched by his acquaintance with 

 many men and countries. The only other writer in the 

 same line as * Nimrod' is ' The Druid ' the author of gossipy 

 volumes such as ""Post and Paddock^ ' Scott and Sebright' and 

 * Saddle and Sirloin.' ' The Druid ' had certainly amassed 

 a vast amount of hunting lore, but he can only be placed 

 second, longo intervallo, to ' Nimrod.' He is all very well 

 as a reference, but he could not have written a classic like 

 ' The Chace.' 



For it is indeed a classic. In the small space of a few 

 paragraphs the author skilfully traces the evolution of the 

 Chase from the fourteenth century down to a meet of 

 the Quorn Hounds at Ashby Pasture in February 1826. 

 The famous amateur huntsman. Squire Osbaldeston, is the 

 central figure. The impression one forms of ' The Squire ' 

 is that of a hard-bitten, varminty little North Countryman 

 who liked riding better than hunting, and who was the 

 darling of the English sporting public on account of his 

 being ready to take risks and to back himself to perform 

 any feat of nerve or endurance connected with horses. He 

 was, in fact, ' a Sport.' Not the vinous eccentric John 

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