^Nimrod ' 



for fence after his master. This was the fashion for the 

 second-horse man of a heavy-weight when the second-horse 

 system was first introduced. But when the master was 

 himself a Hght-weight there was nothing to be gained by 

 it. But we must not be captious in attempting to review 

 * Nimrod's ' essay. It is admitted to be one of the best, 

 if not the very best, of descriptions of a run from the 

 riding point of view, just as Beckford's chapter is the best 

 description extant of a run from the point of view of 

 the Hound man. 



His famous chapter on ' The Road ' is the only extract 

 in this book which has no direct reference to Fox-hunting. 

 But it is so vitally interesting in letting us see the conditions 

 under which our ancestors travelled from place to place, 

 that it is here inserted ; moreover, at this time of day 

 ajiything that recalls the charm of driving behind quick- 

 stepping horses is surely worth preserving. This charm 

 had warmed even the rugged heart of Dr. Johnson. On 

 driving away from a visit to Lord Scarsdale at Kedleston, 

 the old man — he was then sixty-eight — felt a rush of gaiety, 

 and exclaimed to Bos well : ' If I had no duties, and no 

 reference to futurity, I would spend my life in driving 

 briskly in a post-chaise with a pretty woman ; but she 

 should be one who could understand me, and would add 

 something to the conversation.' No one who is not grossly 

 unsusceptible would after reading this take a lady out in 

 a motor-car without wishing that some fairy could change 

 it into a phaeton drawn by two well-bred horses. But 



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