The Sport of Our <J[ncestors 



of our late king ; and, perhaps His Majesty never sat down 

 to a better-dressed dinner in his Hfe. To my surprise, the 

 subject of fox-hunting was named but once during the even- 

 ing, and that was when an order was given that a servant 

 might be sent to inquire after a gentleman who had had a 

 severe fall that, morning over some timber ; and to ask, by 

 the way, if Dick Christian came alive out of a ditch, in which 

 he had been left, with a clever young thorough-bred one on 

 the top of him.' The writer proceeds to describe an evening 

 in which wit and music were more thought of than wine — 

 and presenting in all respects a perfect contrast to the old 

 notions of a fox-hunting society : — but we have already 

 trespassed on delicate ground. 



It is this union of the elegant repose of life with the 

 energetic sports of the field that constitutes the charm of 

 Melton Mowbray ; and who can wonder that young gentle- 

 men, united by profession, should be induced to devote a 

 season or two to such a course of existence ? We must not, 

 however, leave the subject without expressing our regret 

 that rtsortmg, year after year ^ to this metropolis of the chace, 

 should seem at all likely to become a fashion with persons 

 whose hereditary possessions lie far from its allurements. 

 It is all very well to go through the training of the acknow- 

 ledged school of ' the craft,' but the country gentleman who 

 understands his duties, and in what the real permanent 

 pleasure of life exists, will never settle down into a regular 

 Meltonian. He will feel that his first concern is with his 

 own proper district, and seek the recreations of the chace, 



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