2 



THE TRINITY FOOT BEAGLES 



^^ 



In our days there are the same diverse types, though their 



conditions of life are not what they then were ; for now it is the 



tillers of the soil and the keepers of sheep, 



farmers and landowners, who are by instinct 



and tradition sportsmen, while the mantle of 



Jacob has fallen upon the town - dwellers who 



frequent shops, offices, counting-houses, and 



other like places. Hunting dates back, as we 



have seen, to the days of barbarism, and if its 



proper connections be in truth barbaric, then 



Matthew Arnold was right in dubbing the 



English gentry who still hunt, kill, and eat 



wild things (and who are therefore survivals 



^f barbarism), " Barbarians " ; while the respect- 

 able black-coated folk of orderly 

 business habits he calls " Philis- 

 tines." Jorrocks distinguishes, 

 after his inimitable and im- 

 mortal fashion, between " Peer- 

 age Folk " and " Post Office 

 Directory Folk " ; but the line of class cleavage no 

 longer corresponds with that between Esau and Jacob. 

 For there were both sporting and serious -minded 

 people in Peerage and also in Post Office Directory 

 circles: for example, Roger Swizzle and Sebastian 

 Mello were the two apothecaries at Handley Cross. 

 Under whatsoever social system we may have 

 lived, may live, or may be about to live, Esaus and 

 Jacobs, hunters and stay-at-homes. Barbarians and 

 Philistines are likely to survive as long as mankind 

 continues; and while this is so, the diverging of 

 thought and habit will exhibit itself iu the 

 microcosm of University life. Before, however, we 

 beo-in to consider this matter which so intimately 

 concerns such a history as ours, it may be well to consider more 

 broadly some of the pecuhar characteristics of English sport. 



A Barbarian. 



A Philistine. 



