Chapter XVIII 



THE OLD ORDER CHANGES 



1870-1888 



THE year 1870 may be taken as marking a distinct 

 change in the fortunes of hunting. The sport was 

 making long strides towards the great and dangerous popu- 

 larity which it enjoys to-day. The immense diffusion of 

 wealth, the decrease of the Puritan prejudice against sport, 

 tended to set the middle classes free from the limits which 

 public opinion had imposed on them. Any one could hunt 

 now without opprobrium from his fellows, whether on 'Change 

 or at a chapel meeting. 



Four novelists depicted hunting for us in its three stages. 

 Surtees gave us the coarser and lower types, which, out- 

 side circles like those of Melton and Belvoir, were found 

 in hunting society ; and Mr. Lister, in Granby^ voiced the 

 early Victorian view of the fox-hunter by the non-sporting 

 public, which, as the book is little known, I quote : — 



" * Egad ! Courtenay,' said Charlecote, ' you did the thing in 

 proper style — and a devilish ugly place it was. 'Gad ! you 

 gathered him up, and crammed him at it ! There was no 

 denial — go he must. You remember old Toby's rules for 

 leaping. " Keep his head straight, and go over," says Toby. 

 You know old Toby — Tennyson's Toby ? as good a hunts- 

 man as ever crossed a horse. But why did not you follow 

 us ? We had a real good day, I promise you. You saw 

 what a pretty burst we had. Well, sir, Pug went straight 

 away for Westwood Gorse, and a steady, hard run we had of 

 it — not a single check, and a burning scent, and all of us 

 fresh as four-year-olds. It was as good a part of the day as 



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