10 COVERT-SIDE SKETCHES. 



CHAPTEE II. 



ON THE NATIONAL UTILITY OF HUNTING AS COMPARED ^^ITH 

 OTHER SPORTS. 



" The first physicians by debauch were made. 

 Excess began, and sloth sustains the trade ; 

 By chase our long-lived fathers earn'd their food 

 Toil strung their nerves and purified their blood ; 

 But we their sons, a pamper'd race of men, 

 Are dwindled down to threescore years and ten. 

 Better to hunt in fields for health unbought 

 Than fee the doctor for a nauseous draught ; 

 The wise for cure on exercise depend ; 

 God never made His work for man to mend.'* 



As regards its utility from a national point of view, the chase 

 compares most favourably with any other sport practised in the 

 British Islands. In hunting we find everything conducive to 

 make men temperate, hardy, active, and vigorous ; it encourages 

 decision of character, a quickness of perception, and the habit 

 of grasping the full effect of circumstances in whatever situa- 

 tion we may be placed at a glance. In fact this faculty of 

 grasping difficulties, and forming an immediate decision as to 

 how they may be best encountered and overcome, is one of the 

 main characteristics of those who succeed in riding brilliantly 

 to hounds. In sporting phrase it is called "having an eye 

 to a country." In our strongly- enclosed grass-lands no man and 

 horse can go for many fields literally straight. Perchance in a 

 fence there are only a couple of practicable places, and on land- 

 ing into the field the man of decisive character makes imme- 



