17 



CHAPTEE III. 



ON THE NATIONAL UTILITY OF HUNTING AS COMPARED WITH 



OTHER SPORTS {continued), 



" Give my horse to Timon j 

 It foals me straight and able horses." 



In the last chapter I discussed this subject in connexion with 

 shooting and fishing ; I now come to the more important rivals 

 the chase has to contend with in coursing, racing, and steeple- 

 chasing. The first we may soon dispose of, it neither vies 

 with shooting in inducing pedestrian exercise when indulged in 

 on foot, ^.e., taking shooting in its best sense, over dogs, and 

 not even its most ardent votaries would claim it as a rival to 

 the hunting-field in the matter of horsemanship. Moreover, 

 although holding a much higher place than racing, either on the 

 flat or across country, it is by no means free from the taint of 

 the betting-ring. And take the three sports in conjunction, 

 we may say — 



" The trail of the serpent is over them all." 



I^ay, I have heard that of late years, as much money changes 

 hands annually over the Waterloo Cup as over the Derby. It 

 may not, to an outsider, appear so easy for chicanery to enter into 

 coursing as racing or steeple-chasing, but an undeniable authority 

 in all three sports, one who had made their mysteries almost the 

 study of a life, told me some years ago, that there was little to 

 choose between them, and there were dodges in the coursing-field 

 that the uninitiated would never dream of. That was before 



c 



