L' COVERT-SIDE SKETCHES. 



climes, and leads us to face privations, perils, and hardships in 

 its pursuit — which makes us chase the elk through the snows of 

 Canada, and play cricket under a tropical sun — is not to be 

 repressed or denied. The signs of this spirit are so plainly 

 written that he who runs may read, and though other nations 

 boast keen sportsmen, and first-rate horsemen and shots amongst 

 them, in England alone does this innate love of the chase appear 

 to pervade the whole community. Let a fox be viewed, or the 

 sound of the horn heard in the neighbourhood of any village, 

 and straightway every man, woman, and child will turn out to 

 see all they can, though experience must have taught the greater 

 portion of them that their view of the spectacle will at most be 

 but a fleeting and transient one. Look at those men who, in 

 many countries, run day after day and week after week with the 

 hounds, earning a precarious livelihood by opening gates, 

 catching horses, or leading home hounds that are lame and 

 disabled. Look again at the enormous price of land in the 

 present day, which now yields a very small percentage as an 

 investment, and yet is as eagerly bought as ever. What is the 

 cause of this ? Perhaps not solely a love of sport, but I venture 

 to say that in a very great measure it is so. Men make money 

 rapidly in these days, and nearly all who can afford it will and 

 do pursue the chase in some sort of fashion. The open spaces, 

 where formerly they could indulge their inclination, are gone ; 

 in consequence, they buy a place of their own, or rent one at a 

 great cost, to indulge their inclinations. Look also at the 

 increased and increasing numbers which year after year meet 

 hounds, and then answer the question whether the chase is not 

 more popular now than at any time since England was a nation ? 

 The cause of this is, no doubt, increased wealth and increased 

 facilities of locomotion. In former days, none but those who 

 lived in the country could hunt or shoot regularly. The citizen 

 was forced to put up with his day or two a week with the Old 

 Surrey, and a little shooting occasionally when visiting a friend. 

 Now he can, if so minded, have his grouse-manor in Scotland, and 



