2 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



the animals which the Almighty has destined for the use 

 of man, whether we consider those ordained for our 

 daily food, or contemplate the surpassing beauty and 

 mechanism of those which he has created to assist man 

 in his labours, and contribute to those innocent amuse- 

 ments, which were without doubt kindly given to him, 

 to lighten the burden of his toils, which he is doomed to 

 undergo in this life. 



In a word then we may say, that nature is the most 

 learned and complete of all books proper to cultivate 

 our reason, since she comprehends at once the object 

 of every science, and never confines her instructions 

 to any particular language, people, or pursuit. 



Who, I ask, is the most likely to enjoy and be 

 benefited by such reflections ? the man whose early life 

 has passed away pent up in cities, and whose mind and 

 taste have been weakened and vitiated by every kind of 

 refined luxury and excitement ; or his whose early 

 days have tranquilly rolled on, soothed as it were by 

 the various rural pursuits and acquirements which 

 have so preeminently distinguished Englishmen upon 

 all occasions of competition ? 



The accomplishments of the country and the town, 

 or even of this country or any other, will, I affirm, bear 

 not the slighest comparison. The greatest success may 

 be commandtd at the card table, the billiard room, or 

 the dice box, by a French valet, a waiter, or a 

 groom ; — in the more aristocratic recreations of hunting, 

 shooting, and fishing, the English gentleman alone 

 stands unrivalled. But as of all these delightful amuse- 

 ments, Fox-hunting will be the only topic affording 

 matter for the following pages, I will at once introduce 



