20 FOX-HUNTING IN THE SHIRES 



vinces. There they may, if they have chosen wisely, 

 be leaders, and they may be of opinion that it is better 

 to reign in hell than to serve in a better place. The 

 average man will, at any rate, find himself outclassed 

 and outpaced in the Midlands, and will be bothered 

 by the crowd and puzzled by the country. 



This brings us to a characteristic of Leicestershire 

 hunting which is frequently urged as a drawback. 

 This is the crowd. That, however, it is not an in- 

 superable obstacle, the continued existence of hunting 

 tells us. Were it so, hunting must have already 

 ceased to exist. The continued cry of those who hunt 

 in the grass countries is that the crowd " has increased, 

 is still increasing, and ought to be diminished." We 

 all join in the cry, forgetting that we ourselves are the 

 crowd. We all think it would be an excellent thing 

 if other people would hunt elsewhere and leave more 

 room for us. The question is : Who is to go ? The 

 residents cannot ; the visitors will not ; and the 

 casual sportsmen are not really very numerous. If 

 the residents gave up hunting, if would be bad for 

 the sport, for they guide local public opinion in its 

 favour. Individually, it is true, they may seem to be 

 a feeble folk, but collectively they are a power, and 

 they have family or business connections all over the 

 district. If the visitors ceased to come, there would 

 be a lack of funds to carry on the sport, but now, 

 though subscriptions are increased, people pay them. 

 The crowd, moreover, has always been a characteristic 

 of the grass countries, and probably always will be. 



There are some tendencies of modern life, too, which 

 help to drive people to the Midlands for sport with 

 hounds. Among others, the area and opportunities of 

 provincial hunts are yearly becoming fewer and more 

 circumscribed. The spread of towns, the turning of 



