372 "he who fights and runs away, may," etc. 



Forest bogs looked sometimes like a well-kept lawn, I 

 should not have been half smothered in one : had I 

 known the lower parts of trees were left to rot in the 

 ground, I should not have ridden, like a Tommy 

 Noodle, where I could not see terra jirma ; and had I 

 known the country like my pioneer, I should, like him, 

 have got to the hounds, and had a good day's sport 

 afterwards, instead of being left staring at a river, and, 

 like the babes in the wood, unwitting how to get to my 

 mamma, or, perhaps, more like a stray bull, kept 

 bellowing till a countryman came up, to whom I was 

 glad to give half-a-crown to put me in the high road. 

 If this is not thou<2;ht illustrative enou":h of the ad- 

 vantages of knowing our danger, and the symptoms of 

 its approach, I will suppose a case. A gentleman has 

 been kicked out of his gig, and has squatted himself 

 by the road-side, philosophically rubbing his sliins, 

 and casting his eyes on, or rather after, his horse, 

 whicli has made off with a portion of the vehicle at 

 his heels ; thus gratuitously informing the public that 

 in his case (as in most of our comforts in this life) 

 there is still a something left behind. Kow had this 

 gentleman been told that the object of a kicker is to 

 get rid of the kick^e and the vehicle from behind him, 

 he would be quite aware that such a finale would by 

 no means contribute to his interest or comfort. This 

 would rouse his suspicions, keep him on the alert, and 

 prevent his going to sleep. This is something got 

 by information, useful though not pleasant : but if we 

 give him the further information, that before kicker 

 goes to work, he will wriggle his tail, and when 

 he intends beginning in earnest, will bring it close 

 to his rump ; in that case, at the first wriggle, if he is 

 a wise man, he will trust kicker no further; he will 



