43G "be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar." 



do so, and tlicre can be no degradation in his doing it : 

 if there was, he must not ride with hounds ; for whe- 

 ther a man rides over a country side by side with his 

 inferiors, or whether he rides over a course with them, 

 cannot make any difference as to putting them on an 

 equaUty after the chase or race is over, nor need either 

 produce any intimacy during their continuance ; on the 

 contrary, the bringing the noble or man of birth and 

 fortune in temporary contact with the plebeian must 

 produce a beneficial effect if the conduct and man tiers 

 of the former are consistent with their station in 

 society, for the latter will then see a superiority, and 

 at the same time, an urbanity of manner, in his supe- 

 rior, that will challenge his respect and goodwill ; at 

 least, so it ought to do. I am quite one to deprecate 

 the " toe of the tradesman treading on the heel of the 

 courtier;" but that gentleman must possess little of 

 the tact of one if he suffers the mere riding a race with 

 his inferiors to bring on any improper familiarity. 

 There is among gentlemen an extreme politeness that 

 they know how to bring into play {when wanted)^ that 

 keeps the inferior in his proper place, without his 

 being able to account for his feeling flattered and kept 

 at a distance by the same conduct : so any fear of the 

 clashing of different classes of society by gentlemen 

 occasionally riding in races with their inferiors, I can- 

 not conceive as likely to occur. 



I am willing to allow, and have before said, that I 

 consider we have a few gentlemen who can ride a 

 race nearly as well as our best professional jocks, and 

 much better than some of the professionals ; but the 

 number of such gentlemen (from want of practice 

 only) must be very small. In a race among gentle- 

 men I have often seen one or two ride beautifully ; 

 but I must say I cannot challenge my memory with 



