368 TRYING METTLE. 



which he is to run ; in fact the one mnst be as fine in 

 j)oint of wind as the other. It is true the race-horse 

 may be expected to do his four miles in something 

 close upon eight minutes, whereas four miles across 

 a country in thirteen is very fast indeed, and the wind 

 and exertion called for is as great in the one case 

 as in the other ; the exertion perhaps greater in the 

 last than in the first, for four miles over sound turf, 

 with, say, eight stone, is quite a different afi'air to 

 going the same length under an average of 

 thirteen, and that over all sorts of ground with from 

 fifteen to twenty exhausting leaps to make during 

 such a burst. The different stamina and wind re- 

 quired between the hunter of to-day and that of 

 former times is analogous to that of a man required 

 to run four miles in four minutes at four starts, and 

 that of one undertaking to run twenty-one miles in 

 three hours. They would both require condition 

 and first-rate stamina ; but the wind and speed 

 necessary to accomplish these tasks are of a different 

 order. Horses being what used to be called knock ed- 

 up is now a matter of rare occurrence. They are 

 now frequently blown and ridden to a stand still, but 

 this is only a temporary prostration of the animal 

 powers, and the same horse will probably in a quarter 

 of an hour be perfectly recovered ; it is in this 

 case the wind that is gone, and the temporary failing 

 of the powers of the limbs. I consider it to be very 

 like what we feel in running quickly up a hill : we 

 are compelled to stop, but ten minutes' rest enables 

 us to go on a twenty mile walk : our powers have not 

 been exhausted by the exertion, they have only failed 

 for the time being, from having been urged beyond 

 their lasting powers of endurance. Fatal results will 



