Letters from Sir F. B. Head. 369 



FINISHING REMAEKS ON THE CLOSE OF SIR 

 FRANCIS HEAD'S LETTERS. 



No apology is necessary to the readers of this volume for the 

 insertion of these Letters, which are probably unir[ue in style, 

 geniality, pathos, and humour ; and "which evince a love of 

 Hunting such as never can have existed to a greater degree in 

 any man. 



It will be observed that in these Letters — ^as in many others 

 in the possession of him to whom they were addressed — there are 

 no allusions to the past which would lead the reader to suppose 

 that the writer of them had been at Waterloo — had quelled a 

 serious rising in an important Colony — had been the Superin- 

 tendent of a Gold-Mine — had ridden over six thousand miles- 

 of a Pampas, undermined with the holes of the " Prairie Dog " 

 — was a '^ Quarterly Reviewer " — a popular author — a ^' Poor.> 

 Law Commissioner " — and a " Privy Councillor." — The con- 

 templation of things as they existed about him, current events 

 and the welfare of his friends, seem to have furnished 

 sufficient occupation for his thoughts, and to have kept busy a 

 pen rarely idle. As will be seen by his patient, and more, his 

 cheerful endurance of the pains and penalties of old age, the 

 old soldier was too much of a philosopher to *' kick against the 

 pricks," or complain of unavoidable misfortunes : he accepted, 

 as they came, the good with gratitude, the evil of life with 

 resignation. We know from himself that his Horce Pytclileijante 

 were the happiest hours of a life extending through eighty-five 

 years ; and long will his memory be dear to those Members of 

 the Hunt, who can call to mind the decade, during which the 

 thick, white, curly hair — the keen eye — and the comely counte- 

 nance of the brave old Officer of Engineers, were to be seen at 

 every Pytchley Meet. The only fault he ever found with the 

 decade was that it was all too short. ^But we know — 



" That Pleasure which the most enchants us, 

 Seems the soonest done ; 

 AVhat is Life — with all it grants us — 

 But a Hunting Run ? " 



So determined was Sir Francis that, so far as in him lay, 

 nothing should diminish his enjoyment of hunting, he laid 



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