114 ATTACHMENT OF HOUNDS 



our pleasures. Justice extends to the brute creation. 



A man who has once hunted his own hounds will never 

 take the same interest in them, or derive the same 

 gratification from their performances when handled by a 

 huntsman. The excitement of riding to them may not 

 be wanting, but the sport is bereft of half its charms when 

 produced by another. The feeling with me is nearly 

 akin to beholding a beautiful and graceful girl, whose 

 affections I would fain believe were once bestowed on 

 myself, dancing and conversing with another, and wholly 

 engrossed with his attentions. Disappointment and 

 jealousy would be aroused by witnessing such an exhibi- 

 tion, and at seeing those smiles directed to another, in 

 which I had been accustomed to revel. It would be well 

 did experience justify us in saying, " Once a lover, always 

 a lover," and that the wife never becomes less dear than 

 the bride ; but, although the husband may not find all 

 the perfections his excited fancy may have portrayed in 

 the object of his choice when a lover, I still believe and 

 hope the cases are rare in which any man, however 

 depraved, could part with her who once loved him, as 

 woman only can and does love, without a pang of 

 remorse. 



There is a curious fact related of the " Reign of Terror " 

 in France, when the law of divorce was made so easy that 

 it was a very common occurrence to find persons who had 

 previously availed themselves of this privilege, again 

 re-entering into those bonds with their first partners from 

 which they had once so eagerly sought to be released. 

 Estrangement or indifference after marriage would 

 become more rare were persons about to take upon them 

 that holy state, particularly women, to adopt that sage 

 but rather antiquated piece of advice, to " eat a peck of 



