65 



hunting as it would be for woman to change her love for her first- 

 born. The opposition shown to hunting in Ireland during the past 

 few years was the result of bad advice, but was never the spontaneous 

 outcome of the farmers' feelings ; and I have reason to know that it 

 is the general, almost universal, regret of every farmer residing in 

 places where it was stopped that the sport was ever interfered with. 



Thus far rhapsody, now for reason. There is no concealing the 

 fact that hunting can be carried on only under sufferance from the 

 farmers ; and when we consider the amount of damage and incon- 

 venience sustained by them, through the following of the king of 

 sports, every consideration should be shown them, and everything 

 possible done to compensate them ; not necessarily altogether with 

 money, for there are other and, in many instances, far more effective 

 means. This, I fear, is not at all times nor in all hunts done as much 

 as it should be, nor is the noble sport popularised in the eyes of the 

 non-hunting community to the extent ft might be. 



I think it is a grave mistake for men to hunt iyi mufti. Nothing 

 tended more in old times to make hunting popular than the sight of 

 a I'ed coat and well turned-out breeches and top-boots. The labourer 

 in the field, the housemaid at the window, the schoolboy at his desk, 

 the child with his toys, and everyone else, looked up from their work 

 to see a man so equipped pass by. Is it to be supposed that a man 

 clad in a drab covert coat Avith tweed breeches and leggings com- 

 mands the same curiosity or admiration % No, indeed, he does not, 

 and, of course, the pursuit he is folloiving suffers accordingly in estima- 

 tion. It is all very well for a certain class to affect nonchalance, and 

 to say they can, as no doubt tliey do, ride as hard and as straight in 

 the garb of a groom as they could in the orthodox uniform worn by 

 their fathers ; but there is a very prodigious and highly important 

 class of the community who would come out to hunt if they could 

 sport the bright colours, without which, the immortal Jorrocks says, 

 there w^ould not be many foxhunters (speaking, of course, of fifty 

 years ago). These men like to be in the fashion, but seeing tliat 

 mufti is adopted for the hunting-field, they stay at home, not having 

 in them as deep-seated a love of the sport as the leaders of the fashion. 



It is decidedly my firm conviction that it is the duty of all Masters 

 of Foxhounds to intimate to those who hunt with them that they 

 should adopt the uniform of a foxhunter. Furthermore, colonels of 

 regiments should enforce the same upon their ofiicers. Why is the 

 uniform of a soldier made so showingly becoming ? Simply to popu- 

 larise the service of arms. The red coat of the foxhunter has 

 precisely the same effect upon foxhunting. 



Masters of Hounds, and those who hunt with them, should make it 

 a general rule to buy their horses and the requisite fodder, etc., direct 

 from the farmer, in preference to buying them from dealers ; yes, 

 and pay even more for them. 



Thoroughbred stallions should be kept in all hunting countries for 



F 



