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than to the employed. The strain upon his mental capacity which at 

 present is continual would then be regularly relieved. 



Furthermore, I will say that, in my opinion, no better allotment of 

 the twenty-four hours can be found than that proposed by Alfred the 

 Great just one thousand years ago. It was : "Eight hours for labour, 

 eight hours for sleep, eight hours for feeding and recreation." 



I write thus after having a long experience as an employer, and 

 knowing well what the employed is capable of doing with such 

 efficient results as will give his employer an adequate return for his 

 wages. 



By according to all men such privileges as I have mentioned, I main- 

 tain, first, that both employer and employed would alike benefit from 

 their business point of view ; and second, that, having so much more 

 additional time for recreation, our young men would develop into 

 even greater and finer fellows than they are, by, as they are bound 

 to do, devoting all the more time to manly exercise and to sport. 



" All work and no play" has in England long since been found to be 

 a mighty bad rule. Trading has in no way suffered from the weekly 

 half and occasional whole holiday which have existed for some time. 

 On the contrary, despite exceptionally bad times, Great Britain never 

 stood firmer than she does at present, and the adoption of uniform 

 hours for labour, with more holidays, would, I am strongly con- 

 vinced, tend to make her stronger. Moreover, such a step would go 

 a long way towards the prevention of strikes, the curse of everyone, 

 and would frustrate many of the doctrines which are now being- 

 preached by advanced Radicals with such evil results. 



For many years it has seemed to me a pity to keep in this country 

 such late hours as we do. I speak still of the commercial class, for, of 

 course, a suggestion to the upper classes to keep early hours would be 

 as useless as that which I made in the chapter on Racing with regard 

 to changing the Derby and other classic events into four-year-old races ! 

 If we began business at, say, 7 or 8 a.m., and left off at 3 or 4 p.m., 

 would it not be more rational and far better for employer and employed 

 than beginning as we do at 9 or 10 a.m., and working away till 6 or 

 7 p.m. ? The evening hours could, with the holidays, be devoted to 

 sport by the employers, and to manly games by those they employ, 

 and we should then live the 7,300 hours more than we do in every ten 

 years which I allude to in a following chapter. 



The English and Irish are undeniably the hardiest nation in the 

 world. It is sport and manly games that have given them that proud 

 position : let us therefore the more encourage the cause so that the 

 effect may be proportionately increased. 



To some young gentlemen from our cities who may select hunting as 

 their principal recreation or even a portion of it, I would take the 

 liberty of here giving the following little bit of advice : — Read, mark, 

 and inwardly digest what is inculcated by the master of the Gorse 

 Covert Foxhounds, and also by his secretary, in the chapter of this 



