408 



CHAPTER XXIY. 



WHOO WHOOP! 



Preceding Chapters— Sport does Further Good— England's Greatness— AlanUness— Futurity 

 —Manly Exercise— An Effeminate Man— A Sportsman— A Homily from the Author— 

 " Straight "—Education— Give as well as Get— Foxhunters and Game Preservers— 

 The Prince of Sportsmen— Pluck— Harmonious Combinat'on— A Happy Family— 

 Brotherhood-Short-sightedness— Humanitarians— A Word to Them— Circulation 

 of Money— Communism— Our Traders— Our Nobility and Gentry— Examples needed — 

 Spendthrifts— Absentees— Progressive Age— What may be— Prospective Legislation — 

 Our Sciences— Our Old Sports— The Wheel of Life— Levelling of Classes— Human 

 Nature— Risen from the Ranks- The Upper Ten— Money— " The Old Stock"— 

 Commercial Aristocracy — Territorial Aristocracy — A Delicate Question — Landed 

 Properties— Agriculture— The Farmers— The Backbone of the Nation— Mainspring 

 of Sport— They must be looked to— The Agricultural Question— ii«iu— Downfall of 

 England— Greatest Question of the Day— Our Duty— Who this Book is Meant For — 

 A Request of the Author— Bad People— Statistics— A Challenge— An Assurance — 

 Vale, Vale !— Whoo Whoop !- A Couplet by the Author. 



My task is nearly done— a task I undertook, as stated in the 

 preface, to try to show that our national sports have in them more 

 than they generally get credit for ; that Sport is, in a practical way, far 

 more beneficial to the poorer than to the richer classes ; and, in the 

 words of the title-page, that, as a medium for the circulation of money» 

 Sport stands unrivalled among the institutions of the kingdom. 



To Sport is our nation very much further indebted. Great Britain 

 owes to Sport most of its greatness. 



What, may I ask, makes the English, Irish, Scotch, and Welsh the 

 hardy men they are, but their manliness 1 What can create manliness 

 better than Sport and manly exercise 1 



We see on the map those little specks, Great Britain and Ireland, not 

 much larger than some continental principalities were a few years ago ; 

 yet those little dots represent the nation which not only influences, 

 but controls the rest of the world. 



That supremacy has been attained by our manliness, and aided by 

 our wealth is that supremacy sustained; with such-like alliance we shall 

 in the future continue to maintain our position. 



On the other hand, should we ever fail in either our manliness or 

 our wealth, down directly will go Great Britain ! 



How to keep together our wealth, I certainly am not a fit person to 

 explain ; but with regard to keeping going the sports of our country, and 

 mayhap perpetuating them, I shall make a few more remarks before 

 bringing to an end my "Thoughts upon Sport." In doing so I must 

 refer to matter and current events with which the great subject of my 

 book is so incorporated that the interest of the one is inseparable from 

 the others. 



In no country in the universe is to be found manly exercise so man- 

 fully followed as it is in Great Britain and Ireland. Look at the 



