PEEFACE 



In these days, when so many books are issued, some 

 excuse seems to be reqmred for the pubhcation of a 

 volume of reprmts. I can only plead the cordial recep- 

 tion which was given to my former books, ' Sketches 

 in the Hunting Field,' and *Eace Course and Covert 

 Side,' by the critics and the readers to whom I en- 

 deavoured specially to appeal. The world of sport may 

 be a limited one, but that its limits are enormous 

 cannot be doubted by anybody who surveys the crowd 

 at Epsom on the Derby Day, or at Aintree when the 

 horses are at the post for the Grand National. I have 

 to return thanks to Sir William Ingram for the kind 

 permission he gave me to republish those of the following 

 stories and sketches which appeared in the ' Illustrated 

 Sporting and Dramatic News ' during the years that I 

 edited that journal. 



Palace Gate House, Kensington : 

 October 1897. 



