26 The Course, the Camp, the Chase 



from its performance, but a real sportsman ever regrets the 

 pangs, that he would willingly avoid causing, if possible, 

 and does his utmost to lessen them. 



Lastly, let no one decry any phase of sport because he 

 takes no interest in it himself. Possibly he lacks the 

 skill or physical attributes to become an adept ; or he may 

 never have had the opportunity of learning its ABC, and 

 has therefore never acquired a taste for it. No one, 

 however, can fully possess the qualities of a true sports- 

 man, if he seeks to magnify his own pursuit by belittling 

 that of another. 



Different qualities are required, and in many cases 

 special gifts, to attain the front rank as a performer in the 

 various branches of sport. There are some, however, that 

 are needed in all ; and no one can ever hope to achieve 

 success unless he possesses in an eminent degree observation, 

 energy, patience, calmness, and quick powers of balancing 

 in the mind the signs noted, and of drawing true deduc- 

 tions therefrom. 



This chapter may be fitly concluded by a quotation 

 from a letter of one of the Fairfaxes (the ancestors of 

 my mother) to his mother, when he was a lieutenant in 

 the Eoyal Navy, and which shows how shooting was 

 followed two centuries ago. It is dated Plymouth, 28th 

 October 1690, and contains the following paragraph: — 



" My diversion will be to walk into the fields with a 

 gun." 



A few days afterwards Eobert Fairfax was promoted 

 post-captain, and appointed to the command of the 

 " Conception." 



