2 SPORTING OF THE PAST 



who ride well yet to hounds ; and though they 

 may not be such bruisers as they once were across 

 country, yet are difficult to choke off. 



It is just forty-one years [this was written 

 twenty years ago] since I had my first mount to 

 hounds. There is no non mi ricordo with me. 

 I can recollect the day as well as yesterday, the 

 pinks, the beaver-hats of curious shape, the short- 

 tailed horses, are too vividly impressed on my 

 memory ever to be effaced. Men went out in 

 those days for hunting, and not merely for a gallop. 

 Time changes all things, and I suppose we must 

 change with the times ; but are these changes for 

 the better ? Well, I will not give an opinion, but 

 leave others to decide. 



The hounds of those days were not nearly so 

 fast as those of the present ; and I am inclined 

 to think that our hounds are now bred too fine and 

 speedy — for some countries they certainly are — 

 and often flash over and lose a scent which ought 

 not to be lost. 



Hunting, in the days I speak of, could be 

 enjoyed by men of very moderate means, for it 

 was not necessary to have two or three horses out. 

 In some countries, especially woodland ones, one 

 horse may still do ; but, as a rule, hounds are now 

 so fast, and horses so lightly bred to what they 



