THE PROVINCES 



fun. Each has its own claim to distinction, some 

 have collars, all have sport. 



Grass, I imagine, is the one essential that con- 

 stitutes pre-eminence in a hunting country, and 

 for this the shires have always boasted they bear 

 away the palm, but it will surprise many of my 

 readers to be told that in the south and west there 

 are districts where this desideratum seems now 

 more plentiful than in the middle of England. 

 The Blackmoor Vale still lies almost wholly under 

 pasture, and you may travel to-day forty miles by 

 rail, through the counties of Dorset and Somerset, 

 in general terms nearly from Blandford to Bath, 

 without seeing a ploughed field. 



What a country might here be made by such 

 an enthusiast as poor " Sam Reynell," who found 

 Meath without a gorse-covert, and drew between 

 thirty and forty sure finds in it before he died ! 



Independently of duty, which ought to be our 

 first consideration, there is also great convenience 

 in hunting from home. We require no large stud, 

 can choose our meets, and, above all, are in- 

 different to weather. A horse comes out so many 

 times in a season ; if we don't hunt to-day, we 

 shall next week. Compare this equable frame of 

 mind with the irritation and impatience of a man 

 who has ten hunters standing at the sign of "The 

 Hand-in-Pocket," while he inhabits the front 

 parlour, without his books, deprived of his usual 

 Q 223 



