PREFACE 



TO 



THE HUNTING EDITION. 



ALTHOUGH the Author does not scruple to 

 admit that his hunting experiences have been 

 very much confined to watching the cubs at play 

 near the earths on a summer's evening ; taking notes 

 of hunters at crack meets, much after the same 

 fashion as he was wont to do in " Turf Pencillings ;" 

 and seeing, by dint of short cuts, a goodly number 

 of foxes pulled down in the woodlands, he is not 

 altogether sure that this is not an advantage to his 

 readers in more ways than one. Beckford, Delme 

 Radcliffe, Apperley, Smith, Vyner, Grantley Berke- 

 ley, ''Scrutator," "Cecil," "Harry Hieover," "Ge- 

 lert," "Jorrocks," and John Mills have written so 

 much and so well on the science of the sport, that 

 he has been obliged to try and hold his own line, and 

 confine himself to its gossip. Hence he has added 

 some ninety fresh pages on hunters, and the packs of 

 "Auld Lang Syne," to the present edition, for the 



