THE WONDERS OP THE SHORE. 53 



compels hardiness ; the Scotch bodily strength 

 makes it easy ; and Scotland, with her monntain- 

 tours in summer, and her frozen lochs in winter, 

 her labyrinth of sea-shore, and, above all, that 

 priceless boon which Providence has bestowed on 

 her, in the contiguity of her great cities to the 

 loveliest scenery, and the hills where every breeze is 

 health, affords facilities for healthy physical life 

 uriknown to the Englishman, who has no Arthur's 

 Seat towering above his London, no Western Islands 

 sporting the ocean firths beside his Manchester. 

 Field sports, with the invaluable training which 

 they give, if not 



" The reason firm," 



yet still 



" The temperate will, 

 Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill," 



have become impossible for the greater number ; 

 and athletic exercises are now, in England at least, 

 so artificialized, so expensive, so mixed up with 

 drinking, gambling, and other evils of which I 

 need say nothing here, that one cannot wonder at 

 any parent's shrinking from allowing their sons to 



