232 SHOOTING THE PARTRIDGE 
labour of love, they cannot, as the demand increases, 
add a value to their land which they have hitherto 
neglected or disbelieved in. 
Land is, and must remain, however charged with 
burdens, the greatest of all luxuries. Whether for 
agricultural purposes its value will improve I have 
not the knowledge to predict, although I know that a 
few of the wisest and shrewdest men of the day have 
been investing largely in it during the late depressed 
period. But that as a luxury, for its amenities and 
its resources, its sports and its pastimes, its value will 
rise I have no manner of doubt. Sport is a large 
component part of that luxury, and partridge-shooting 
of sport. 
So long as it is looked upon in this light, so long 
will the: game laws be safe, and sport continue to 
contribute its valuable quota to the race of men who 
have, piloted by the instincts of the hunter, planted 
our flag all over the world. Sport, like charity, 
begins at home, at least to Englishmen ; and it will 
be a bad day for us when the American millionaire, 
and still more the successful colonist, cease to look 
upon a landed estate in England, where they enjoy 
it in comfort and peace with their neighbours, as the 
. goal of their desires. ‘What I like about fox’unting 
is, it brings people together as wouldn’t otherwise 
