Fox - Sporting Society, Vol. I

BOOKS FOR SPORTSMEN

PUBLISHED BY

BELLAIRS & CO.,

9 HART STREET, BLOOMSBURY.

IN SCARLET AND SILK. Recollections of Hunting and Steeplechase riding. By Fox Russell . With two drawings in colour by Finch Mason . 5s. net.

NEW SPORTING STORIES. By G. G. 3s. 6d. net.

The Times says:"New Sporting Stories are written by a man who evidently knows what he is writing about. The sketches are short, racy and to the point."

TRAVEL AND BIG GAME. By Percy Selous and H. A. Bryden . With Illustrations. [In the Press.

THE CHASE: a Poem. By William Somerville . Illustrated by Hugh Thomson . 5s. net.

In this fine old poem now ably illustrated by Mr Hugh Thomson are the original lines, quoted by the immortal Jorrocks

"My hoarse-sounding horn

Invites thee to the chace, the sport of kings,

Image of war, without its guilt."

GREAT SCOT THE CHASER, and other Sporting Stories. By G. G. 3s. 6d. net.

The Daily Telegraph says:"G. G. is a benefactor to his species."

CURIOSITIES OF BIRD LIFE. By Charles Dixon , Author of "The Migration of Birds." [In the Press.

ANIMAL EPISODES AND STUDIES IN SENSATION. By George H. Powell. 3s. 6d. net.

TALES OF THE CINDER PATH. By an Amateur Athlete [ W. Lindsey ]. 2s. 6d. net.

REMINISCENCES OF A YORKSHIRE NATURALIST. By the late W. Crawford Williamson , LL.D., F.R.S. Edited by his wife. 5s. net.

ENTERTAINING BOOKS

PUBLISHED BY

BELLAIRS & CO.,

9 HART STREET, BLOOMSBURY.

A MAN AND A WOMAN. Faithfully presented by Stanley Waterloo . 3s. 6d. net.

BEYOND ATONEMENT. A Story of London Life. By A. St John Adcock . 4s. 6d. net.

A HUSBAND'S ORDEAL; or, the Confessions of Gerald Brownson, late of Coora Coora, Queensland. By Percy Russell . 3s. 6d. net.

A BRIDE'S EXPERIMENT. A Story of Australian Bush Life. By Charles J. Mansford . 3s. 6d. net.

EIGHTY YEARS AGO; or, the Recollections of an Old Army Doctor, his adventures on the fields of Quatre Bras and Waterloo, and during the occupation of Paris, 1815. By the late Dr Gibney of Cheltenham. Edited by his son, Major Gibney . 5s. net.

THE SOLDIER IN BATTLE; or, Life in the Ranks of the Army of the Potomac. By Frank Wilkeson , a Survivor of Grant's last campaign. 2s. 6d. net.

NEPHEL. The Story of a Sonata for violin and piano. By F. W. Bourdillon . 2s. 6d. net.

A DARN ON A BLUE STOCKING. A Story of To-day. By G. G. Chatterton . 2s. 6d. net.

THE MYSTERY OF THE CORDILLERA. A Tale of Adventure in the Andes. By A. Mason Bourne . Illustrated. 3s. 6d. net.

THE LURE OF FAME. By Clive Holland , Author of "My Japanese Wife." 3s. 6d. net.

THE OLD ECSTASIES. A Modern Romance. By Gaspard Tournier . 4s. 6d. net.

THE TANTALUS TOUR. A Theatrical Venture. By Walter Parke , joint-author of "Les Manteaux Noirs," and other comic operas. Illustrated. 2s. 6d. net.

SPORTING SOCIETY

GOING TO COVER. By R. Caldecott .

OR

SPORTING CHAT AND SPORTING MEMORIES

STORIES HUMOROUS AND CURIOUS; WRINKLES OF THE FIELD
AND THE RACE-COURSE; ANECDOTES OF THE STABLE AND
THE KENNEL; WITH NUMEROUS PRACTICAL
NOTES ON SHOOTING AND FISHING

FROM THE PEN OF

VARIOUS SPORTING CELEBRITIES AND
WELL-KNOWN WRITERS ON THE TURF AND THE CHASE

EDITED BY

FOX RUSSELL

Illustrations by Randolph Caldecott.

IN TWO VOLUMESVOL. I.

LONDON
BELLAIRS & CO.
1897

CONTENTS

" The Dead Heat ," by " Old Calabar ," was originally contributed by the veteran sportsman to the pages of " Baily's Magazine," and is here reproduced by the permission of the Proprietors.

THE INFLUENCE OF FIELD SPORTS ON CHARACTER

Field sports have been generally considered solely in the light of a relaxation from the graver business of life, and have been justified by writers on economics on the ground that some sort of release is required from the imprisoned existence of the man of business, the lawyer, or the politician. Apollo does not always bend his bow, it is said, and timely dissipation is commendable even in the wise; therefore by all means, let the sports which we English love be pursued within legitimate bounds, and up to an extent not forbidden by weightier considerations.

But there seems to be somewhat more in field sports than is contained in this criticism. The influence of character on the manner in which sports are pursued is endless, and reciprocally the influence of field sports on character seems to deserve some attention. The best narrator of schoolboy life of the present day has said that, varied as are the characters of boys, so varied are their ways of facing or not facing a "hilly," at football; and one of the greatest observers of character in England has written a most instructive and amusing account of the way in which men enjoy fox-hunting. If, therefore, a man's character and his occupations and tastes exercise a mutual influence upon each other, it follows that while men of different dispositions pursue sports in different ways, the sports also which they do pursue will tell considerably in the development of their natural character.

Now, the field sport which is perhaps pursued by a greater number of Englishmen than any other, and which is most zealously admired by its devotees, is fox-hunting. It is essentially English in its nature.