t, even then, personal
strength, nor always superior courage, that gave the power of
command. Nor was it intellect, or thoughtfulness, nor by any means
such qualities as make men and boys lovable. It is said by many who
have had to deal with boys, that certain among them claim and obtain
ascendancy by the spirit within them; but I doubt whether the
ascendancy is not rather thrust on them than claimed by them. Here
again I think the outward gait of the boy goes far towards obtaining
for him the submission of his fellows.

But the tyrant boy does not become the tyrant man, or the slave boy
the slave man, because the outward visage, that has been noble or
mean in the one, changes and becomes so often mean or noble in the
other.

"By George, there's Pollock!" said Maxwell, as he rode into the
field by the church. "I'll bet half a crown that he's come down from
London this morning, that he was up all night last night, and that he
tells us so three times before the hounds go out of the paddock." Mr
Pollock was the heavy-weight sporting literary gentleman.

CHAPTER XVII

Edgehill

Of all sights in the world there is, I think, none more beautiful
than that of a pack of fox-hounds seated, on a winter morning, round
the huntsman, if the place of meeting has been chosen with anything
of artistic skill. It should be in a grassy field, and the field
should be small. It should not be absolutely away from all buildings,
and the hedgerows should not have been clipped and pared, and made
straight with reference to modern agricultural economy. There should
be trees near, and the ground should be a little uneven, so as to
mark some certain small space as the exact spot where the dogs and
servants of the hunt should congregate.

There are well-known grand meets in England, in the parks of
noblemen, before their houses, or even on what are called their
lawns; but these magnificent affairs have but little of the beauty
of which I speak. Such assemblies are too grand and too ornate, and,
moreover, much too far removed from true sporting proprieties. At
them, equipages are shining, and ladies' dresses are gorgeous, and
crowds of tradesmen from the neighbouring town have come there to
look at the grand folk. To my eye there is nothing beautiful in
that. The meet I speak of is arranged with a view to sport, but the
accident of the locality may make it the prettiest thing in the
world.

Such, in a special degree, was the case a