In discussing the
subject, and I often do discuss it, the argument against the
practice which is finally adopted, the argument which is intended
to be conclusive, simply amounts to this, that a parish
clergyman who does his duty cannot find the time. But that
argument might be used with much more truth against other men of
business, against those to whose hunting the world takes no
exception. Indeed, of all men, the ordinary parish clergyman, is,
perhaps, the least liable to such censure. He lives in the
country, and can hunt cheaper and with less sacrifice of time
than other men. His professional occupation does not absorb all
his hours, and he is too often an idle man, whether he hunt or
whether he do not. Nor is it desirable that any man should work
always and never play. I think it is certainly the fact that a
clergyman may hunt twice a week with less objection in regard to
his time than any other man who has to earn his bread by his
profession. Indeed, this is so manifestly the case, that I am
sure that the argument in question, though it is the one which is
always intended to be conclusive, does not in the least convey
the objection which is really felt. The truth is, that a large
and most respectable section of the world still regards hunting
as wicked. It is supposed to be like the Cider Cellars or the
Haymarket at twelve o'clock at night.
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