Some Sporting Books
Handley Cross. With in preface by Siegfried Sasstion. (Harrap.
.1,01i1) LONSIDALE writes aim introduction and dedication to the Prince of Wales for this -seventh volume of- i librarp- which (as we have said before in thew columns) ", wifl. dii. for our :t-oungsters what the Badminton Library -did for Without exaggeration or equivocation this is it superb volume ; a complete wok-mecum for the follower of the sport of kings. The best way to review it would be to give a list of chapter headings, with the names of the experts who contribute ; but since that is impossible we can mention only that Colonel Geoffrey Brooke, Mr. Erie Parker, Mr. Isaac. Bell, Colonel Borwick, Major Burnaby, Lord Bathurst and last but by no means least Sir Charles Frederick write um their own subjects. Sir Charles is the general editor, lind contributes six chapters : in a foreword be explains that he and his colleagues have no desire to lay down the law, but that he hopes that the book will commend itself to the reader ". who has no objection to a recapitulation of much that is old and is prepared to welcome some new ideas on the subject of fox-hunting to-day and to-morrow." That it will assuredly do : more, it will become the modern classic of fox-hunting.
Major Barret, who was for four years equitation officer at Sandhurst, had litany and varied opportunities to study riding in all its forms, and he has put the result of his experientt ill a singularly attractive form in Practical Jumping. It is, of course, an old-fashioned prejudice that supposes soldiers cannot write : many of them have more sense of style than your Bloomsbury highbrow. A man whose days are spent in the delicate adjustments and balances required to train young horses must acquire a certain poise and flexibility of mind as well as body, and that Major Barret has. His book is all alive, brisk, buoyant, direct, practical. We can imagine no better guide for a youngster who would acquire a good seat and its concomitant —good hands. And good hands on a horse means more than ability- to control an excitable thoroughbred or a jady sluggard : horses and human beings have much in common ; and what is learned in the jumping school may be :applied to life at large.
Some of " Rowdier's " verses are good. .He write.; for its of those hard-riding heroes who have always been with us, who " rode with turbaned Mamelukes," and " swam their long-maned favourite in the surf of Samothrace." His verses, lion-ever, are somewhat unequal in merit, bat Mr. Edwards- pencil sketch's have a most lyrical quality.
What a glorious life must be Mr. Lionel Edwards', and how rich his memories of English and Irish covert-sides ! In the second volume or his limiting Sketch Book he gives us forty plates. together with the continents of his well-stored mind, describing the Buceleuch, Pytchley, Belvoir, Meath, Quorn, Iledale, &c., &c. A very interesting lifetime deals with a point of importance to those engaged in creative work (and not only to those of the brush and pencil) namely, the difference between a sketch and a study of events. " That our eyes do not really perceive is daily thrust upon the notice of tlw artist," writes Mr. Edwards. .Yet spontaneity and freshness are lost as accuracy is increased. That, of course, is the problem of all art ; how to select salieneies without exaggera- tion, and render truth •without distortion. ". Mr. Edwards speaks with authority on the subject :.. in his own field he is pre-eminent, and this volume will add to his already great reputation.
What gorgeous nonsense is the correspondence -between Jorrocks and Doleful concerning the mastership of the Handley Cross hounds ! Doleful sends an analysis of the waters, a description of Diana Lodge, with its unaltOgany tables with claw-feet castors. Turkey cainets, and garde!' in which Gabriel Junks struts. Jorroeks replies from Great Comm Street demanding information about the country. subscriptions, number and •age of the pack. "Did -you ever hunt a bagman I " he concludes, " write me fully, 'freely, fairly. frankly." Handley Cross is- an ideal -beiliflde. volume, and Messrs. Harrap's limited edition, with a Preface by Mr. Siegfried Sassisin 'will be welcomed, not only by sportsmen, but by the large and increasing-number of Surtees admirer,. Mr. Sassoon's prefstee-is a slight- affair, but discerning, as is all his writing. What could be better -than-his summing up 2 We khosir that Jorroeks Mis.'"the breath Of life inhim. We know, too, that he is siimething More than a great comic Charaetewrecognizing in hiMille'ciainpendium of much that is universal in lovable 'Minim nature. Immortal Jorroeks ! The phrase is.PMVerbial, but wewrite it with a glow of gratitud, .--7.-:envying_thoSejwho have yet to read this book for the first
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