171. Diversion; Hunting
"I have now learned, by hunting, to perceive, that it is no
diversion at all, nor ever takes a man out of himself for a
moment: the dogs have less sagacity than I could have prevailed
on myself to suppose; and the gentlemen often call to me not to
ride over them. It is very strange, and very melancholy, that
the paucity of human pleasures should persuade us ever to call
hunting one of them."
Piozzi: Anecdotes
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939. Choice; Diversion; Exercise;
Hunting
"The necessity of action is not only demonstrable from the fabric
of the body, but evident from observation of the universal
practice of mankind, who for the preservation of health in those
whose rank or wealth exempts them from the necessity of lucrative
labour, have invented sports and diversions, though not of equal
use to the world with manual trades, yet of equal fatigue to
those who practice them, and differing only from the drudgery of
the husbandman or manufacturer, as they are acts of choice, and
therefore performed without the painful sense of compulsion. The
huntsman rises early, pursues his game through all the dangers
and obstructions of the chase, swims rivers, and scales
precipices, till he returns home no less harassed than the
soldier, and has perhaps sometimes incurred as great hazard or
wounds or death: yet he has no motive to incite his ardour; he
is neither subject to the commands of a general, nor dreads any
penalties for neglect and disobedience; he has neither profit
nor honour to expect from his perils and his conquests; but
toils without the hope of mural or civic garlands, and must
content himself with the praise of his tenants and
companions."
Johnson: Rambler #85 (January 8, 1751)
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