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TO what trifles do some men owe a perpetuation of their “_famous
memory_.” There is Nimrod, for instance, not but what he may have had
other and _greater_ merits, yet he is best known as a “_mighty hunter_,”
and one who “wore _boots_;” now, allowing the relation to be true, and
that he _did_ hunt, and he _did_ wear boots, is there anything
extraordinary attaching to either, unless indeed, it could be proved
that he had _wooden legs_, or that he was capable of sitting on the
backs of two or more animals at one time; and if such were not the case,
the simple fact of itself was never worth recording; as well may it be
said, a thousand years hence, that LLOYD _was a great Hatmaker, and
lived in a great City_.
But possibly the hunting system of this _old gentleman_ differed
materially from the pastime of our modern _Tally-ho’s_, and instead of
running after _hares_, _snipes_, and _conies_, Nimrod’s sport was on the
_field of battle_; in whose days the most rational idea is, that all was
_game_ which caused pursuits, and all pursuits _hunting_: If it were not
so, and his majesty’s capability only extended to the _riding_ upon a
_horse’s back_, there is not a butcher’s boy, in any country village
between BERWICK and ST. IVES, that would not have ridden Nimrod’s _rump_
off. But it may be asked by those whose inclinations and patience shall
lead them to hunt through the following pages, whether this is what it
professes to be, a PREFACE, which is supposed to explain, or prepare the
mind for something to come; the answer to which is as follows: A horse
that will not _go_ without another being led before him, is not worth
_riding_, and if what is herein written requires a Preface to render it
_intelligible_, it is not worth the _reading_.
_May, 1819._
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