Enviable Position of the English Country Gentleman as regards all the Pleasures and Advantages of Life -- every Art and Energy exerted in his Favour -- by them his House surrounded with Delights -- the News and the Luxuries of the World brought to his Table -- Books, Music, Paintings at his command -- Farming, Gardening, Planting, Field-sports all within his grasp -- Scenes which offer themselves to extend his Pleasures -- the Service of his Country open to him -- Facilities for Travel -- Pursuits and Pleasures afforded by Country Life to Ladies 10 CHAPTER III. Life of the Gentry in the Country -- Effect of the Annual Visit of the Aristocracy to Town -- Pleasure of re-assembling at their Country Houses -- Impressions of our Country Houses and Country Life on Foreigners -- the German Prince’s Description of the Dairy at Woburn Abbey -- Willis’s Description of the Mode of Life at Gordon Castle -- The peculiar Charms of this kind of Life 18 CHAPTER IV. Routine of Country Sports -- Hunting, Shooting, Coursing, pursued in a different Style to that of our Ancestors -- each its own Season, Apparatus, and Appointments -- English Sportsmen communicate their Knowledge through the Press -- the Extinction of Falconry -- the Perfection of Fox-hunting in this Country -- Manner in which some Old Sportsmen amuse themselves during the Summer -- Favour into which Angling has risen of late years -- our Tourist-Anglers -- Grouse-Shooting: its exciting Nature -- Symptoms of the approach of 12th of August in England, the same as exhibited in Scotland -- Sportsmen on their way to the Highlands by the Packet -- the Contrast between them and Pedestrianizing Students -- Tom Oakleigh’s Description of the Commencement of Grouse-Shooting on the Moors -- other Features of it, both there and in Scotland -- Return from Partridge-Shooting -- a Word with the Too-Sensitive 29 CHAPTER V. Scientific Farming: Its State, Implements, and Admirers, Ancient and Modern -- Agricultural Pursuits delighted in by the greatest Men of all Ages -- Attachment of the Roman Nobility to them -- Cicero’s enthusiastic Encomiums on Country Affairs -- Farming now practised as a Science -- Vast Improvements during the last Century -- Multiplicity of its Modern Implements -- Benefits derived from Chemistry and Mechanics -- Progressive Improvements in Tillage, Breed of Cattle, Wool, Machinery, etc. by Tull, Menzies, Bakewell, Lord Somerville, Coke, Duke of Bedford, the Culleys, etc. -- by Periodicals and Associations -- Men to whom Agricultural Interests are peculiarly Indebted -- Characters of the Duke of Buccleugh and Lord Somerville, by Sir Walter Scott -- Anecdote of the Duke of Portland 49 CHAPTER VI.