Related article: 240 daily's magazine. [October engaged in the primitive pursuits of hunting, herding and agricul- ture, is no bad preparation for a campaign, and Purchase Benazepril Online may equal in value the study of text books of strategy and tactics and the theoretical handling of bodies of armed men. It almost appears as if operations of war, conducted on what we may call ** sporting " principles, have in some circumstances rather the best of it, when opposed to movements devised by the best military European science. We cannot of course throw our officers back altogether into primitive conditions, but we should cer- tainly not deny them any oppor- tunities that they find for them- selves of gaining the experience which is given by pursuits founded on primitive passions and carried out by the primitive faculties of man. Baily's Magazine takes cognisance of sport and the study of sport in all its branches, and, in its pages, it cannot but enforce the principle that sport is a most important factor in our national life and has an influence that can- not be minimised in cultivating much that is good in our national character. Whatever is good for the nation at large must be good for its Army in particular, and, more than this, the special advan- tages to be derived from sport appear to be more applicable to the requirements of the Army than to those of any other trade or profession. All sports offer some permanent good in addition to temporary relaxation ; some give strength and agility to the body, some quickness to the eye, some harden the constitution, some promote horsemanship. All exercise the brain more than is generally believed. There are none which do not leave a man better physically and mentally, and more able to cope with diffi- culty and danger. Surely England and England^s administrators will not be so mad as to listen to the unthinking cry of those who would do anything to discourage the pursuit of healthy sport in England's Army- Englishmen who now seek for commissions are ready to submit to any trials, to go through any training, to acquire any qualifica- tion, that will make them efficient and trustworthy servants of the state. Let any path of duty be pointed out and they will unhesi- tatingly follow it ; but let us beware of interfering with sporting proclivities, lest in withdrawing an influence which has, most falsely we think, been credited with doing harm to professional efficiency, we find that we have removed one that has ever done a superlative amount of good. We believe most firmly that the real and enthusiastic sports- man is a half-made soldier and that any curtailment of sporting pursuits among our officers would make for the deterioration of our Army. Absit omen, C. Stein. o am Z. S ! i9oa] 241 *^ Animal Painters. The mass of information contained in these handsome volumes* in- dicates an immense amount of research and constant discrimina- tion; and only a man possessing the rare combination of artistic and sporting tastes, with leisure to indulge them, could have under- taken so large a task and have carried it to a successful issue. The author observes in his pre- face, "it is strange no work has yet appeared which chronicles the names of performances of artists who have devoted their talents to the portrayal of animal life and scenes of sport." We will add to this that it is fortunate the task has been reserved for such com- petent hands. Until the latter portion of the seventeenth century English art as exemplified by the painter was practically non-existent. We find drawings in colour on old manu- scripts, and the best of these serve to show Generic Benazepril us how little idea of the elements of drawing those em- ployed to illuminate such MSS. possessed. The first artist of English birth who deserved the name was Francis Barlow, who was born about the year 1628. His work as a painter of animal and bird life showed marked ad- vance on any illuminations to be found on manuscripts, but there is necessarily a wide gulf between the merit of his productions and the merit attained by painters of a century later. In appraising the deserts of the pictures de- scribed, and of which numerous representative examples are here reproduced, the reader should re- member the axiom adopted by the author : "If it appear that the * "Animal Painters of Eri2li>nd : from the year 1650." A brief history of their lives and works. In two volumes. Illustrated. By Sir Walter Oilbey, Bart. (Vinton & Co., Ltd.) praise bestowed on these early pictures is higher than they de- serve, let it be borne in mind that their merits must be con- sidered not by the artistic stan- dards of the present day, but in comparison with the worth of contemporary or previous pain- ters." The rule is a sound one ; and had the main object of the work been to demonstrate pro- gress, it would have been well to arrange the biographies in chrono- logical rather than in alphabetical order. The author's aim, however, is rather to show us how much lovers of field sports and of animals, the horse particularly, owe to these old painters ; and that the painter tells us a great deal that the writer omits cannot be gainsaid : in Sir Walter's words, " The details which, by reason of their absolute familiarity or co;itemporary insig- nificance escape the chronicler, are perpetuated by the artist." In collecting the information he has done concerning some fifty artists, and presenting them in this sumptuous form, the author has rendered no small service to the history of sport, for it is from the sportsman's point of view that we approach his work. The first volume opens with Henry Aiken,