Not being a smoker myself I cannot
perhaps judge; much must depend on the individual temperament; to some
nervous natures it certainly appears to be a great comfort; but I have my
doubts whether smoking, as a general rule, does add to the pleasures of
life. It must, moreover, detract somewhat from the sensitiveness of taste
and of smell.
Those who live in cities may almost lay it down as a rule that no time
spent out of doors is ever wasted. Fresh air is a cordial of incredible
virtue; old families are in all senses county families, not town families;
and those who prefer Homer and Plato and Shakespeare to hares and
partridges and foxes must beware that they are not tempted to neglect this
great requisite of our nature.
Most Englishmen, however, love open air, and it is probably true that most
of us enjoy a game at cricket or golf more than looking at any of the old
masters. The love of sport is engraven in the English character. As was
said of William Rufus, "he loves the tall deer as he had been their
father.
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