always
consider," he said, "that the proudest moment of my life was, when
sliding down a shale heap, I got a right and left at woodcocks." For
luxurious modes of making big bags with little trouble he never
cared at all. But let him once more explain himself in his own
words. "I delight in a mountain walk when I must work hard for my
five brace of grouse. I see no amusement in dawdling over a lowland
moor where the packs are as thick as chickens in a poultry-yard. I
like better than most things a day with my own dogs in scattered
covers, when I know not what may rise--a woodcock, an odd pheasant,
a snipe in the out-lying willow-bed, and perhaps a mallard or a
teal. A hare or two falls in agreeably when the mistress of the
house takes an interest in the bag. I detest battues and hot
corners, and slaughter for slaughter's sake. I wish every tenant in
England had his share in amusements which in moderation are good for
us all, and was allowed to shoot such birds or beasts as were bred
on his own farm, any clause in his lease to the contrary
notwithstanding." Considering that this passage was written ten
years before the Ground Game Act, it must be admitted that the
sentiment is remarkably liberal. The chief interest of these
papers,* however, is not political, but personal. They show what
Froude's natural tastes were, the tastes of a sportsman and a
country gentleman. He had long outgrown the weakness of his boyhood,
and his physical health was robust. With a firm foot and a strong
head he walked freely over cliffs where a false step would have
meant a fall of a thousand feet. No man of letters was ever more
devoted to exercise and sport. Though subject, like most men, and
all editors, to fits of despondency, he had a sound mind in a
healthy frame, and his pessimism was purely theoretical.

--
* Short Studies, vol. ii. pp. 217-308.
--

Froude's History, the great work of his life, was completed in 1870.
He deliberately chose, after the twelve volumes, to leave Elizabeth
at the height of her power, mistress of the seas, with Spain crushed
at her feet. As he says himself, in the opening paragraph of his own
Conclusion, "Chess-players, when they have brought their game to a
point at which the result can be foreseen with certainty, regard
their contest as ended, and sweep the pieces from the board." Froude
had accomplished his purpose. He had rewritten the story of the
Reformation. He had proved that the Church of England