Note 712 — CANTO THE FOURTEENTH.
Reading edition
[Mr. W. Ernst, in his Memoirs of the Life of Lord Chesterfield, 1893 (p. 425, note 2), quotes these lines in connection with a comparison between French and English sport, contained in a letter from Lord Chesterfield to his son, dated June 30, 1751: "The French manner of hunting is gentlemanlike; ours is only for bumpkins and boobies." Elsewhere, however (The World, No. 92, October 3, 1754), commenting on a remark of Pascal's, he admits "that the jolly sportsman ... improves his health, at least, by his exercise."]