Every farmer rides well, and rides the whole day.

Probably the extent of their large pasture farms, and the necessity of surveying them rapidly, first introduced this custom; or a very zealous antiquary might derive it from the times of the 'Lay of the Last Minstrel,' when twenty thousand horsemen assembled at the light of the beacon-fires.

[Footnote: It would be affectation to alter this reference.

But the reader will understand that it was inserted to keep up the author's incognito, as he was not likely to be suspected of quoting his own works.

This explanation is also applicable to one or two similar passages, in this and the other novels, introduced for the same reason.] But the truth is undeniable; they like to be on horseback, and can be with difficulty convinced that any one chooses walking from other motives than those of convenience or necessity.