This should be Wilde's description of fox hunting, which was very famous among British gentlemen at that time.

The original sentence should be: an English country gentleman chasing foxes-an unsafe person who pursues inedible things with all his strength.

Gentlemen in the English countryside clattered their horses behind foxes-the silent pursuit of inedible animals. "

So it should be "silent pursuit of inedible", and China's words almost mean "futility"

Well, this is my own understanding. I wonder if it will help LZ.