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...*:v 
 
 

 
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THE 
 
 SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING 
 
 AND 
 
 MANAGEMENT OF THE . KENNEL. 
 
 ^'o.^V 
 
 © <:^ 
 
 Vt. 
 
 BY SCEUTATOE, 
 
 AUTHOR OP 
 
 *' HORSES AND HOUNDS," *' RECOLLECTIONS OF A FOXHUNTER,' 
 *'THB master OF THE HOUNDS," ETC. ETC. 
 
 C^ ^' 
 
 Talk of horses and hounds, and system of kennel : 
 
 Give me Leicestershire nags, and the blood of old Meynell." 
 
 Old Sono. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 GEORGE EOUTLEDGE AND SONS, 
 
 THE BROADWAY, LUDGATE. 
 
 NEW YORK, 416, BROOME STREET. 
 
 1868. 
 
^^'^S 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED BY WOODFALL AKD KITTDER, 
 
 MILfORD LAKE, STRAND, W.C. 
 
TO 
 
 HIS GEACE THE DLTE OF EUTLAND. 
 
 ETC., ETC. 
 
 My Lord Duke, 
 
 Highly complimented as I feel by your Grace's 
 kind condescension in accepting the dedication of this unpre- 
 tending little work, many misgivings arise in my mind 
 that it may prove undeserving that patronage so gi-aciously 
 accorded. I have not the vanity to tliink that any ob- 
 servations of mine, although resulting from long and 
 hardly- earned experience, can impart any new light to such 
 scientific Foxhunters as yourself. Your Grace's position, 
 as Master of one of the oldest packs of Foxhounds in the 
 world, would suffice to make you equally, if not better, 
 acquainted with all those details relative to Foxhunting 
 and the management of hounds upon which I have descanted 
 in the following pages. Throughout these will appear many 
 remarks upon the occupants of the Belvoir kennels, which 
 were never penned in anticipation of their appearing in a 
 separate volume, or presuming upon the honour of your 
 Grace's patronage. On tliis point I trust to be acquitted 
 of undue preference for that pack of Foxhounds, of which 
 I have often before had occasion to make mention in the 
 most laudatory terms. 
 
 With every sentiment of respect, 
 
 I have the honour to remain, 
 
 My Lord Duke, 
 
 Your most obliged and obedient Servant 
 
 K W. HORLOCK. 
 
 927556 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAoa 
 
 The Arcana of breeding Foxhounds — Quality to "be regarded 
 before quantity — Sires and dams of approved characters — 
 Breeding judiciously versus breeding extensively — Jasper a 
 case in point : — " Quo semel est imbuta recens " — The 
 author of "The Noble Science" and the Quagga — Mulish 
 facts are stubborn facts — Symmetrical proportions — Heads 
 before tails — John Ward's opinion on large "knowledge- 
 boxes " — The late Squire of Tedworth and Soloman — 
 Shoulders and hind-quarters — Field and kennel huntsman — 
 " Nemo est ex omni parte beatus " ..... 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Huntsman and "Whipper-in — General want of harmony between 
 them as to the occult science — He comes too near who comes 
 
 to be denied — Old S and his successor in office — The 
 
 test of sound discretion in breeding foxhounds — An instance 
 of its failure in a large hunting establishment — John Ward's 
 deliberation — Early whelps the strongest and straightest — 
 Difficulty of selecting the best — Dark colours preferable to 
 light 8 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Certain proportions necessary in brood -bitches — Large litters 
 objectionable — How to obviate this excess — Treatment of 
 lady foxhounds — Air and exercise — Lodgings at night — 
 Paddock and boxes for whelps — Cutaneous eruptions — 
 Remedies — Foster-mothers li 
 
viii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PACE 
 
 Operations to be performed on foxhound whelps — Long and short 
 sterns— Vixen foxes and their cubs — A wily mamma— Play- 
 ing a game of hide-and-seek with conies— How to destroy 
 worms and parasites in puppies — Healing ointment for 
 burns and scalds— Blistering after firing cruel and unneces- 
 sary — Hothouse plants and forced meat . . . .21 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Unnecessary cruelty to animals condemned — Necessity of brand- 
 ing foxhound whelps — Homeward bound — Anecdote of a 
 lady foxhound— Marvellous instinct — The Three Magpies on 
 Hounslow Heath — Agreeable incidental adventures — Travel- 
 ling in bygone days — The extra spur to footboys — Advantages 
 of giving names to puppies before sent to their walks . .29 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Priies for raising foxhounds — Good feeding and careful treatment 
 requisite for development of form — The master's eye makes 
 the hound fat — Objections to distant walks — The mal- 
 practices of puppy dogs — Home education not suitable — 
 Return to kennel — First draft — Number put forward — A 
 day on the flags — Choice of entry — Room for improvement 
 — The gentler sex take the lead — Pytchley run of ^06, and 
 the Waterloo hero — Long days and long runs of " auld lang 
 syne"— A late draw — The white horse in a dark night — 
 Sensational visit to an old lady's domicile — A long ride home 36 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Treatment of young hounds when brought home to kennel — 
 Going out in couples — Jerusalem ponies to be especially 
 avoided— Cur dogs — Cure for exuberant spirits — Deer parks 
 and hare wari*ens — Distemper principiis obsta — Following 
 the plough — Diet — Extraordinary case of distemper — 
 Remedies and prescriptions 46 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Roanding the entry — Reasons for so doing — Quickest mode of 
 iwrforming it — Varieties of foxhounds and crosses — Stud- 
 books of kennels— Oldest establishments— The chase of wolf, 
 boar, and stag in ancient times — Dogs used for this purpose 
 —Their site and strength— Depredations of wolves in the 
 reign of Athelstan — Bloodhound cross in North Warwick- 
 shire kennels — Our own experiment in this cross — Black- 
 and-tan pack in the west of Ireland 55 
 
CONTENTS. IX 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Training for cub-hunting — The unde derivaiuroi hound language 
 — Its use and abuse — Cheerfulness and good humour in man 
 productive of cheerful obedience in animals — Whey an 
 excellent alterative — Our old kennel huntsman — Bondsman 
 in disgrace — Whips not to be used in kennel — Visit of a 
 Dutchman — His dread of foxhounds — A young lady's new- 
 waltzing partner — Her parting kiss — The late J. Starkey, of 
 Spye Park 64 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 More remarks on training — Gradual increase of pace — Swimming 
 through streams — No necessity for periodical dressings — 
 Beckford's opinion at variance with our own — Clean wheat 
 straw indispensable as litter — Vegetables during summer — 
 Alteratives — Old oatmeal the staple food — Mode of prepara- 
 tion — Objections to barley — Iron boilers, not copper — Time 
 for boiling — Good man -cook — French cuisine — "De gustibus 
 non est disputandum " — A has greaves .... 74 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Cub-hunting, the rehearsal of foxhunting — Teaching the young 
 ideas how to hunt — Tutors and governess for the entry — 
 Division of the pack — Early dawn most favourable for scent 
 — A single hound a match for a fox — Rambler showing the 
 white feather, and sent rambling — Cub-hunting in the even- 
 ing — Objections to it — Giving views — Blooding the entry — 
 111 effects of lifting young hounds — More haste, less speed — 
 The meaning of the horn — Babbling and skirting . . 83 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The twofold use of cub-hunting — Barring out young foxes — 
 Shyness of fox family — Main earths — Untenable objections 
 to them — Poachers, and their modus ojyerandi — Former 
 value of foxes — "Light come, light go " — Fence months to 
 other game, no defence to foxes — The May fox and July cub — 
 Early cub-hunting recommended — DiflFerence between grass 
 and arable countries — Hardness of ground injurious to 
 hounds' feet — Easy places and short work — Early impres- 
 sions most lasting — When to let well alone — Marking to 
 ground — Scene at a coalpit 92 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Master's presence necessary to judge of entry — Duties devolving 
 on masters — Some excuses for neglecting them — First-class 
 huntsmen — Duke of Beaufort's letter to Will Long — Goosey 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 and "Will Goodall — Tom Sebright and others — Anecdote of 
 Tommy Moore, the Poet — Tribute of respect to Charles 
 Treadwell — Wanton shedding of fox-blood — Accidents may 
 happen — Weeding litters — Bloodthirsty preservers — Count- 
 ing noses — "I never counts 'em whilst they suck" — The 
 fashion in foxhunting . . . . . . .102 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Visits and visitations to cubs — Pet places — Idleness the parent of 
 vice even in foxes — To be kept moving — Small and large 
 coverts — Mr. Ward and the Craven country — Southgrove the 
 elysium of foxes — Friendly societies — A novel plan for 
 breaking them up — Faggots vice foxhounds — Always at home 
 — Woodland foxes 112 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Faults in foxhounds — Hard work and no play makes Jack a dull 
 boy — Trial of speed in the open — Hasty drafting censured — 
 Beckford's anecdote — Packing together — The cry of hounds 
 — Happy medium — Touch and go — Noisy at fences — Will 
 Goodall's opinion of large hounds — The late Assheton Smith 
 and Freeman — The music of the pack — Gervase Markham 
 thereon .......... 117 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Fashion of the day not in favour of music — Pace only thought of 
 — Distinction between a mute and light tongue — Peculiar 
 instinct in drawing — Deputy — The late Mr. Codrington on 
 gorse coverts — Opening on the drag — Too much bow-wowing 
 reprehensible — How to convert harriers into foxhounds — A 
 veritable fact — Treeing a martin — A narrow escape — The run 
 home — Qualities in foxhounds — Cardinal points — Long and 
 hard days occasionally of service ..... 126 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Sites of kennels — New building preferable to old — Ancient 
 mansions — The Bel voir kennels the model for all others — 
 Ground and aspect — Too small dimensions bad economy — 
 The Author's ideas on the subject — Drainage — Hot air — 
 Walls and palings — Seclusion — Supply of water — Tanks 
 Hobson's choice — Other observations on the kennel — Warm 
 lodging as necessary as good feeding — Wholesome meat 
 indispensable to health 135 
 
CONTENTS. XI 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Enjoyable duties of huntsmen — Intellect and physical abilities 
 requisite — First-rate horsemen — Heavy versus light weights 
 — Power in the saddle — Honesty and sobriety — Good temper 
 — The whip too much used — Feeding time — Things hastily 
 done, badly done — Even condition of the pack proof of good 
 kennel management — Dainty feeders — System of the Author Hi 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Meal and meat — General practice of feeding opposed to the 
 Author's — Cravings of hunger — Long abstinence injurious — 
 Huntsmen in the field — Fine voice of secondary importance 
 — More reliance on hounds' noses than huntsman's head — 
 Knowledge of country — Line of foxes— Enterprising genius^ 
 — Lifting hounds - Self-possession and decision — An eye to 
 business — Beckford's opinion of huntsman and first whipper- 
 in — Qualifications of the latter — Opportunities of assisting 
 huntsman — Gone away ! . . . . . . .151 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Second whipper-in — Natural talents for his profession — Place of 
 second whip — His disposition — Implicit obedience to supe- 
 riors — Master reflected in man— The Baronet and Parvenu — 
 Old law of honour— Ink vice blood — Huntsmen in commu- 
 nion with gentlemen — Order of march to covert side and 
 back — Huddling hounds together — Discipline too strict fails 
 in its object— The late Squire of Tedworth and his pack — 
 The attache of the huntsman — Seeing not always believing — 
 Drawing over foxes — Pugilist Jack and the last hound — 
 Dismounted duties 160 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Second horseman — Few good riders to hounds — The first start — 
 Different modes of crossing country — Genuine sportsmen — 
 Seats in the saddle — Good riders and hard riders — The worst 
 kind of fall — Anecdote of Jack Stevens — Riding down hill — 
 Truth of the old triplet — How to take fences — "Experto 
 crede" — Irish hunters — Jack and his Kilkenny friend — 
 Going at water — The late Lord Kintore — Untrodden ground 
 the safest — The horse and his rider — Must part company 
 sometimes 170 
 
XU CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Old hunters and yonng riders — Vacating the pigskin sometimes a 
 voluntary act — With stirrups or without them — Riding for 
 sale — The mount by a friend the reverse of friendly — Rule 
 as to kickers in the field — Buck- jumpers — Two strings to 
 your bow — Snaffle bridle — Martingales — Breastplate — Unne- 
 cessary gear — Spurs — Their use and abuse — The Author's 
 objection to them — Hunting costume — Jack -boots — The old 
 top — The cap and hat — Colour of coat — The spare shoe — 
 Eau de vie — Old Meynell's cordial — Contents of waistcoat- 
 pocket 180 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 The Kennel Register — Genealogical book of reference — Breeding 
 from too near relationship — High courage in foxhounds in- 
 dispensable — Blood always tells — Interchange of civilities 
 between masters — Mutual confidence — Exchange of stud- 
 hounds — Belvoir, Badminton, Brocklesby, and Milton packs 
 — Bramham Moor and Badsworth — Earl of Wemyss and 
 Duke of Buccleuch — The new Master of the Quorn — Hunts- 
 man's Diary — Earth -stoppers — List of hounds — Efficiency 
 before numbers — Our first essay in the field — Numerical 
 strength a deception . . . . . . .189 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Uncertainty of scent — Atmospherical changes — The Coplow run 
 — Much dust — Foxes in a quiescent state — Drawing up wind 
 — Making out the day — Let well alone — Etiquette between 
 masters of foxhounds — "Noli me tangere" — Catch him if 
 you can 197 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Men, horses, and hounds adapted to country — The shires and the 
 provinces — Dick Woodcraft and the Quorn — Comes to grief 
 with Ploughman — His soliloquy — The first check — Hark ! 
 halloa ! — Up and down wind — Dick Woodcraft assists in 
 recovering the line — Things improve — Fire and water — Tom 
 Clcarwell hors de combat — Woodcraft takes the horn — 
 Astonishes the field — Finish to the run of the season — The 
 mystery solved . . . . . . . .206 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 Different standards of foxhounds — The Craven and H. H. packs 
 — The late Sir John Cope and his rattlers — Bramshill and 
 the old oak chest — The multum in parvo — Hounds changing 
 countries — Mr. Osbaldiston and Sebright in Hants — The 
 
CONTENTS. xiil 
 
 PAGE 
 
 two celebrated squires and their exploits — **Mors omnia 
 vincit" 218 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 Earth - stoppers and keepers — Barring out for the season — A 
 failure — The earth -stopper and his pony of olden time — 
 Gamekeepers — Their perquisites and tricks — Game pre- 
 servers and foxes — Turning down cubs — Previous treatment 
 — Mange in foxes — Main earths in sandy soils — Viper buried 
 for ten days — Badgers and their habits .... 225 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 Stub-bred foxes the stoutest runners — Any port in a storm — 
 
 Terriers — Our old sort — Pilgrim — Bagmen . . . 235 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 Forming a pack of foxhounds — Entered and unentered drafts — 
 Dog shows — Foxhunters' Club — Weak understandings — 
 Saffron — The tape — Length of body or limb — Stud-hounds 
 — A leaf from the genealogical tree 240 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 Expenses of foxhunting establishments — Large and small packs 
 — Scratch lot of harriers kept cost free — Farming and fox- 
 hunting — Touring with an agriculturist — A dip in blue 
 water — Master growing his stud as well as his com — Gen- 
 tlemen huntsmen 248 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 Subdivision of overgrown countries conducive to sport — Leaden - 
 hall foxes — Rights of country — " Mos pro lege" — Foxhunt- 
 ing the fashion — The king of sportsmen — The late Sir 
 Wheeler Cuflfe and clipping — Neutral coverts . . . 257 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 Turkish baths — Warm baths for hounds — More bad than good 
 results from their use — System of kennel — Originated with 
 *'The Father of the Chase"— The master's eye— The late 
 Lord Ducie and Bondsman ...... 265 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 Hydrophobia — Length of time the virus lies dormant in the sys- 
 tem — Our feeder 274 
 
XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Various prescriptions for the cure of hydrophobia — Oliver Gold- 
 smith's opinion — Dogs having fits and distemper often con- 
 demned as mad — Our terrier on the moor . . . .282 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 The science of foxhunting opposed to harehunting — Chase of the 
 wild stag — Exmoor Forest — Famous runs — "Major Byng 
 Hall's work 291 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 Something more about staghunting and deer — Scientific huntsmen 
 
 to foxhounds — An example in Will Headman . . . 299 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 Will Headman handling his hounds — Jem the first whip — A wily 
 
 trickster outwitted — " Finis coronat opus" . . . 309 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 The New Year's gift of '61 — ** Keep moving," the cry of the day 
 — Galloping down a fox not foxhunting — Spirit of hounds — 
 Variety of foxes — Will Headman has a difficult game to 
 play 319 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 Hunting run — A pulling horse — The bit of luck — Jem to the fore 
 — Exchange no robbery — A new way of stopping earths — 
 Fast and furious — Pounding in a ditch — Slow and sure — Jem 
 has it all to himself 329 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 Riding a willing horse to death — General bad treatment of the 
 equine race — Meeting of the four winds — George Tracy gets 
 a quid pro quo — Will Headman on turf — Jem and his 
 thoroughbred — The old squire, John Staveley — Scurry fronT a 
 gorse-brake over the open downs ..... 342 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 The four-mile race— Danger of crossing old trackways— George 
 Tracy disabled— A lucky fall— The pace that kills — Ups and 
 downs — The Squire's joy on seeing his hounds beat the field — 
 Who-hoop ! 351 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Scurry the second — A dip into the vale — Harmony of huntsman 
 and first whip — Jem and his master — Over the hills and far 
 away — Dropping sterns and dropping astern — Blood and con- 
 dition will tell — ** Up the bill, spare me" — Trying it on foot 
 — Jem beats his master at pedestrianism — Short, sharp, and 
 decisive . ......... 358 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 " Sub Jove frigido " — The foxhunter's season — When a fox is not 
 a fox — Distinguishing characteristics of well-bred foxhounds 
 — Making the best of a bad scent — Will Headman's descent 
 into lower regions — Hazel Grove — Forcing a fox — A cool cal- 
 culator nearly outwitted — The afternoon fox — Barren downs 
 and luxuriant pastures . ...... 366 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 A cold bath — Beaten horses and a beaten fox — Will Headman 
 tastes something stronger than pea soup — Jem and the miller 
 — Two ways of letting off steam — Our huntsman's ideas about 
 scent — The Queen's Head — Staveley and the old waiter — 
 Lame hounds — The jog home 375 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 Foxhunting fixtures — Various motives for meeting hounds — 
 Change of line in drawing coverts — Good foxes on the look- 
 out for squalls — Witches and wizards — The poultry fancier — 
 Scarcity of good bipeds as well as quadrupeds — Counting 
 noses — Keeping your appointments — Hunting a cure for atra 
 cura — Advertising fixtures now imperative — Ludicrous scene 
 in the field — An explosion — The flight of Anak . . . 386 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI. 
 
 Winter rural sports — Foxhunting and pheasant shooting — The 
 battue — Commander-in-chief — Non-interference — Expe- 
 rienced sportsmen of service sometimes — General conduc 
 of the field — Rivalry in horsemanship — Hunting to ride — 
 Spoiling sport — Heads and tails up . . . . . 394 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIL 
 
 A clear stage — Clearing a pack and five-barred gate— Pressing 
 hounds — Thoroughbred hunters no novelty — Short and bang 
 tails — Ladies in the hunting-field 403 
 
Xvi CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIII. 
 
 PAOE 
 
 The Author's visit to a game preserver with a friend— Hospitable 
 reception — Mr. Fortescue's advocacy of " The Noble Science" 
 in a social point of view — Hunting wild animals natural to 
 man — The time of year when foxes may purloin pheasants, 
 which, even then, have a peculiar protection — Rabbits their 
 favourite game . . 409 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 The wiliness and caution of foxes — Easily scared from poultry 
 and pheasant pens — Ill-founded charges against rooks — 
 Gamekeepers and poachers — Travelling in the last century — 
 Old fox and dairymaid — Innocency of cubs — Feathered game 
 on the wing, before they have left home — The gamekeeper's 
 scapegoat 417 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 Testimonials to huntsmen — The old capping custom — Beckford's 
 anecdote — Hard and irregular life of these officials — Four 
 days per week more agreeable than six — May foxes and July 
 cubs — Pensions — Huntsmen to old established and subscrip- 
 tion packs 427 
 
 CHAPTER LI. 
 The Last of his Entry 434 
 
SYSTEM OF KENNEL 
 
 AND 
 
 SCIENCE OF FOlHUNTma. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 SIRES AND DAMS. 
 
 The Arcana of breeding Foxhoumls — Quality to be regarded before 
 quantity — Sires and Dams of approved characters — Breeding 
 judiciously versus breeding extensively — Jasper a case in point : 
 — " Quo semel est imbuta recens " — The author of "The Noble 
 Science " and the Quagga — Mulish facts are stubborn facts — 
 Symmetrical proportions — Heads before tails — John Ward's 
 opinion on large "knowledge-boxes" — The late Squire of Ted- 
 worth and Soloman — Shoulders and hind-quarters — Field and 
 kennel huntsman — "Nemo est ex omni parte beatus." 
 
 One of the most difficult tasks devolving on hunts- 
 men to foxhounds, consists in the proper selection 
 of Sires and Dams, for the purpose of maintaining 
 the pack in its integrity and efficienc}'. In very 
 large kennels, a corresponding number of whelps 
 are annually produced, and to ensure a good-look- 
 ing entry, many bitches are used as mothers before 
 their characters have become thoroughly developed 
 in the field. This is, to say the least of it, a very 
 hap-hazard mode of proceeding, yet is such a prac- 
 tice too prevalent where draft-hounds are cou- 
 
 B 
 
2 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 sidered the perquisites of the huntsman. There 
 is another very obvious inducement, besides the 
 gratification of exhibiting a very handsome entry. 
 Those who breed on a very extensive scale, even 
 with the drawback of distemper, may feel tolerably 
 secure of being able to put forward a large and 
 clever lot of young ii.ounds, from which a second 
 draft has to be made later in the summer, when tlie 
 thndl hi /ianger fi:on\ ..clistetnper has passed ; and 
 yet, with all this outwarcl and visible show, are 
 there not some — many, perchance — chosen fathers 
 for their outward good looks more than for their 
 parents' good works? Whatever huntsmen and 
 masters of foxhounds may argue to the contrary, 
 we know quite well, that a very handsome young 
 foxhound will not be put aside for the short- 
 comings of his sire or dam. The excuse is — " Give 
 him a trial, he comes of a good sort, and ought 
 to keep his place ; '' to be more explicit, we will 
 give a case in point exempli gratia, dozens of 
 which have fallen under our own observation. 
 
 Jasper, a young dog of prepossessing appear- 
 ance, enters well, goes through his first season 
 brilliantly, and up to Christmas of the second 
 season performs his part to admiration. A frost 
 sets in, the bitch-house is soon filled, and Jasper is 
 introduced to the seraglio, taking it for granted 
 that he will hold on as he commenced. With 
 change of weather, and after a fortnight's frost, a 
 change has taken place in Jasper's conduct, who 
 begins to cut corners, right to cry, and flashing 
 over the line in highly condenmatory style. The 
 
SCIENCE OF rOXHUNTlNG. 3 
 
 mischief is clone — Jasper has stamped his image 
 upon three litters of whelps. Six couples are put 
 out to walk, and two return to the kennel so exceed- 
 ingly handsome, that the master cannot consent 
 to part with them. Their dams are excellent, 
 steady line hunters^ without much dash or flash. 
 Why should not their progeny follow in their foot- 
 steps ? Yes, this is the question which no master 
 of foxhounds can answer : why the bad propensi- 
 ties of the father should generally prevail over the 
 good ones of the mother. Yet so it is. 
 
 Mr. Delme Radcliffe, in his " Noble Science," 
 relates a similar fact which came under his own 
 notice, where a mare, having been first put to a 
 quagga or zebra, produced several foals afterwards 
 by different horses, all of which were more or less 
 affected by the stripes of the quagga. He adds, 
 " There was no fancied pecuharity, no indistinct 
 semblance of action or manner, but ocular demon- 
 stration of certain plain and indelible signs of 
 stripes peculiar to one animal, affording incontesti- 
 ble evidence of his blood.'' The " nroino: back/' as 
 
 DO ' 
 
 old huntsmen tell you, in colour, disposition, and 
 appearance, is of continued occurrence, making the 
 greatest caution necessary to what sires the most 
 promising young brood-bitches are at first put, 
 since every succeeding litter may be injuriously 
 affected by want of judgment in this one instance. 
 We have never considered it safe to breed from 
 any hound, male or female, until they had passed 
 through three seasons, by which time any evil 
 propensities will most probably have shown them- 
 
 B 2 
 
4 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 selves ; and with regard to sires, it is far better to 
 put one of four or five years' experience to younger 
 bitches, than to use those of the same age. There 
 are faults in form also, as well as in faculties : we 
 rarely see an animal of faultless proportions. It 
 has been generally held amongst agriculturists, that 
 cattle, sheep, and pigs should be short on their legs 
 and light in bone ; but we remember hearing Mr. 
 Northeast, a celebrated breeder of Southdown sheep, 
 and steward of the late Assheton Smith, express 
 a contrary opinion. We were looking over the 
 entry at Tedworth during the master's absence, and 
 I pointed out a young hound of lengthy frame, 
 standing very low. 
 
 " Yes, sir, that young hound is very clever, and 
 what breeders of foxhounds so much admire — 
 very near the ground ; but we breeders of sheep 
 like them rather high on the leg." 
 
 " Why ? '' we asked. 
 
 "For two reasons/' was his reply, — "first, be- 
 <5ause they stand well up in the penning when at 
 the fair ; and secondly, because they come cleaner 
 into the fold at night. After walking over greasy 
 fallows, short-legged animals would liave the dirt 
 sticking to their bellies in w^et weather, and be 
 useless as a working flock.'' 
 
 We were satisfied with this observation, which 
 has held a place in our memory ever since, con- 
 firming us in the opinion that horses and hounds 
 may be bred also too low on the leg. 
 
 Upon the essential points in the framework of a 
 foxhound, which, combined or properly connected, 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 5 
 
 form what we call symmetry, experienced masters 
 and huntsmen are very generally agreed ; but on 
 other and less important points there exists a 
 diversity of opinion, even amongst the learned in 
 such matters. One admires the greyhound fore- 
 hand with 
 
 **Head like a snake, 
 Neck like a drake, 
 Chest like a bream, 
 Back like a beam." 
 
 Others, like Gallic, care for none of these things, 
 preferring heads rather square than long or thin ; 
 — about necks, indifferent, provided they are not 
 too short and thick, preferring wide ribs to deep 
 chests, and arched loins to flat ones. If a hound 
 has plenty of brains, it matters little as to the shape 
 of the skull in which they are contained ; and if his 
 neck is not too short to prevent his nose touching 
 the ground, it is long enough to answer the purpose 
 for which it was given him, and we incline to the 
 opinion that the coarser-necked ones are generally 
 found to be the better hunters. 
 
 A stranger, when for the first time meeting the 
 late John Ward's foxhounds, was making comments 
 — not very complimentary — in his hearing on their 
 large heads, when the jocose master, turning round, 
 said, " Your observations, sir, are very true ; our 
 hounds possess rather large knowledge-boxes, but 
 there is this advantage connected with them : their 
 heads are so heavy, that when once their noses 
 reach the ground, they manifest great reluctance in 
 raising them again." 
 
6 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 His friends were not slow in comprehending the 
 sarcasm intended by this rejoinder, for Mr. Ward's 
 pack had a wide-spread reputation for excellent 
 noses ; and we remember a large square-headed 
 hound named Soloman, presented by him to Assheton 
 Smith, when first commencing the formation of his 
 country in Wiltshire, without whose assistance he 
 himself told me he could not have killed a fox. 
 For choice, we would select a square head in pre- 
 ference to an oblong one, because we have, through 
 an extensive experience, seen the greatest amount 
 of sagacity in the canine species exhibited by such 
 knowledge-boxes. Then as to shoulders, doctors 
 diflfer, some preferring the hare and others the 
 horse-shaped. A large-shouldered horse has never 
 met with our approbation — we don't mean a heavy 
 shoulder, for we think the power of the horse, the 
 hound, and the hare all lie behind the shoulder — 
 the advancing power before, the propelling power 
 behind, in back, loins, and hind-quarters ; and as 
 facts prove more than fixncies, we mention an 
 example in a hunter ridden by us for many 
 years. 
 
 This horse had a small low shoulder, thin ewe 
 neck, very crooked fore-legs, turning out his toes 
 like a dancing-master, so much so, that we were 
 obliged to ride him in laced boots ; but behind the 
 saddle lay all his strength ; large ribs, immense 
 loins, and very muscular hind-quarters, with straight 
 hocks — in fact, he seemed to go entirely upon this 
 part of his body, his fore-quarters acting merely in 
 a pioneering capacity. For ten years we rode him 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 7 
 
 successively, as well as successfully. Few horses 
 could beat him in speed — none in fencing; and 
 although standing only fifteen hands and an inch 
 high, he could top anything we sent him at, and 
 we were not particular in those days whether we 
 rode at a five-barred gate, six-foot wall, or a double 
 ox-fence. At the age of fifteen he was dismissed 
 the stables, from an incurable propensity to crib- 
 biting, and turned out for the remainder of his days 
 in pastures green during summer, and a snug farm- 
 yard, with sheds, in winter, without a speck or 
 blemish — not even a Avindgall upon one of his legs. 
 Admitting the great attraction of a neat head, well 
 set on a beautifully curved neck, with fine shoulders 
 and straight fore-legs, nevertheless, judicious breeders 
 of foxhounds are not so much taken with outward 
 appearances as to neglect other more important 
 qualifications. Stoutness and a good nose are with 
 them tlie first considerations, with frame exhibiting 
 more power than beauty of outlines. 
 
8 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Huntsman and Whipper-in — General want of harmony between them 
 as to the occult science — He comes too near who comes to be 
 
 denied — Old S and his successor in office — The test of 
 
 sound discretion in breeding foxhounds — An instance of its 
 failure in a large hunting establishment— John Ward's delibera- 
 tion — Early whelps the strongest and straightest — Difficulty of 
 selecting the best — Dark colours preferable to light. 
 
 It does not follow as a matter of course that the 
 most talented field huntsman is equally clever as 
 a breeder — the reverse, we might say, is generally 
 the case. Immense numbers of young hounds are 
 annually produced, yet quantity does not compen- 
 sate for loss of quality. Every huntsman, when 
 first installed in office, has this onus probancli 
 thrown upon his shoulders, and how is he to meet 
 it ? As whipper-in, his knowledge of breeding, how- 
 ever, must be very limited, since huntsmen, from 
 jealousy, rarely admit their probable successors 
 into their confidence ; and in large establishments 
 whippers-in are almost excluded from the kennel, 
 the feeder acting as assistant to the huntsman in 
 all these matters. The register of marriages and 
 births has been hitherto to the whipper-in a sealed 
 book. He has seen by the published list how 
 each entry is bred, and knows the characters and 
 dispositions of those parents which have fallen 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 9 
 
 under his own observation ; but of old pedigrees 
 and performances he knows nothing ; or why- 
 Chorister has been mated with Dorcas — in his 
 opinion, perhaps, a very poor cross. 
 
 We were conversing not very long since with 
 the first whipper-in to one of the oldest packs of 
 foxhounds in England, and in allusion to his 
 huntsman — a man of the highest celebrity as a 
 breeder, then far advanced in years — we expressed 
 our anticipations of his becoming a brilliant star 
 also, under such superior tuition. 
 
 " As to field business, sir," he replied, " I have 
 had a capital master, but as to breeding and kennel 
 
 management, Mr. S is very chary of giving 
 
 me the least information — to speak plainly, he is 
 very jealous of me as likely to succeed him." 
 
 This whipper-in is now huntsman, and we have 
 had no opportunity, since his promotion, of judging 
 personally whether his talents have been equal to 
 the responsibilities in this new situation. That 
 very clever whippers-in do not invariably turn out 
 clever huntsmen, is a truism needing no repetition. 
 As to breeding foxhounds which shall stand the 
 trial of three or four seasons, that is, as we have 
 before stated, a very diflScult matter ; and we have 
 known many of the very cleverest huntsmen, 
 gentlemen, as well as professional men of world- 
 wide reputation in the field, who have signally 
 failed in the stud. Some of these have bred 
 extensively — too much so — sending out from fifty 
 to eighty couples of whelps annually, and putting 
 forward about twenty couples for the next season's 
 
10 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 entry. Yet the fallacy of their judgment is shown 
 by their own kennel-list. We have one of these 
 now before us, containing over seventy couples of 
 hounds altogether, including the year's entry. Now 
 we shall see, by looking to the head of the list, how 
 this yearly supply of forty young hounds or more 
 stands. 
 
 At seven years old, there are only five hounds 
 remaining in the kennel. At six, nine. At five, 
 twelve only. That is, out of a hundred and twenty 
 hounds entered during the three years, twenty-six 
 only are deemed worthy, at the end of that time, 
 to hold their places in the pack. What has become 
 of the other ninety-four ? Gone to France or 
 India, or, peradventure, swelling the ranks of minor 
 establishments, which cannot breed their own 
 hounds. Again, how many out of this large body 
 have been considered sufficiently meritorious to be 
 used as sires ? Six individuals only, and to our 
 certain knowledge three of these were the sons of 
 very handsome, though very faulty, fathers. There 
 is the mischief — hence the falling ofi* in the four or 
 five-year-old hounds. The master could not resist 
 the temptation to breed from a very clever-looking 
 one, although fully cognizant of his foibles. He 
 was proud of parading a smart handsome entry on 
 the flags, and paid the smart accordingly, by wit- 
 nessing the gradual thinning of their ranks, at the 
 end of each campaign. 
 
 In analyzing the contents of many large ken- 
 nels, a considerable amount of heterogenous in- 
 gredients will too often be found, which make a 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 11 
 
 good show when paraded at the place of meeting, 
 but help only to swell the chorus or fill the pack. 
 How very few really good stanch hounds can be 
 selected out of any pack. We know, by dearly- 
 bought experience, what a lot of rubbish is con- 
 tained even in unentered drafts from kennels of 
 long-establislied reputation ! The strength and 
 efficiency of the pack depends upon the number of 
 three, four, and five-year-old hounds you can bring 
 into the field — these being the working bees of the 
 hive — the others, in comparison, mere drones — and 
 a good number of these veterans prove incontestibly 
 the judgment of the breeder. We consider a fox- 
 hound of five years to be just in the zenith of his 
 power, and if of a stout, hard, running sort, will 
 hold his own for two or three seasons more. We 
 have possessed hounds in their eighth season, 
 running at the head of the pack, and have still a 
 terrier living who has passed his seventeenth birth- 
 day, and, until within a few months, retaining all 
 his faculties of nose. 
 
 Tiie renowned John Ward was, of all his 
 contempory masters, the most successful breeder of 
 foxhounds, and although hunting four days a week 
 latterly, in a country infamous for laming hounds, 
 his entry did not exceed ten or twelve couples, the 
 majority of which generally went right. He would 
 de iberate sometimes for a week what sire ought 
 to^be put to a certain dam, and the result of his 
 caution rarely showed an error in judgment. Early 
 whelps are always the strongest and straightest 
 on their legs, as a general rule, being like oysters, 
 
12 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 good only if produced whilst there is an R in the 
 month. Early spring weather exercises a very 
 beneficial influence over all animals — beasts as well 
 as birds — their frames being invigorated by the 
 cold ; and we are told that Swedish peasants dip 
 their chickens in cold water as soon as they have 
 escaped from the egg-shell, which unceremonious 
 process they aver renders them impregnable to the 
 attacks of roup and other diseases common to 
 poultry kind. Upon one point we are satisfied by 
 long experience, that foxhound whelps born in 
 February and March are decidedly superior in 
 constitution, frame, stoutness, and straightness of 
 limb, to those making their advent into this wicked 
 world at a later period, and consequently better 
 able to contend with the distemper. So thoroughly 
 convinced were we upon this point, that unless 
 whelps could be produced from the most favourite 
 dam before the middle of April, we preferred 
 passing her over until the next season, to breeding 
 a litter out of season. 
 
 As to the selection of whelps, some of which 
 must be destroyed unless there is a foster-mother 
 ready to take them, there exists a diversity of 
 opinion amongst professionals — some contending 
 that the lightest will prove the best ; others that 
 the mother ought to be left to make her own 
 selection ; others deciding (as a toss up) by heads 
 and tails ; others again by colour. It has been said 
 that " a good horse cannot be a bad colour/' but 
 there are, in our opinion, horses of some colours 
 w^hich never can be good, i. e., not so good as those 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 13 
 
 of stronger colours. Why, we don't know, but 
 we have often remarked that light chestnut horses 
 are generally of a luishy-tuashy constitution, with 
 fretful and nasty tempers, and impatient of delays, 
 as well as hard days. Dark colours have ever 
 claimed our preference in foxhounds, as also in 
 horses. Black and tan, or black and white, with 
 dark muzzles — dark badger or hare-pied. Of the 
 lemon hue, like the chestnut, we entertain a doubt- 
 ful opinion ; and white entire we don't admire. 
 
14 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 WHELPS, ETC. 
 
 Certain proportions necessory in brood-bitches — Large litters objection- 
 able — How to obviate this excess — Treatment of lady foxhounds 
 — Air and exercise — Lodgings at night — Paddock and boxes for 
 whelps — Cutaneous eruptions — Remedies — Foster-mothers. 
 
 As to the selection of whelps, where all are, as far 
 as human ken can go, of equal pretensions, unless 
 influenced by colours, you must, if you can, keep 
 those likely to prove the best ; and your thoughts 
 will bear a very near resemblance to our own when 
 putting a puppy away, which probably might have 
 proved better than any one of the litter we had 
 chosen. This is a very trying occasion, and none 
 but very anxious masters or huntsmen experience 
 the doubtful feelings and extreme reluctance with 
 which they are obliged sometimes to consign half 
 a litter of well-bred foxhounds to the water-butt 
 or fish-pond. We have invariably, when the op- 
 portunity occurred, used younger mothers as 
 wet-nurses to the progeny of a favourite dam, 
 although thereby losing the services of the former 
 for the best part of the season. Terriers, spaniels, 
 and other females of the canine species, may 
 rear a couple of whelps indifferently, but for fox- 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 15 
 
 hounds there is nothing equal to a foxhound foster- 
 mother. 
 
 Objections have been raised to sires of five and 
 six years old, on the ground that their progeny will 
 prove less robust than those of younger years. 
 Experience does not lead us to such a conclusion, 
 as we have seen the strongest litters from rather 
 old hounds, when mated with young mothers. 
 The reverse of this rule will not hold good ; the 
 offspring of old dams may be very clever, but they 
 will be small, the generative power in the mothers 
 having been reduced. There are many, however, 
 though, good as gold, which never can be of any 
 real benefit to the kennel as mothers, and it is time 
 thrown away if they are selected for this purpose. 
 There must be an existence of certain expansive 
 proportions in the mother to ensure a healthy, 
 lengthy, robust progeny. Tall stilty mothers, with- 
 out length of body, will produce puppies of like 
 form, no matter to Avhat sire they are sent. The 
 number of whelps may be, as we before hinted, 
 regulated by certain precautions, and where we 
 find large littei-s prevalent in any kennel, we 
 know the breeder, master, or huntsman to be 
 deficient in this part of the business. The largest 
 litter we remember consisted of seventeen, when 
 we first commenced our career of M. F. H., with 
 the assistance of an experienced kennel himtsman, 
 who had been for many years under one of the 
 cleverest breeders of his time. Yet this man, 
 when thrown upon his own resources, made such 
 sad mistakes in this matter, causing by his 
 
16 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 ignorance or want of due attention, sometimes 
 half a dozen of our best brood-bitches to go 
 without whelps, and others to be half killed by 
 over-production, that we never trusted him again 
 after the second season of his probation. A litter, 
 to be good and strong, ought not to exceed seven 
 or eight ; and four or five are sufficient for the 
 mother to rear. 
 
 As to size and height, whelps generally follow 
 their parents, unless forced by high feeding to 
 greater growth, or made diminutive from want of 
 sufficient nutrition. Air, exercise, and judicious 
 feeding upon food as much as possible devoid of 
 heating properties, are indispensable to the dams 
 in a state of gestation. When half their time is 
 expired, they should be let run at large during the 
 day, with a smaller kennel to themselves at night, 
 until within a few days of their confinement. A 
 paddock ought then to be ready for their reception, 
 about an acre in extent, enclosed on all sides, and 
 large oblong wooden boxes placed tlierein, in 
 shape like the usual dog-houses, resting upon low 
 wooden or iron wheels, with one side to open 
 with hinges, which can be let down to clean the 
 box thoroughly out, and a hanging door in the 
 front, dependent upon a pivot above, through 
 which, by a slight push, the bitch may obtain 
 egress or ingress to her whelps — the use of this 
 movable door being to exclude rain, sleet, and 
 snow in bad weather. In large kennels, a regular 
 shed is provided for them and their whelps, which, 
 to those who can afibrd to make it, is far pre- 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 17 
 
 ferable ; but for subscription masters — too often 
 birds of passage from one country to another — the 
 boxes are cheapest in the end, being easily removed 
 to any desirable spot, and transferable by waggon 
 and railway from one locality to another ; and for 
 greater lightness, the roof may be a mere frame, 
 covered with felt or oil-cloth. In place of such 
 boxes — which are rather expensive articles — two 
 thatched hurdles, joined together at the top, with 
 boards underneath, will answer the purpose ; and a 
 good bedding of clean dry straw when the whelps 
 are a few days old. At the time of parturi- 
 tion, the bedding must be rather scanty, lest the 
 whelps, when so very young and helpless, should 
 be buried under it and overlaid by their mother. 
 
 We plead no excuse for entering into these 
 minutiae, apparently so trifling, since from neglect 
 of such precautions, we have too often seen dire- 
 ful results follow. In large establishments, fox- 
 hound bitches have generally — save where the 
 huntsman has very long ears and a shallow 
 knowledge-box — the privilege of breathing the 
 fresh air of heaven, and plenty of walking exercise 
 to boot. There are men who, with all these 
 advantages, will still coop them up in the kennel, 
 until mother and offspring die together from utter 
 neglect; but there are minor establishments, con- 
 ducted by subscription, where, from local situation 
 and want of range, the master is so hampered and 
 circumvented, that he cannot breed his own entry 
 — he has no scope for doing so, not owning, per- 
 haps, an acre of land in the county. How can he 
 
 c 
 
18 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 expect farmers, or even cottagers, will put up with 
 the raking and scouring of their fields and pre- 
 mises? and loth to sa}^, a foxhound mother with 
 a litter a month old is somewhat shark-like as to 
 voracity, not being very particular whether she 
 snaps up a young lamb out of the farmer's fold, or 
 steals a leg of mutton from the shop of the village 
 butcher. But then you must remember such 
 depredations are not committed for the gratifica- 
 tion of their own appetites, but from the natural 
 instinct to supply the wants of their progeny, when 
 requiring stronger aliment than their mother can 
 afibrd. From improper food, or injudicious treat- 
 ment, the mother's milk often loses its nutritive 
 qualities, and the juices of her body, if corrupt, 
 are imparted to her whelps. For a month previous 
 to her confinement, she should be fed sparingly 
 on flesh, and a small quantity of well -boiled man- 
 gel-wurzel or cabbage, mixed with the oatmeal 
 pudding. In using the former vegetable, great 
 caution is at first necessary, in consequence of its 
 laxative properties ; but when accustomed to it, I 
 have never found it disagree with hounds. If, 
 from too long confinement in kennel, or want of 
 air and exercise, those in whelp show symptoms of 
 heat of body, by eruptions breaking out on the 
 skin, they ought to be dressed with a little sulphur 
 and rape-oil, mixed as thick as cream, ten days at 
 least before whelping, and a teaspoonful of sulphur 
 and cream of tartar given to them twice a week. 
 In cutaneous diseases, we have found the following 
 recipe very efficacious ; — 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. J 9 
 
 Sulphur 1 oz. ; lime 2 ozs. ; water 1 ^ pint. 
 Boil for an hour, till reduced to a pint ; pour off 
 clear. To be applied with a sponge twice a 
 day. 
 
 When the skin is very irritable, we have used also 
 glycerine, which has a very soothing effect. Both 
 these applications, after being rubbed in by hand 
 for two days following, require washing off the 
 third day with warm water and soft soap, and the 
 skin of the hound well dried with a clean cloth. 
 As a general dressing for the pack, these remedies 
 are too expensive, but in individual cases, and 
 particularly for those in whelp, they are both safe 
 and efficacious. Mercurial compounds never ought 
 to be employed as a dressing at any time, except 
 only in very obstinate red mange. 
 
 To ensure healthy whelps, the mothers must, of 
 course, be in a healthy state, and upon that depends, 
 more than many are apt to imagine, the well-being 
 of the offspring. Scurfy, pot-bellied puppies afford 
 unmistakable evidence of great neglect in this 
 respect. When anxious to preserve the whole 
 litter of a favourite dam, and you have a foster- 
 mother ready to receive some of them, the precau- 
 tion should be taken of gently rubbing the puppies 
 taken away from the former with those of the latter, 
 holding one in each hand face to face, and stomach 
 to stomach, by which process the smell of the one 
 will be imparted to the other. Young mothers are 
 generally captious and snappish, and it is better to 
 lure them from their box or den whilst this ex- 
 change is being made ; the feeder should hold and 
 
 c 2 
 
20 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 caress them the while, with their faces turned from 
 the huntsman. We have read of the fury of the 
 bear when robbed of her cubs, but the fury of a 
 foxhound mother is not to be despised under such 
 circumstances, however quiet and obedient in the 
 kennel at other times ; and if she discovers the fraud 
 imposed upon her, the strange whelp will be sacri- 
 ficed. A shght dose of Epsom salts, or a tablespoon- 
 ful of castor-oil, should be given after delivery ; and 
 she should be fed upon thin oatmeal porridge, mixed 
 with milk, if procurable, or sheep's-head broth 
 in place of boiled horse-flesh, for the first three or 
 four days. In many large foxhunting establish- 
 ments, new milk is allowed for the use of the 
 puppies in the spring of the year, as soon as they 
 are able to lap, and, when stronger, mixed with 
 oatmeal. Whey is a most excellent thing, twice a 
 week for the mother when suckling, and acts most 
 beneficially upon the whelps also. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 21 
 
 CHAPTER JV. 
 
 Operations to he performed on foxhound whelps — Long and short 
 sterns — Vixen foxes and their cubs — A wily mamma — Playing 
 a game of hide-and-seek with conies — How to destroy worms and 
 parasites in puppies — Healing ointment for burns and scalds — 
 Blistering after firing cruel and unnecessary — Hothouse plants 
 and forced meat. 
 
 The first operation to be performed on foxliound 
 puppies is the severance of the dew-claws by a 
 sharp pair of scissors, for the healing of which the 
 mother's tongue will suflSce to make a perfect cure. 
 An inch of the tail is also generally cut off when 
 the whelps are three or four days old ; but both 
 operations should not be performed at the same 
 time. It was an old custom, and a very silly one 
 in our opinion, to twist the end of the puppy's tail 
 round between your thumb and forefinger, the nail 
 of the former being pressed so sharply as to sever 
 the joint, and then to draw out the sinews or liga- 
 ments attached to it, and by so doing it was sup- 
 posed the loins of the whelp would be strengthened. 
 Why or wherefore, requires something more than 
 mere assertion. Some men fancy long sterns — 
 others short ones. The objection to the first is, 
 
22 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 that where woodlands abound, the tips of their 
 sterns or tails are whipped quite bare of hair 
 by covert work, and present not only an unseemly 
 but mangy appearance : hence the desirability of 
 shortening sail or tail. We do not apprehend that 
 the strength of any animal, save the kangaroo, lies 
 in its tail ; and Americans do say that this part of 
 kangaroo meat is far superior to rump steaks or ox- 
 tail soup. Never having partaken of this delicacy, 
 we are not in a position to contravene such an 
 opinion. Lambs'-tail pie is not bad to those who 
 like such things, and puppies' tails are considered 
 great delicacies by aristocratic Chinamen. As 
 lambs' tails, however, are not cut off solely on 
 account of their supplying savoury meat to epicu- 
 rean palates, but for a widely different purpose, — to 
 prevent their being draggled through dirty fallows, 
 and thereby raising a hotbed for maggot flies to de- 
 posit their ova, — so we consider very long sterns 
 to foxhounds objectionable. 
 
 As soon as the whelps begin to feed themselves, 
 the mother should be shut up for an hour or two 
 after she is fed, or by a natural instinct she will 
 east up her food to her whelps. All young animals, 
 as well as birds, require frequent feeding — a little 
 at a time and often — three times at least during 
 the day, — morning, mid- day, and evening. Some 
 whelps are more greedy than others, but none 
 should be allowed to feed to distension. Gorging 
 them with a quantity of food is productive of much 
 mischief. In their natural state, animals and birds 
 are generally free from those diseases which are 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 23 
 
 induced from their departure, in a domesticated 
 state, from the laws of nature. We do not hear 
 that the cubs of lions and tigers, bears, wolves and 
 foxes, are subject to those most prevalent maladies 
 amongst the canine species — mange and distemper 
 — simply because their supply of food, although 
 very limited, is of the most nutritious quality. 
 Our acquaintance with the habits of tigers and 
 lions in their natural state is very much on a par 
 with the numerous companies springing up every 
 day — limited ; but we know something of the fox 
 and dog kind. 
 
 In a state of nature, wild dogs, as well as 
 wild foxes, subsist on animal food entirely, which 
 requires a considerable time for digestion ; and the 
 quantity at any time obtained rarely exceeds their 
 requirements. What is a rabbit or leveret divided 
 amongst five or six hungry cubs, which have not 
 tasted food since the previous night? as the dog- 
 fox and vixen seldom seek their prey during the 
 day, and their cubs do not venture forth from the 
 bowels of the earth until long after the last glim- 
 mering light of the sun has subsided into the far 
 west. When the buzzing sound of the cockchafer 
 or black-beetle proclaims the advent of night, then, 
 and not till then, do the young foxes quit their 
 dens to catch these fleeting objects, as they fall 
 against the trees or bushes by which they are sur- 
 rounded, whilst their mammas and papas are out on 
 more substantial foraorinor. But then rabbits and 
 hares are not always so easily brought to hand or 
 mouth — requiring, like some young ladies, a deal 
 
24 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 of coquetting before tliey are handled. We have 
 watched niglit by night, and year by year, for 
 many years, the habits and practices of foxes and 
 their cubs, and we have been much amused by the 
 apparent nonchalance of an old vixen when passing 
 through a rabbit warren, as if she did not entertain 
 the most remote idea of doing violence to their 
 feelings. The old rabbits stamped upon the ground, 
 as a w^arning signal to the juveniles, which, seeming 
 to understand the meaning of the notice, sat erect 
 upon their hind-legs, watching the approach of the 
 enemy. The old vixen, knowing the hopelessness 
 of the pursuit under such circumstances, with bur- 
 rows close at hand into which the whole colony of 
 conies might disappear in a moment, strolled leisurely 
 through the host, without even a bow or nod of her 
 head, until she saw a couple of silly young rabbits, 
 which had gone rather too far from home, scam- 
 pering away into a thorn-bush for protection. ** I 
 have them,'' muttered the old crafty one, and rush- 
 ing down directly to the bush with a short bark, 
 the rabbits were so frightened at the onslaught that 
 they fled from their shelter out on the opposite side, 
 still farther from their burrows, and Mrs. Charley 
 Fox snapped one up in a trice, giving him a pinch 
 in the ribs with her incisors, which left him helpless 
 on the ground ; in a second she dashed round the 
 bush again and tripped up the heels of the other 
 delinquent, ere he had gone half way up the hill 
 towards his burrow. We shall perhaps have an 
 opportunity at a future time to write somewhat 
 more about foxes and their habits, but now we 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 25 
 
 will return from this digression to the subject more 
 immediately under our consideration. 
 
 In an artificial state, where the supply of food 
 is regular at certain intervals, it is obvious that 
 there being no craving from absolute hunger, the 
 quantity should be moderate. And there is another 
 consideration which huntsmen lose sight of — how 
 will whelps fare when sent out to their walks in 
 the country at farm-houses ? Take their chance 
 of getting what the calves leave at the bottom of 
 the pail, or share the meal of whey with the pigs 
 in the yard. Whelps, when young, are very sub- 
 ject to worms, which may be removed at this early 
 period by a dessertspoonful of linseed oil, given 
 fasting for two mornings following, an hour at least 
 before they are fed ; and if this does not expel 
 them, a very small quantity of turpentine may be 
 added. Rape-oil, thickened with yellow sulphur, 
 will also suffice to destroy the little white lice by 
 which puppies are worried when a month or six 
 weeks old. Unless properly treated as to diet and 
 clean bedding, which requires changing every third 
 day, eruptions will soon appear on the skin — to 
 remove which alteratives must be used. For the 
 first, a teaspoon ful of sulphur and cream of tartar, 
 in equal quantities, given alternate evenings for a 
 week, will prove sufficient, and a hght dressing of 
 rape oil and sulphur, as above mentioned. 
 
 When two months old, whelps may be sent out 
 to those quarters where they are sure to be taken 
 good account of; but, as a general rule, perhaps it 
 is safer to keep them another month in the paddock, 
 
26 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 by which time they will be stronger to meet the 
 rough usage too often awaiting them. Previously, 
 however, to their leaving the kennel, another opera- 
 tion must be undergone — not less painful because 
 necessary in all large foxhunting establishments — 
 branding one side with the initial letter of the 
 master. To avoid causing more suffering to the 
 whelp than absolutely unavoidable, we give the 
 modus operandi adopted by ourselves : — Lay the 
 whelp on his left side, one man holding his head 
 and fore-legs, another the hind ones. Cut off suffi- 
 cient hair on the round ribs with a sharp pair of 
 scissors, having first placed the brand in the mouth 
 of the boiler's grate ; and when sufficiently heated 
 to mark the skin, apply it quickly for a second with 
 the right hand, having some fresh lard in the left 
 to put on the scar as soon as the iron is removed. 
 A more healing ointment, and better for blisters, 
 burns, or scalds, is made as follows : — 
 
 Precipitated chalk 1 oz. ; lard 4 oz. ; melt the 
 lard and stir in the chalk. 
 
 I have known some ignorant huntsmen — ignorant 
 we mean of the result to be produced by this brand- 
 ing — apply the iron red-hot, by which not only is 
 so much additional punishment inflicted on the 
 unfortunate whelp, but the desired object is frus- 
 trated by extensive excoriation obliterating the 
 outline of the mark, from excessive suppuration, 
 just as we see the legs of a horse mutilated by 
 a stupid farrier. There is another punishment 
 added to this generally by country practitioners — 
 a blister being directly applied to the smarting 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 27 
 
 sores, for the purpose, as they gravely assert, of 
 drawing out the heat ; and yet there are hun- 
 dreds — we may say thousands — of well-educated 
 owners of horses who tamely submit to the 
 opinions of these people, without consulting their 
 own common sense as to the cruelty and thorough 
 absurdity of such a barbarous practice. It makes 
 our blood boil to see the most useful of all our 
 domestic animals left to the tender mercies of these 
 professors of the veterinary science in this enlight- 
 ened age, by which term we suppose is meant, that 
 people are more widely awake to their own in- 
 terests than in any previous one since the Deluge. 
 We are really surprised to find a custom so revolting 
 still in force, and we account for its continuance, 
 not because of its utiUty to master or horse, but for 
 the benefit of the farrier's account. What would 
 any clever surgeon prescribe for a severe burn in 
 the human flesh ? The very opposite in its effects 
 to blister — ointment ; they do not add fuel to fire 
 to extinguish it. The only use of firing is to 
 create a perpetual ligature around and over the 
 muscles and tendons which have given way, or are 
 likely to fail from their insufficient strength to 
 support extraneous demands upon them. The 
 sinews of spider-legged young horses must give 
 way under too great weight in the saddle ; and 
 even those of well-formed muscular animals are 
 sorely tried by the absurd practice of calling upon 
 four-year-olds to do badly that which at six years 
 old they would do well. There is a restless impa- 
 tience of prudent delay in the present age — cravings 
 
28 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 for hasty precocious productions in human beings 
 as well as animals. The children of this generation 
 are, apparently, wiser in their parents' estimation, 
 and their own than the children of a former one. 
 Forced meat is the ruling passion, or rather folly, 
 of the days we live in. Hothouse plants are all 
 the rage. A four-year-old colt is expected to be a 
 perfect hunter, and a bullock or sheep of two years 
 to produce first-rate beef and mutton. We prate 
 about our grandfathers having been very slow 
 coaches, but they knew right well the difference 
 between yearling and four-year-old mutton, and 
 half-calf from beef Verily, our grandfathers were 
 not such fools as we are willing to fancy them. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUKTING. 29 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Unnecessary cruelty to animals condemned — Necessity of branding 
 foxhound whelps — Homeward bound — Anecdote of a lady fox- 
 hound — Marvellous instinct — The Three Magpies on Hounslow 
 Heath — Agreeable incidental adventures — Travelling in bygone 
 days — The extra spur to footboys — Advantages of giving names 
 to puppies before sent to their walks. 
 
 Aneviadversions will be made upon foxhunters 
 decrying cruelty in others, who are accused of prac- 
 tising it themselves. The cruelties in hunting a 
 fox have been described over and over again, until 
 the subject has become threadbare. Foxes must be 
 killed as well as other animals of prey, and we 
 do not believe, were the proposition submitted to a 
 committee of vulpines, whether they would prefer 
 being trapped by keepers, or run the chance of 
 being snapped by hounds, there would be a 
 moment's hesitation in their choosing the latter 
 alternative. 
 
 We are running wide of the mark, however, just 
 now, from marking foxhound whelps to marking 
 foxes ; but we would gladly dispense with this cruel 
 
30 SYSTEiVI OF KENNEL AND 
 
 operation, could any substitute be found. When 
 whelps are sent out from their kennel in large num- 
 bers at three months old, they would scarcely be 
 recognized, after seven or eight months' further 
 growth, by huntsman or master, save for the litter- 
 mark and brand, so great is the metamorphosis from 
 puppyhood to doghood. Some prefer marking their 
 hounds twice a year with a pair of scissors, cutting 
 out the initial letter in the hair only, which might 
 easily be obliterated by a dog-stealer ; but an entered 
 foxhound, knowing well the locality of his kennel, 
 is rarely lost, and if caught up — no easy matter — 
 would seize the first opportunity of regaining his 
 liberty and returning home. The brand is of the 
 greatest service when the whelps are at their quar- 
 ters, from which they may either stray away or 
 be abducted by trampers. When once entered the 
 pack, of course the huntsman knows every indivi- 
 dual by other distinguishing marks or peculiarity 
 of feature, as a shepherd of the largest flock knows 
 one sheep from another. 
 
 As an instance of the extraordinary instinct in a 
 foxhound which directs his way home, I may relate 
 the following fact : — The late Mr. Elton, of Staple- 
 ton House, who for many years kept a pack of 
 thorough-bred foxhounds of Lord Egremont's breed, 
 conjointly with my father, to hunt both fox and 
 hare, gave a hound which had bred a litter of 
 whelps that year to a friend residing in Essex, but 
 at that time staying with him. This hound was 
 taken in his travelling chariot — the usual mode 
 of locomotion in those days — from Bristol, right 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 31 
 
 through London and thirty miles beyond. On the 
 second night after her arrival there, she escaped 
 from the kennel, and no tidings of such a hound 
 being heard of or seen in the neighbourhood could 
 be gathered. Her new owner, after fruitless in- 
 quiries and researches, bethought himself, as almost 
 a forlorn hope, of writing to her late master, telling 
 him the day she absconded, when he was greatly 
 surprised to learn that the hound had reached 
 Stapleton on the fifth day after being missed from 
 Essex. Knowing the instinct and sagacity of the 
 canine race, this feat would not have appeared any- 
 thing very wonderful, save for the hound threading 
 her way through the labyrinths of the great metro- 
 polis. She would have taken cognizance of the 
 various inns on the road where the carriage stopped 
 to change horses, and where, most probably, she 
 alighted with her new master to stretch her legs. The 
 sign of a large red fox, with a goose in his mouth, 
 could not ftiil to attract her attention. A White 
 Horse might bring to her mind the old grey mare 
 ridden by the huntsman. The Goat and Compasses 
 — etymologically explained by '^ God encompasseth 
 us '' — a phrase and sign in common usage during 
 that arch-liberator or arch-fiend's reign, Cromwell — - 
 would strike her as bearing some resemblance to 
 deer which she had seen in a park near home. The 
 Three Magpies, on Hounslow Heath, a very noto- 
 rious posting-house in those times, were likely to 
 have made some impression on her mind from these 
 birds generally assisting hounds with their hoarse 
 notes, when a fox is before them. 
 
32 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 Thinking of this inn brings to our recollection 
 an anecdote of this Mr. Elton, when travelling 
 together with my father up to London. On stop- 
 ping to change horses there, they were told by the 
 landlord that a Captain Melluish — I believe this 
 was the name — had been shot by a highwayman 
 only the night before on the heath, and was then 
 lying dead upstairs. 
 
 " It is late, gentlemen,'' Boniface urged, " and I 
 strongly advise you not continuing your journey in 
 this dark night/' 
 
 " We must go on," Mr. Elton replied, " having 
 made a very early engagement in London for to- 
 morrow morning ; so order out four horses, and tell 
 your ostler to bring in here a small mahogany box 
 he will find on the seat of the carriage. Now," 
 said Elton to my father, '' you watch that rascal's 
 face whilst I am reloading the pistols ; for report 
 goes that he is connected with the highwaymen on 
 this road." 
 
 The ostler, having placed the pistol-case on the 
 table, was leaving the room, when Elton desired 
 him to remain, and my father immediately detected 
 a change in his countenance, betokening, as he 
 imagined, a guilty conscience. The pistols having 
 been reloaded and fresh primed, Elton, handing one 
 brace to my father and pocketing the other, gave 
 the empty case to the ostler to replace in the car- 
 riage. A few minutes after, the landlord announc- 
 ing that the horses were ready, the two friends left 
 the house, and Elton, before taking his seat, going 
 up to the postilion on the wheel-horses, said, loud 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 33 
 
 enough for the other to hear, " Now, boys ! when 
 you reach the spot where the unfortunate captain 
 met liis death Last night, pull up. Do you hear ? " 
 as no answer was returned. 
 
 "Yes, sir.'' 
 
 " Go on, then, and mind you don't stop before, 
 or,'' he said, showing his pistol, " this bull-dog " — 
 a slang name for pistol in those days — " will bite 
 as well as bark." 
 
 There was also a peculiar expression in Mr. 
 Elton's eyes, suggestive of great resolution, which 
 none could mistake, and the post-boy guessed the 
 real character of the gentleman sitting behind him, 
 with the window down, without daring to take a 
 second look at him. When reaching the place — a 
 lonely one, about two miles distant from the Three 
 Magpies — the postilions obeyed their orders by 
 pulling up. 
 
 ** Now," said Elton to the man nearest to him, 
 *' whistle ! — louder ! — that's too low." A stronorer 
 note followed ; again and again it was repeated. 
 
 " Shout ! " cried Elton. This was obeyed, and 
 the echoes joined with the moaning winds. For some 
 ten minutes they remained stationary on the spot, 
 when Mr. Elton, placing his pistol on the window- 
 sill, with the muzzle just opposite the postilion's 
 back, said, " Go on now, as fast as you can ; and 
 mind, the very instant you stop again, for anybody 
 or anything, save a turnpike-gate, before reaching 
 London, this bullet goes through your heart." 
 
 I have heard my father declare that he had 
 
 D 
 
84 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 never travelled over those ten miles at such a pace 
 before. 
 
 We must now return to the transit of foxhound 
 whelps from the kennel to their country quarters^ 
 which is generally effected by a dog-cart ; not the 
 sort of vehicle so called in these times, but a veri- 
 table dog or puppy-cart, constructed solely for their 
 accommodation, and resembling the van now in 
 use to convey hounds to the place of meeting. 
 There is one great advantage in giving names to 
 whelps when first sent out, irrespective of the 
 absurd misnomers by which they are likely to be 
 christened at their walks — that when returned to 
 the kennel a great deal of trouble will be saved to 
 the huntsman and feeder, and a vast amount of dis- 
 comfort to the hounds. A dog which knows hm 
 name, even when transferred from one master to 
 another, becomes sooner reconciled to his new owner 
 from being thus familiarly spoken to, and therefore 
 we advise the adoption of Ihis practice for all 
 foxhound whelps, as well as any other whelps sent 
 from home. In their new quarters there is gene- 
 rally a great diversity of treatment, save where 
 their protectors for the time happen to be tenants 
 of the master. In that case they will be carefully 
 tended an d well provided for ; but when walks are 
 procured through the interest of friends or sub- 
 scribers, there being no connecting link with the mas- 
 ter, the chances are all against these whelps figuring 
 in the next entry. Genuine foxhunting fiirmers are 
 the men, above all others, to whom we can confi- 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 35 
 
 dently entrust the young hopes of the family ; since, 
 from love of the sport, as well as from the pride of 
 doing them well, hounds under their care are sure 
 to come home rather above than under the stan- 
 dard. Those placed with butchers are generally too 
 well fed, and from living so grossly suffer more 
 severely from distemper. A wayside inn formerly 
 afforded good accommodation for hounds, as well 
 as man and horse, although the majorit}'" of these 
 hostelries are now converted to other purposes. 
 
 D 2 
 
36 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Prizes for raising foxhounds — Grood feeding and careful treatment 
 requisite for development of form^-The master's eye makes the 
 hound fat — Objections to distant walks — The malpractices of 
 puppy dogs — Home education not suitable — Return to kennel 
 — First draft — Number put forward — A day on the flags — Choice 
 of entry — Room for improvement — The gentler sex take the 
 lead — Pytchley run of ""QQ^ and the Waterloo hero — Long days 
 and long runs of "auld lang syne" — A late draw — The white 
 horse in a dark night— Sensational visit to an old lady's 
 domicile — A long ride home. 
 
 The practice adopted by ourselves many years ago 
 of giving prizes to the rearers of the finest young 
 hounds, has been generally followed, producing 
 nearly the same effect as prizes awarded to cattle, 
 sheep, and pigs, at agricultural meetings ; and it 
 frequently happens that a successful exhibitor of 
 the best animal of his own breeding carries away 
 also the silver tankard for the cleverest foxhound 
 of his own feeding. When the master or his 
 huntsman has exercised good judgment in produc- 
 ing whelps, which he has reason to think ought to 
 turn out clever from the fair proportions of sire 
 and dam, the full development of form depends, in 
 a very great measure, upon their treatment in the 
 most growing state of their existence, from three 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 37 
 
 to ten months old ; and if neglected during that 
 period, or irregularly fed — overcrammed at one 
 time and starved at another — their master's care 
 and trouble will have been expended to little 
 purpose. 
 
 Where whelps are sent out to very distant 
 walks, some forty or fifty miles from kennel, where 
 they are far removed from the supervision of master 
 and man, it is no uncommon thing for them to 
 meet with rough usage and coarser fare during the 
 chief part of their sojourn there ; but as the time 
 approaches for their return, they are then fatted up 
 for the occasion, to make a fair show in the kennel ; 
 and ♦this is a trick of which tenants at a distance 
 are too often guilty. Perhaps we ought not to lay 
 this charge exactly to themselves, but their better 
 halves — and, in truth, at farm-houses generally, 
 " the grey mare is the better horse.'' The master 
 is obliged to be in the field, from sunrise to sunset, 
 either superintending labourers, or himself w^orking 
 according to his status, whilst the missus is engaged 
 in her household duties — making butter or cheese, 
 feeding young ducks and chickens, «fec.; and a mis- 
 chievous foxhound l)uppy is more likely to interfere 
 than assist her in these occupations. He will very 
 probably be running off with a cheese-cloth or pat 
 of butter, or running down a screaming young 
 cockerel in the yard, for w^hich and sundry other 
 malpractices, in which puppy dogs are wont to 
 indulge, he is almost sure to incur the dire dis- 
 pleasure of the missus — unless she is endowed with 
 an angelic temper — and receive as his reward 
 
38 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 monkey's allowance, in more senses than one. The 
 experiment having been tried over and over again 
 of rearing young hounds in the kennel, without 
 success, masters are obliged to send them out, and 
 run all risks. Two or three may be bred up at 
 home, if allowed to run about the premises ; but if 
 confined within four walls, without daily exercise, 
 their feet will bear a nearer resemblance to those 
 of a duck than those of a cat. Moreover, home 
 education is as objectionable for young foxhounds 
 as it is for young gentlemen. 
 
 The best time for their return to the kennel is 
 about the end of March, when the hunting season 
 has nearly expired, and the huntsman has more 
 leisure to bestow attention upon them. If hunting 
 is continued through the next month, as happens in 
 some large establishments, the care of the young 
 hounds must devolve principally upon the feeder, 
 except on non-hunting days. The best plan is to 
 have all brought home about the same time, and to 
 make your first draft directly, sending the others 
 away before the distemper breaks out among the 
 lot. More room will thus be afforded to those 
 selected for the entry, and consequently less dread 
 from virulent disease, since from overcrowded 
 lodging-houses this scourge of the canine race 
 assumes a most pestilential character. It is far 
 better, therefore, to send away at once those young 
 hounds not likely to suit your purpose, that more 
 room and better attendance may be given to the 
 chosen few, than keep the whole until the distemper 
 has been overcome. In the first case, of course. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 39 
 
 every master will put forward several couples more 
 than are required for the entry. In a two and 
 occasional three day per week country, ten couples 
 will be necessary, and a third more should be kept, 
 and so in proportion to the magnitude of the 
 establishment. 
 
 Seasons vary very much, some being more favour- 
 able to the growth of foxhound whelps as well as 
 other animals ; it is therefore advisable, when sucli 
 occur, to avail ourselves of the opportunity by 
 selecting as many young hounds as can be reason- 
 ably maintained, lest, a bad season following, the 
 next year's entry prove deficient in quantity as 
 well as quality. There is no more pleasing sight 
 to a master's eye than a clever lot of young 
 puppies just sent in from their walks ; and certainly 
 he has reason to be proud of his success, coupled 
 with good luck, in his having so many returned to 
 the kennel. Then comes the examination day, 
 when a few select friends are invited — genuine 
 foxhunters, who know every old hound in the pack, 
 and observe their work in the field — to pass their 
 opinions on the points of merit in the young ones. 
 To the great majority of hunting men a day on the 
 flags presents as many attractions as an old lady's 
 tea-party — a dull, stupid affair, with a deal of 
 gossip about pedigrees and proportions of hounds, 
 in which they have no desire to take part. Few 
 there are — very, very few — who take the Avell- 
 being of the pack into consideration. 
 
 In choosing young hounds for the entry, we 
 are not groping in the dark, as when they were 
 
40 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 handled in early puppyhood ; yet even now, at ten 
 or eleven months of age, their form is not fully 
 developed. Throughout the whole animal creation, 
 including birds also, females attain their perfection 
 of growth long before the males. Those young 
 foxhounds which appear rather loosely strung to- 
 gether at this age, generally turn out the most 
 powerful when twelve or fourteen months old. 
 We prefer those which show room for improvement 
 to others more closely knit together, in which no 
 further improvement can take place. Short-bodied 
 hounds set, as huntsmen say, very early, and these 
 are selected or drafted without much deliberation. 
 Lengthy ones require looking over more attentively, 
 since, when of a late litter, there is an apparent 
 deficiency of muscle behind the shoulders, and in 
 the loins and hind quarters, which will fill up as 
 they become matured in age. We do not regard 
 a hound being rather throaty or coarse about the 
 head, provided he has oblique shoulders, straight 
 long fore-legs, standing clear of his body at the 
 elbows, but not out of the perpendicular ; with 
 good ankles, and round, not exactly cat-like, feet 
 — for such, although pretty to the eye, will not 
 bear much wear and tear. Hunting men know 
 that horses with upright pasterns and short hoofs 
 are the most uncomfortable of all animals to ride 
 anywliere, particularly in going to covert and in 
 the field- Their action is a succession of jolts and 
 jars, resembling a donkey's canter. In hound and 
 horse there n:iust be a certain length between the 
 knee and foot, to enable them to travel easily to 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 41 
 
 themselves, or satisfactorily to their owners ; but 
 this longitude must be limited, or it is productive 
 of weakness. So also as regaj:ds the foot — too 
 great latitude denotes an animal better fitted for 
 aquatics than gymnastics. A splayfooted hound 
 may go along tolerably well in a moist country, 
 and with moist weather, but his deficiencies will 
 become manifest in a hilly or flinty one. 
 
 We must refer to tlie hackneyed motto, as the 
 rule to be observed on these occasions — medio 
 tutlssimus ibis. A foxhound without sound 
 understanding from head to foot will not pay for 
 his porridge. The size of his head ought to be big 
 enough to hold plenty of brains, and his feet 
 strong enough to carry his knowledge-box, with 
 the frame thereto belonging, to the end of a run 
 more lengthy than the Pytchley, February 2nd, 
 186G. By the way, we have not the most remote 
 wish or intention to speak or write in disparaging 
 terms of this great run in the present era, like 
 a certain " Greybeard,'' and we don't agree with 
 him in thinking that " half a dozen Lancashire 
 men on foot " would have performed the distance 
 in about the same time. It may appear rather 
 contradictory, when we are always lauding the 
 speed of foxhounds in the present age, that a first- 
 rate pack, in a first-rate country, the greater part 
 being pasture, should take three hours and forty- 
 Jive minutes, as stated in " Baily," to run over 
 some twenty-six miles of ground — the pace, on an 
 average, not exceeding six miles and a half an 
 hour. But then allowance must be made for 
 
42 SYSTEil OF KENNEL AND 
 
 sundry little checks which did occur, and always 
 will occur in very long runs. At times hounds 
 are checked entirely ; at others, their speed is 
 diminished by stained ground, a piece of fallows, 
 a turnpike road, and swinging round when the fox 
 is headed off his line, which, though not quite 
 amounting to a check, causes a slight hesitation. 
 Then we must bear in mind that bullfinches and 
 heavy fences stop hounds as well as horses, and all 
 these seconds and minutes so lost, when added 
 together, make a considerable sum total. That the 
 Pytchley was a right good run, and the fox one of 
 the right sort, there can be no question ; that the 
 hounds did their work well, and the master rode 
 gallantly throughout, is also equally apparent ; and 
 save for being chased by a sheep-dog, the war- 
 whoop must have resounded over the carcase of the 
 Waterloo hero. 
 
 Having been accustomed to long days and long 
 runs, we see nothing very wonderful in this fox- 
 chase, which reminds us of similar ones in days of 
 " auld lang syne," many of which are recorded in 
 my " Kecollections of a Foxhunter/' One day per 
 week throughout the season our hounds had to do 
 from fourteen to eighteen miles before drawing a 
 covert. Now, fourteen miles to the place of meet- 
 ing, and fourteen back again, at six miles an hour 
 — our usual rate of travelling by road — would 
 amount very nearly to the Pytchley run ; and 
 then we had an interlude of some twelve or four- 
 teen miles for the finding and finishing off" our fox. 
 Upon these occasions the hounds got their suppers 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 43 
 
 between nine and ten o'clock P.M., and ourselves 
 rarely any dinner at all, since we were too much 
 outdone to relish overdone meat. As loner, how- 
 ever, as there was a chance of killing our fox, 
 however late found, we never thought of whipping- 
 off the scent ; and we have ridden, with Charles 
 Treadwell as our pilot, upon a white horse, when 
 we could see nothing else — barely the fences — 
 until we wound him up, or ran him to ground. 
 The adventures of one night in particular occur to 
 our memory just now. 
 
 We had a good morning's work, killing our fox 
 handsomely, after a good run, and the majority of 
 our field went home perfectly satisfied. Two or 
 three funJcerSy who had seen nothing of it, and 
 came trotting in half an hour after the finish, in the 
 most unconcerned manner asked " if the day were 
 over." 
 
 '* Oh ! no,'' we replied, " it is only three o'clock, 
 and if you will promise to ride after the hounds 
 this time, we will find you another fox." 
 
 We ought not to have gratified these malcon- 
 tents — enough being as good as a feast on days 
 when hounds are a long way from home ; but our 
 monkey being up we trotted off* to draw again, 
 found very late, and had the run entirely to our- 
 selves. The shades of night were fast falling, but 
 the scent was good, and the hounds running hard 
 over a vale country. Our business was to keep as 
 near to them as possible — getting up to them on a 
 half-beaten horse being no easy matter — our first 
 whipper-in, Charles Treadwell (the second being 
 
44 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 lost), on his grey, taking the lead, and we could 
 hear him floundering through the heavy bullfinches 
 with loud " come-ups " occasionally, and a cry of 
 warning to ourselves, " Look out, master, there's 
 a nasty ditch t'other side/' Looking out being- 
 out of the question when we could barely see our 
 horse's ears, as he had the best eyes we trusted all 
 to his discretion, and thankful indeed did we feel 
 when we saw the lamps of a town glimmering in 
 the far distance, near which there was a strong 
 head of earths. These, however, being closed, our 
 fox, then thoroughly beaten like ourselves, got into 
 a drain on the premises of an old lady, living on 
 the outskirts of the town, from which it was im- 
 possible to dislodge him. The servants rushed out 
 on hearing the row, with candles and lanterns, to 
 offer their assistance, which we declined, and left 
 him alone in his glory, having then just eighteen 
 miles of road- work before us ere we could reach 
 the kennels. This last run was eleven miles as the 
 crow flies, with deviations at least four more, and 
 the time one hour and thirty minutes. 
 
 We have not mentioned this day's work as any- 
 thing very extraordinary in those times, such being 
 of frequent occurrence; and we have had sometimes 
 to feed our hounds at twelve o'clock at night, when 
 unable to stop them in large woodlands more than 
 twenty miles from home. Foxes were stouter 
 then than now, having to travel much farther in 
 search of food. Game preserving is antagonistic 
 to our sport in two ways — first, foxes are and will 
 be trapped by keepers ; and, secondly, those which 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHCTNTING. 45 
 
 elude the trap, becoming fat and lazy, fall an easy 
 prey to hounds. None but old dogs, which have 
 escaped their numerous enemies for three or four 
 seasons, know much about the country eighteen 
 miles from home ; and as these are very few, runs 
 of this length must of necessity be rather of rare 
 occurrence. 
 
46 STSTEJI OF KENNEL AND 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Treatment of young hounds when brought home to kennel — Going 
 out in couples — Jerusalem ponies to be especially avoided — Cur 
 dogs — Cure for exuberant spirits — Deer parks and hare warrens 
 — Distemper principiis obsta — Following the plough — Diet — 
 Extraordinary case of distemper — Remedies and prescriptions. 
 
 The first work to be done, or which ought to be 
 (lone, with the young hounds selected for entry, is 
 to put them in couples as soon as possible and have 
 them out into the fresh air, if a few only at a time. 
 In this matter we know huntsmen are generally 
 very remiss, putting off the trouble with the coup- 
 lings to a more convenient season, when they have 
 more leisure ; yet from this neglect the very worst 
 kind of distemper is generated. The young hounds, 
 when brought into kennel, are fed highly on plenty 
 of meal and meat, the reverse of what their treat- 
 ment ought to be, and, in addition, they are denied 
 any opportunity of exercise save that of playing 
 in the grass-yard attached to their lodging-house. 
 This is precisely the same course pursued by igno- 
 rant grooms, in feeding their horses just alike 
 whether they are in work or not ; but in this 
 case the animals under their care do get a certain 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 47 
 
 amount of air and exercise out of tlieir stable or 
 loose boxes — the hounds do not. Those who have 
 ever paid a visit to a large kennel of foxhounds, 
 however neatly kept, will require no refreshener to 
 their memories that the air in and about its pur- 
 lieus was the very reverse of refreshing. The 
 lodging-rooms may be whitewashed two or three 
 times, the doors well scrubbed and fresh painted, 
 the benches scoured with soda, sand, and soft-soap 
 before the next year's entry comes in ; yet the 
 odora canuni vis remains, verifying the old Latin 
 adage, Qvx) semel est imbuta recens, servabit odorem 
 testa diu. The acid has entered into the flooring, 
 and it is impossible to be entirely mopped out by 
 whole hogsheads of water, like the taint of cider 
 into the wood of a new cask. 
 
 Then there are the odoriferous breezes from the 
 boiling-house ever mixing with and overpowering 
 all other salubrious breezes. Old hounds, accus- 
 tomed to this kind of atmosphere, appear not to be 
 affected by it, like nurses in a sick chamber ; but 
 then it must be borne in mind that during the 
 hunting season they have plenty of fresh air and 
 exercise, and even after the season is over they are 
 walked out two or three times a day, and generally 
 go out with the huntsman and whippers-in for two 
 or three hours before breakfast, or after, through 
 parks or along by-roads, to prevent their quarrel- 
 ling in 'the kennel from too great idleness. To 
 huddle a lot of young hounds together into a close 
 lodging-room at night, which have been bivouacking 
 out in open sheds at their quarters, or, peradven- 
 
48 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 ture, sleeping under a hay-mow or corn-stack 
 through all weather, must strike any unprejudiced 
 person as most likely to produce that result which 
 masters and huntsmen are most anxious to steer 
 clear of — distemper in its most virulent phase. 
 
 We know it is no very pleasant occupation, 
 having a lot of young awkward animals, like raw 
 recruits, pulling and hauling you about and getting 
 between your legs, before they have been drilled 
 into something like order, and taught to keep step 
 with each other ; yet as this must be done, sooner 
 or later, the sooner this preliminary lesson has been 
 gone through the better. To save a good deal of 
 this pulling and hauling about, the tuples may first 
 be put on them in the green-yard, for an hour or 
 two in the morning and afternoon ; but they must 
 never be left for a moment out of the feeder's or 
 huntsman's sight, when so coupled, or accidents to 
 life or limb may follow, from getting entangled with 
 each other, and a valuable young hound may soon 
 be choked or have his leg broken. 
 
 Another precaution is also necessary — that the 
 collars are not too tightly buckled. Some hunts- 
 men couple an old hound with a 3^oung one — a bad 
 practice, since the old gentlemen or ladies, not 
 relishing the idea of turning bear-leaders in their 
 old age, vent their indignation upon their awkward 
 yoke-fellows by biting or rolling them over. We 
 prefer keeping the young ones by themselves, join- 
 ing two of the same height and strength together, 
 so that the pulling on both sides be about even. 
 At first they will, of course, turn fractious or sulky, 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 49 
 
 like young horses when first harnessed, but the 
 whip ought not to be used. A little coaxing and 
 patting will do more to reconcile them to this treat- 
 ment than whipcord, and after a few hours' drilling 
 they will go tolerably well, and may be taken out 
 by the huntsman and the whippers or assistants — 
 one to precede by a short distance and the other to 
 follow them, not too closely. Open ground, such as 
 parks with deer, or large fields with cattle or sheep, 
 must not be chosen as early training ground, since 
 some might easily break away from their attendants 
 on foot, and most serious consequences ensue. Let 
 them be taken into some green la-ne or by-road, not 
 too much used by horsemen, or walked about a 
 home-paddock twice a day, until they become more 
 tractable. 
 
 Of all animals to be avoided, as most maliciously 
 disposed towards hounds, a donkey takes prece- 
 dence. Colts and bullocks will wheel round them 
 in a field rather with wonderment than any evil 
 intention ; but that brute of all brutes, a Jerusalem 
 pony, comes at them directly with open mouth, and 
 unless Jem or Jack is in advance, to check his 
 onslaught, in amongst the lot he dashes, tooth and 
 hoof, using his fore-legs like a boxer, and dealing 
 his blows with savage ferocity upon the backs and 
 limbs of the astonished pack, who are not permitted 
 to resent the insult. Why a donkey should feel 
 thus maliciously inclined towards hounds we are at 
 a loss to conceive, since none of his kith or kin have 
 ever been consigned to the boiling-house ; yet, so 
 great is their antipathy to the canine race, that we 
 
 E 
 
50 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 would rather meet a bear in a green lane than a 
 Balaam. We have often encountered the assaults 
 of these brutes, or, rather, their attempts to force 
 their way by Charles, whose heavy thong they 
 appeared to think lightly of ; and sometimes he was 
 obliged to use the iron handle on their frontispiece, 
 and fell them to the earth, to stop them in their 
 mad career. At their walks in the country, young 
 hounds have been accustomed to meet with — and 
 chat with in their own dog language — sheep-dogs 
 and cur- dogs of all descriptions, and it never entered 
 into their imaginations then to act otherwise than 
 courteously towards them ; but as soon as they 
 have become occupiers of their large house — the 
 kennel — they appear instigated by a fell desire to 
 shed the blood of their former companions. Should 
 Shag or little Viper cross their path when out at 
 exercise, it is a difficult matter to stop them from 
 giving chase, and Jem's whipcord is called into 
 play, with certain objurgations of " War cur-dog ! '' 
 Full of young blood and high spirits, they are like 
 a lot of schoolboys, ripe for any fun and mischief; 
 and their nature prompting them to run something, 
 they will have a fling at any living creature which 
 comes within their view. There is a better cure for 
 this rebellious outbreak than whipcord — exercise, 
 and plenty of it. Too much they cannot have, and 
 it is far wiser to work off their superfluities by this 
 course than any other. The desire for running 
 cur-dogs may be efiectually checked by taking them 
 through neighbouring villages, where they are gene- 
 rally seen in large numbers and of every variety ; 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 51 
 
 then through deer-parks and hare and rabbit -war- 
 rens, to accustom them to the sight of those animals 
 they are not to pursue. 
 
 This exercising ought to commence on the third 
 or fourth day after the young hounds are brought 
 back to the kennel, and before they have shown 
 symptoms of distemper. Principiis obsta ; sera 
 medicina ijaratui\ is a Latin proverb which 
 answers to our English one, " Prevention is better 
 than cure," peculiarly applicable to the treatment 
 of young hounds. At this most critical point of 
 their existence, due preparation to meet this disease 
 is almost equivalent to its cure, and this prepa- 
 ration consists in plenty of walking exercise and 
 rather low diet. "When inflammation is most to be 
 dreaded, as in distemper, then every precaution 
 should be taken to keep the body in a healthy 
 state. We once cured a couple of deerhound pup- 
 pies by walking them twice a day after a team at 
 plough, and, save at the beginning, when the 
 cough began, giving each a dose of emetic tartar. 
 They required no other medicine, the fresh-turned 
 earth possessing such heahng and invigorating pro- 
 perties. We cannot claim this idea as an original 
 one, since we have heard of medical men in former 
 years prescribing the same remedy for consumptive 
 patients — with this distinction only, that they were 
 to ride instead of walk after the plough. If, in 
 addition to this airing, our young hounds were fed 
 upon whey in the morning, and porridge in the 
 afternoon only, we should not hear so much about 
 the ravages of distemper. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 SYSTOr OF KENNEL AND 
 
 This disease, appears to fall lightly, if at all, upon 
 other numerous species of puppy dogs abounding 
 in towns and country villages. They may get it 
 and get rid of it for anything their owners care, so 
 long as they are not troubled in the matter ; and 
 it is quite certain that hundreds and thousands 
 pass through their uninteresting lives without 
 having it at all. Distemper, Proteus-like, assumes 
 a variety of forms, and in its different stages 
 requires different treatment. Some huntsmen 
 plume themselves upon possessing an infallible 
 remedy for all cases. Others think high-feeding 
 the most important, and beyond this give them- 
 selves little trouble, except, perhaps, administering 
 a dose of salt and water as an emetic, when the 
 cough begins. The most mild form of distemper 
 very much resembles influenza in human beings, by 
 a copious discharge from the nostrils and eyes, 
 when the head appears the most affected part of 
 the system ; and in this case, after the use of 
 evacuants, generous diet becomes necessary. 
 
 This disease is confined principally to the braiu, 
 back, and loins, so that we have known hounds to 
 lie paralyzed upon their benches for days and 
 weeks without the power of motion, and yet, with 
 great care, they ha^-e weathered the storm and re- 
 covered. One extraordinary instance of this we well 
 remember, when a young hound, being prostrated, 
 regained the use of his limbs ; but, strange to relate, 
 one side of his head collapsed, the skin and flesh 
 upon it withering away, and even the bone appeared 
 to shrink below the level of the other side. Not- 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 53 
 
 wrbhstanding this deformity in appearance, the 
 hound lost none of his faculties, and seemed as 
 sensible as before the attack. The old remedy in 
 these cases was the simple application of tar, from 
 the nose down to the tip of the tail ; port wine 
 and bark was also prescribed as a tonic, of which 
 we suppose the feeder took his share — probably the 
 largest. Patience and perseverance in such cases 
 will be commensurate with the supposed value of 
 the patient, and no pains or trouble can be said to 
 be thrown away if the life of a very clever young 
 hound can be saved. We liave often seen twitch- 
 ings of the limbs to remain after such visitations, 
 and have kept hounds so affected, which, if not 
 capable of very great exertions in the field, would, 
 from their high breeding, do more in half a day 
 than others would do in a whole one. Upon fleshy 
 hounds the distemper falls with the greatest severity, 
 in congestion of lungs and liver, in which cases 
 bleeding at the very commencement may turn the 
 tide — in fact, although the lancet has been seldom 
 resorted to of late years by medical men, except in 
 very critical cases, we may include such attacks in 
 this category. In inflammatory subjects the loss of 
 blood often prevents the loss of life, when taken in 
 time — if too late, the animal dies from the opera- 
 tion. Blistering ointment ought also to be applied 
 and rubbed in over the seat of the disease, and we 
 know of none more efficacious than tartar emetic 
 and lard, one drachm of the former mixed with 
 seven of the latter. Calomel and James's powders, 
 when lungs and liver are affected, are the chief 
 
54 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 medicines to be given, with low diet and warm 
 lodging ; from three to four grains of the former 
 in obstructions of the liver, and a tablespoonful of 
 castor- oil in the morning. James's powders act 
 both as an alterative and a sudorific, and we have 
 cured many hounds by means of this medicine, in 
 obstinate cough giving small doses repeatedly ; but 
 it is a dangerous remedy in the hands of a careless 
 person. Distemper also shows itself in fits, from 
 which recovery is very doubtful ; and the yellows, 
 so called by huntsmen, or properly jaundice, gene- 
 rally proves fatal, unless active remedies are applied 
 on its first appearance. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 55 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Rounding the entry— Reasons for so doing — Quickest mode of per- 
 forming it — Varieties of foxhounds and crosses — Stud-books of 
 kennels — Oldest establishments — The chase of wolf, boar, and 
 stag in ancient times — Dogs used for this purpose — Their size 
 and strength — Depredations of wolves in the reign of Athel- 
 stan — Bloodhound cross in North Warwickshire kennels — Our 
 own expeiiment in this cross — Black- and- tan pack in the west 
 of Ireland. 
 
 When the entry has thoroughly recovered its 
 health and strength, and all vestiges of the dis- 
 temper have disappeared, then is the proper time 
 for the last operation to which foxhound puppies 
 are subjected, called rounding, or cutting off the 
 ends of their ears, which to those not initiated into 
 the mysteries of the ars venatica must appear an 
 unnecessary act of cruelty, without some explanation 
 of the why and wherefore such practices have pre- 
 vailed in foxhound kennels, whilst their own brothers 
 and sisters, drafted to hunt hares, are spared this 
 bloody ordeal, before entering into active life. The 
 fact is, that young foxhounds have to commence 
 their work in large thickly-tangled woodlands, from 
 which they are rarely permitted to emerge during 
 the cub-hunting season ; consequently the tops of 
 
56 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 their ears, if not cut short, would be sadly torn 
 by briars and thorns, causing continual sores and 
 ulcerations, and thereby daily pain. Rounding, 
 although a painful operation, saves foxhounds from 
 a great deal of suffering in after life, and without 
 it they would not work as they ought to do, 
 through gorse-brakes and blackthorns, with any 
 degree of comfort. We have heard the old saying, 
 " as sulky as a bear with a sore ear,"' and conclude 
 that hounds similarly afflicted would not feel parti- 
 cularly anxious to increase their sores by extra 
 scratchinors throus^h coverts — althouoli no animal of 
 the canine species possesses more resolution and 
 courage than a well-bred foxhound. 
 
 Harriers, on the contrary, having as a general 
 rule to find and pursue their game in the open 
 fields, do not necessarily require any abridgment 
 to the natural length of their ears ; and in bygone 
 time pendulous appendages of this kind were con- 
 sidered great recommendations to hare-hunters. 
 For the purpose of rounding, a block of hard-grained 
 wood, about the length of the hound's head, with a 
 smooth even surface, is required, upon which the 
 ear is laid out, and with one blow of a 
 wooden mallet on the handle of the half-circular 
 iron, the operation is over, and the other side of 
 the head turned round to complete the business. 
 The assistance of two other men is required, one 
 to hold the hound to the block, and the other 
 behind to prevent his pulling back, whilst the 
 huntsman performs the part of surgeon. By a 
 quick eye, and ready, steady hand, the severance of 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 57 
 
 the two tips may be effected within one minute, 
 and the hound led back in his couples to the lodg- 
 ing-room. There is a great difference in the width 
 and length of foxhounds' ears ; some are of such 
 extent as to require excision all round, and others 
 so narrow that the tips only come under the iron ; 
 and this distinction in the ear, as well as the size 
 of the head, proves the two original species of 
 hound, still retaining their characteristics through 
 a variety of crosses, and after the lapse of many 
 centuries. 
 
 The Northern hound was distinguished from the 
 Western and Southern by greater size, larger head, 
 deeper note, and finer nose, whereas the latter is 
 represented by ancient chroniclers of sports and 
 pastimes to have been more nimble of foot, lighter 
 form, and lighter tongue, but not endowed with 
 equal patience and perseverance, as his more stalwart 
 competitor in tlie chase. Some sportsmen have 
 gone the length of assuring us, that our finer-framed 
 foxhounds of the present age owe that neatness of 
 head, swanlike neck, depth of chest, and thinness of 
 stern, to an original cross with greyhound blood. 
 The greyhound shape is there, and moreover the 
 greyhound tongue and the gi'eyhound ear ; but this 
 cross must have been of ancient date, since for more 
 than one hundred years pedigrees of foxhounds in 
 the large breeding kennels, from which minor es- 
 tablishments throughout the kingdom are supplied, 
 have been scrupulously and carefully registered in 
 their stud-book. Moreover, we know that hunting 
 qualifications were considered of the highest im- 
 
58 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 portance by all masters and huntsmen of the old 
 school. 
 
 Before the commencement of the last century, 
 kennel management and genealogical records re- 
 ceived little attention. We have had authentic 
 information as to the time when three of the first 
 foxhunting establishments had their commence- 
 ment. The Duke of Beaufort^s in 1753, antece- 
 dent to which staghounds, foxhounds, and harriers 
 occupied the Badminton kennels. The Duke of 
 Rutland's about the year 1768, and Lord Fitz- 
 william's before 1765, when the celebrated pack of 
 Mr. Child was transferred to the Milton kennels, 
 with their huntsman William Deane, who hunted 
 them thirty-five yeiirs. It is not probable that in 
 these great kennels such an attempt at improve- 
 ment, or rather alteration, has been made since their 
 establishment, by an infusion of greyhound blood ; 
 but that such a cross had been tried many years 
 previously is not so improbable. 
 
 In ancient times the chase of wolf, boar, and 
 stag occupied the attention of our Anglo-Saxon and 
 Norman ancestors, and for the purpose of dislodg- 
 ing them from their sylvan fiistnesses, a variety of 
 dogs were used — bloodhounds, rough greyhounds, 
 and mastiffs ; and most probably their hunting packs 
 contained a mixture of these three breeds — to find 
 and hunt them from their harbour in the woods, 
 from which, when forced to fly, they were chased 
 by the deerhounds, and the hunters mounted on 
 horses trained for the purpose, carrying cross-bows 
 and spears. Wolf and boar hunting differed as 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 59 
 
 ■widely as the poles are asunder to modern fox- 
 hunting, being productive of fearful accidents to 
 man, horse, and hound. We know by experience 
 that the bite of a fox is far from being agreeable, 
 but the rent from a boar's tusk in your leg must 
 have been something to remember for a very long 
 time after. We may occasionally stake our horses, 
 but the tusks of an infuriated hirsute old pig 
 inflicted injuries of a more deadly character, since 
 he was not rolled over by the pack in the uncere- 
 monious manner befalling poor Charles James. 
 Boars fought desperately when brought to bay, 
 and half a dozen spear-heads sticking in their hides 
 added only to their fury, until a powerful horse- 
 man, riding up to close quarters, with hand over 
 head, sent his shaft clean through the animaFs 
 body. 
 
 We are told that wolves were so numerous in 
 Yorkshire during the reign of Athelstan the Saxon, 
 that a kind of fort was erected at Hixton, in that 
 county, to protect travellers from their attacks ; and 
 their depredations were carried on to such an extent 
 that lands were leased out on payment of so many 
 wolves' heads, instead of money. In the more 
 thickly inhabited counties, such high premiums 
 were given for the destruction of these marauders, 
 that they very soon became nearly extinct ; but 
 in Scotland, and the northern counties, more 
 thinly populated, and abounding in rough moor 
 and woodlands, their extirpation was more gradual, 
 and chiefly effected by means of the chase. Now 
 there can be very little doubt that the dogs used 
 
GO SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 for this purpose, and from which our present race 
 of foxhounds is descended, were a cross between 
 the deerhound and bloodhound — one selected as 
 possessing the highest courage and speed, and the 
 other gifted with the keenest power of scent. The 
 original cross must have been of great size and 
 strength, averaging from thirty to thirty-six inches 
 in height, with corresponding bone and muscle, and 
 equal to contend singly with their foe. How long 
 packs of this kind were in use, we have no means 
 of ascertaininor ; but as in the reio^n of Edward I. 
 wolves were very numerous, we must suppose these 
 hounds found still sufficient occupation ; and when 
 their more savage game ceased from the land, their 
 services were required for hunting stag, fox, and 
 hare. To satisfy ourselves on this point — the 
 origin of our present foxhounds — we tried, many 
 years ago, the experiment of a cross between one 
 and a greyhound, and the result verified our expec- 
 tations. Four whelps were produced, three resem- 
 bling their mother, the greyhound, in depth of 
 chest and length of head, neck, and frame — and 
 the other almost the image of his father, with 
 wider head, and greater width of chest, possessing 
 also a capital nose. The dogs were used for hunt- 
 ing deer, and would draw covert, find their game, 
 and hunt him afterwards, as long as the scent held 
 good — but we cannot say they showed much dis- 
 position to work upon a bad one. By persevering 
 in the foxhound strain, there would have been 
 great improvement in their hunting qualities. 
 
 We remember seeing in the North Warwickshire 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 61 
 
 keimels, some few years ago, a cross between the 
 foxhound and bloodhound — by their then master, 
 Mr. Baker — upon which Peter Collison, now hunts- 
 man to the Cheshire, pinned his faith, as the most 
 efficient hounds in the pack, quite equal in speed 
 and quickness to any others, and showing better 
 nose than the majority. We quite agree with all 
 masters and sticklers for purity of blood, in what 
 we now call thorough-bred foxhounds, that they 
 can and vjill hunt, if left to themselves, a very 
 cold scent ; and we are free to confess that they 
 owe this property to their original bloodhound 
 strain ; and, as we have before remarked, that that 
 strain is exhibited in the difference of shape of 
 head, and length of ear peculiar to the bloodhound 
 — others, again, going back to the father's side, 
 the deerhound, in thinness of head, smallness of 
 ear, and depth of chest. Naturain expellas furca, 
 tamen usque recurret. In proof of this, we may 
 state that some thirty years ago we received, in an 
 unentered draft from the late Sir Thomas Mostyn's 
 kennel, who then hunted the Bicester country, a 
 hound which he called Yarico, resembling a blood- 
 hound in every particular, as to colour, shape, and 
 other points ; and on consulting Tom Wingfield, the 
 huntsman, he assured us no such blood had ever 
 been introduced within his recollection into their 
 kennel. 
 
 Having always a partiality for large hounds, and 
 being acquainted with the masters as well as hunts- 
 men of the most celebrated packs in those times, 
 we had opportunities of picking up occasionally 
 
62 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 an unentered hound or two, of too large dimensions 
 for the generaUty of kennels — cropping out from 
 the usual standard. Some very large though 
 rather coarse hounds about the head and neck we 
 got from the late Lord Lonsdale, then hunting 
 part of Leicestershh'e with a pack more conspicuous 
 for their hunting capabilities than for symmetry of 
 form. From the Fitzwilliam kennel we also got 
 hounds of equal size and power, but of better form. 
 One in particular we well remember, named Fal- 
 staff, of unmistakable bloodhound descent, show- 
 ing all the characteristics, even to the coat upon his 
 back. From the Badminton kennels also we had, 
 not very many years ago, a young hound sent us 
 by Will Long, standing twenty-eight inches, which 
 I named Marmion. It showed signs on the other 
 side — the deerhound cross — as to colour, and 
 having a narrow head, long neck, and immensely 
 deep chest, with ears so exceedingly fine that the 
 tips only required to be severed by the rounding- 
 iron. 
 
 Again, from the late Lord Ducie we had a 
 young hound of great size, a veritable bloodhound 
 in appearance, as to shape and colour, which we 
 called Druid. Mr. Ward's hounds — afterwards our 
 own — were notorious for size and power, the dark 
 tanned being the largest and coarsest, but the best 
 hunters. From these and other like observations 
 which have come under our notice, we have no 
 doubt in our own mind as to the originals from 
 which our present foxhounds are descended. The 
 late Sir Wheeler Cuffe, a celebrated sportsman, who 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 63 
 
 had hunted with the great Mr. Meynell, informed 
 us that in the west of Ireland there was a pack 
 of hounds, used for the purpose of hunting fox and 
 hare, all of one colour — black-and-tan — of great 
 size, and which had been kept up in that country 
 from time immemorial — probably ever since the 
 last wolf-hunt. 
 
64 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Training for cub-hunting — The iLude derivatur of hound language — 
 Its use and abuse — Cheerfulness and good-humour in man pro- 
 ductive of cheerful obedience in animals — Whey an excellent 
 alterative — Our old kennel huntsman — Bondsman in disgrace 
 — Whips not to be used in kennel — Visit of a Dutchman — His 
 dread of foxhounds — A young lady's new waltzing partner — 
 Her parting kiss — The late J. Starkey, of Spye Park. 
 
 When the young hounds have so far recovered from 
 the effects of the rounding-iron — which operation 
 ought to be performed on a cold day — that their 
 ears are beginning to heal, exercise may be resumed, 
 at first to a moderate extent, since from the loss of 
 blood they will not be in a fit state to undergo 
 much fatigue. To facilitate the healing process, a 
 simple remedy is at hand — the oil or fat skimmed 
 from the copper, which may be applied by means 
 of a feather to the sores of the ear. In recent 
 wounds, a dog's tongue is said to possess very 
 curative properties ; and as young foxhounds 
 cannot lick their own ears, we have often noticed 
 their assiduous attentions to each other in per- 
 forming that oflSce, with a view, we suppose, to 
 stopping the effusion of blood ; but in our opinion 
 it appeared only to have the contrary effect — in 
 
SCIE^'OE OF FOXHUNTING. 65 
 
 fact, no styptic can be applied at this moment, from 
 their constantly shaking their ears ; and a powerful 
 young foxhound, when loosed from the muzzle and 
 couples, smarting from pain, is not so easily 
 handled as a lady's lap-dog. The ladies will squeak 
 a little when denuded of part of these graceful 
 appendages, but the dog-hounds express their dis- 
 approbation of such unceremonious usage b}" the 
 rising of the bristles, angry growls, and efforts to 
 fight — this species of auricular confession being the 
 reverse of agreeable to Tom the feeder, who has to 
 perform the part of father confessor on the occasion, 
 by placing liis hands on the hound's head, which is 
 then taken back to the extra lodging-room, well 
 littered down with straw, on benches and floor 
 also. With this last act, the stage of puppyhood 
 may be said to terminate. 
 
 When the entry have thoroughly regained their 
 health and spirits, the business of foxhound life 
 commences, by training for cub-hunting. Until 
 within a month of their beinor first taken to the 
 woodlands, the young entry will do far better by 
 themselves in tlieir airing and exercise, during 
 which, if properly treated, they ought to become 
 as handy and obedient to their huntsman as old 
 hounds. Professionals tvlll adhere to the old 
 nomenclature of language, which for generations 
 has been used for foxhounds, as if intelligible and 
 natural to them as whooping to owls. The unde 
 derivatuT of these curious terms would puzzle far 
 cleverer heads than that of the late Samuel 
 Johnson, LL.D. Pronounced they may be, and 
 
 F 
 
66 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 are, even by amateurs, but they are hardly trans- 
 ferable to paper. Hounds, however, being great 
 linguists, readily comprehend the meaning of the 
 language in which they are addressed, whether 
 it be English, French, or that most unintelligible 
 of all tongues — Welsh. As to the words used, 
 whether classical, poetical, or dramatical, or the 
 reverse of all these, it matters not one tittle, pro- 
 vided the hounds themselves understand the meaning 
 in which they are used ; all that is required of 
 them being to answer to their names, come back 
 when called, turn here and there, as directed by 
 their huntsman. The professionals, however, gene- 
 rail}^ have a dull monotonous way of speaking to 
 and treating hounds when called, which produces 
 the contrary effect of willing obedience — we mean, 
 repeating their names a dozen times over, when 
 wishing to draw them from their kennel, at the 
 same time that the whipper-in is instructed to force 
 them up to the huntsman. This we maintain is a 
 very silly, slip-slop way of proceeding. For our 
 own part, we never allowed the interference of a 
 whipper-in in the kennel, neither did we ever draw 
 a hound by means of a whip, fully appreciating 
 their dislike to whipcord. When drawing or 
 feeding hounds, the only thing ever in our hands 
 was a thin hazel twig, not bigger than our little 
 finger, or a silk handkerchief taken from our pocket. 
 Then it must be borne in mind that these hounds 
 were affectionately attached to their master as a 
 pet spaniel to his mistress — and all our favourites 
 had nicknames in addition to their legitimate ones. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 67 
 
 to which they would respond wdth the greatest 
 alacrity. The general conduct of huntsmen to 
 their dependants is too formal and methodical, 
 with a great lack of that cheerfulness, vivacity, 
 and good humour, without which we must fail to 
 gain the affections of all created animals, from 
 woman downwards. The services of whippers-in 
 would be rarely needed, were huntsmen to adopt 
 the method we recommend. 
 
 The process of preparing the young entry must 
 be similar to that of training a thorough-bred horse 
 for racing, as well as a hunter for the field — 
 gradual walking, trotting, and at last galloping ; 
 and as the heat of summer increases — when we 
 have anything like summer weather — the exercise 
 must commence at a very early hour in the 
 morning, say four or five o'clock, and to return 
 home in time for the huntsman's breakfast and 
 their own, since young hounds at this season of 
 the year require feeding twice a day — about nine 
 o'clock in the morning, and five in the afternoon. 
 Our general practice was also to give the old 
 hounds a little thin lap about the same hour, and 
 their supper in the evening, which had the effect of 
 keeping them quiet during the night. Twice a 
 week during vacation time, we took them to a farm- 
 house for whey, which contributed not a little to 
 their health — in short, the work with hounds at 
 this period is more troublesome than in the hunting 
 season, to a huntsman who does his duty by them. 
 From sunrise to sunset, there is always plenty to 
 do — first with the young hounds before breakfast, 
 
 F 2 
 
68 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 then witli the old ones after it, in or out of kennel, 
 according to the weather, until the servants' dinner 
 hour ; out with the young hounds again for a 
 couple of hours after dinner, and on their return 
 out with the old ones again, walking them about 
 until eight o'clock in the evening. 
 
 In very hot weather, our old hounds were 
 walking or lying about with the deer under the 
 shade of the trees the greater part of the day, 
 attended by the kennel huntsman only, no whipper- 
 in being necessary to keep them in order. We 
 were lying down one day with them around us, all 
 fast asleep, when we were roused by some very 
 shrill notes, and the braying of donkeys — two boys 
 mounted on them having passed up the drive near 
 to which we were lying, too near to be tolerated by 
 our faithful guardians, who resented their intrusion 
 by pulling the boys out of their saddles, greatly to 
 their horror and consternation. A rate from their 
 master — " let them alone " — saved the urchins from 
 further fright — personal injury they had received 
 none, although their jackets had been ruffled a little 
 by this unceremonious dislodgment ; for our big burly 
 hounds, although naturally fierce and courageous, 
 possessed great generosity of disposition. 
 
 During occasional absences from home, the care 
 of the pack devolved upon an old kennel huntsman, 
 who seemed as anxious about them as ourselves, 
 and so attentive to their personal appearance, that 
 during the holidays or summer months he carried 
 a hairbrush and small comb in his pocket — perhaps 
 the same used at his own toilette — with which lie 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 69 
 
 might be seen under the shade of the trees, indus- 
 triously smoothing down any rough hairs on the 
 hounds' coats. Upon one occasion, when returning 
 home, we found, to our surprise, a favourite hound 
 chained up outside the kennel to one of the puppy- 
 houses. 
 
 " Why," we asked, indignantly, " have you 
 treated Bondsman in this manner?" 
 
 " Because, sir, he pulled me down in the kennel 
 one day, amongst the other hounds ; and but for 
 the feeder running in to my rescue, I might have 
 been torn to pieces." 
 
 '* And broken you up like a fox, eh ?" we added, 
 with a laugh. "But now for the whole truth ; 
 you struck that hound with the whip when there 
 was no occasion for it, and you ought to know by 
 this time that our hounds won't put up with that 
 from an3'body, except on horseback." 
 
 '' Well, sir, I ought not to have done it perhaps ; 
 but he was snarling and growling with Draco, and 
 to stop a row, I gave him a cut on the back, and 
 the next moment he sprang at me like a tiger, 
 seized the collar of my coat, and had me down 
 before I hardly knew what he was about.'' 
 
 " He gave you a clever back fall, that's all. 
 Did he attempt to bite or worry you when 
 down ? " 
 
 " No, sir, — walked away, as Tom said, with his 
 stern well up, looking as if nothing had happened ; 
 but then, sir, you know the other hounds might 
 have taken advantage of me.'' 
 
70 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 . " Pshaw ! let Bondsman loose directly." 
 
 " If you please, sir, I had rather not, for he has 
 looked very savage at me ever since. '^ 
 
 " Well, then, be off to the boiling-house for 
 shelter, or I'll tell him to give you another floorer ; 
 and for the future remember to hang your whip up 
 at the door before you enter the kennel/' 
 
 We had many visitors at this period of the 
 year, when time hung heavily on hand from the 
 lack of sporting recreation in the country. Some- 
 times professionals, who entailed upon us a day 
 upon the flags, to whom a show of -foxhounds 
 presented as great attractions as a flower-show to 
 ladies. Masters of neiorhbourin^ establishments 
 have here an opportunity of thoroughly examining 
 the young entry, and seeing the sires and dams of 
 those which particularly engage their attention, 
 with a view to a cross with their own hounds, a 
 privilege conceded to all brother masters, whether 
 known or unknown, without fee or favour. Some- 
 times we were honoured by gentlemen of the 
 vicinity bringing friends to see the lions, and on 
 one occasion we remember a Dutchman coming 
 over to see, what he had never seen in his life 
 before, a pack of foxhounds. Having been intro- 
 duced by a member of our hunt, we were proceed- 
 ing to introduce him to the hounds, which being 
 visible through the palings, and hearing my voice, 
 rushed to the door to Avelcome our approach as 
 usual. 
 
 " Ah ! mine goot, sir," cried the alarmed Dutch- 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 7l 
 
 man, clutching us by the arm, " pray do not open 
 de door ; me see quite well here de grand dog ; dey 
 bery fine animals, but so fierce ! *' 
 
 " Oh ! no, not fierce," we said ; *' they only ex- 
 press their joy on seeing their master ; they would 
 not injure a child, so come with me/' 
 
 " Oh ! no, tank you, I get into de garden, 
 whiles you go in ; '' and into the garden forthwith 
 bolted the Dutchman by the side-door, fearing, we 
 verily believe, they would devour him like a lot of 
 lions. His friend tried in vain to disabuse him of 
 his silly notions on this subject ; and two ladies 
 by whom they were accompanied laughed immo- 
 derately at his cowardice, essaying to shame him 
 out of it by walking with us among them. 
 
 " Look here, Mr. Van Thy 11,'' cried a lively 
 young lady, pretending to beat one of the largest 
 hounds on the head with her parasol, " are you 
 afraid now ? '' 
 
 " Me do vara well outside de rail ; dat dog know 
 you." 
 
 " Look, you shall see him waltz with me now ; '* 
 and taking a foot in each of her tiny hands, she 
 raised him from the ground on his hind legs, and 
 began walking him round and round, the hound 
 seeming to enjoy the fun. 
 
 " There ! '' she^ cried, exultingly, " does he not 
 keep step well ? '' 
 
 On his attempting, however, to lick her face, she 
 released him from further gyrations, and bending 
 over his head, said in a low voice, '* Dear Archy, I 
 
72 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 had rather have a kiss from you than /' We 
 
 could not hear the remainder of the sentence, but 
 easily guessed it. 
 
 " Confound that cur Fritz I " exclaimed his 
 friend. " I couldn't have believed him such a 
 coward ! Now, girls, we must be going, so make 
 your partner a curtsey, Fanny, or give him a kiss, 
 as you please.'' 
 
 Our hounds were accustomed to ladies' society, 
 which, perhaps, was one of the chief causes of 
 their courtesy towards visitors ; and from our great 
 attention to cleanliness, a pin might be picked off 
 the floor as bright as it fell. 
 
 Strange as it may appear, niembers of the hunt 
 manifest very little interest in the well-being of 
 the pack to which they ostensibly belong. If the 
 sport is good, it is a matter of perfect indifference 
 to them how it is effected ; in short, they would not 
 care a rap whether a bagman were turned out of 
 a sack, or a wild fox from his kennel, provided 
 they got what they go out for and nothing else — 
 a run, as something to talk of We considered 
 ourselves fortunate in having one at least who 
 understood tlie management and working of a 
 pack of foxhounds — one who had profited by the 
 instruction he had received and the lessons he had 
 been taught by that renowned sportsman, John 
 Warde, with whom he had hunted for many years 
 previously to his joining our hunt : we allude to 
 the late John Starkey, of Spye Park, Wilts, as 
 enthusiastic a foxhunter as he j^roved himself ta 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 73 
 
 be a stanch and constant friend. Men of his 
 class and in his position have the power of doing 
 much good and averting much evil. Their autho- 
 rity cannot be gainsaid by others in the field of 
 far less experience, and little acquainted with 
 the mysteries of the " noble science ; '' and every 
 master knows how to appreciate the services of 
 such a supporter in ticklish matters, with a ticklish 
 scent. 
 
74 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 More remarks on training — Grradual increase of pace — Swimming 
 through streams — No necessity for periodical dressings — Beck- 
 ford's opinion at variance with onr own — Clean wheat straw 
 indispensable as litter — Vegetables during summer — Alteratives 
 — Old oatmeal the staple food — Mode of preparation — Objections 
 to barley — Iron boilers, not copper — Time for boiling — Grood 
 man-cook — French cuisine — '* De gustibus non est disputandum " 
 — A bas greaves. 
 
 In the last chapter we made some remarks on the 
 training of the young hounds preparatory to the 
 commencement of their work in the woodlands ; 
 and taking into consideration the season of the 
 year when cub-hunting generally begins, from the 
 first week in August to the first week in Sep- 
 tember, as the country may chance to be chiefly 
 pasture or arable — which makes the difference of a 
 month ; considering also the hardness of the ground 
 and heat of the weather at this period, it is evi- 
 dent that hounds ought to be in first-rate condi- 
 tion, with not an ounce of inside fat or superfluous 
 flesh to meet the hard work in store for them. 
 Two months at least will be required to prepare 
 them for this purpose, b}' gradually increasing their 
 exercise, both as to time and pace, until they can 
 go for a couple of miles at a stretch, over downs, 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 75 
 
 with the horse at a hand gallop, without distress, 
 and shut their mouths directly after being stopped. 
 If no such open ground is within reasonable dis- 
 tance of the kennels, shorter bursts may be 
 adopted, and longer trotting exercise. 
 
 Should there be a clear stream or river in the 
 neighbourhood, an occasional swim through it will 
 be of service in making the young hounds accus- 
 tomed to water, as well as invigorating their 
 frames. But there is a drawback to frequent 
 bathing, when hounds have to travel through dusty 
 roads to the river side, from the dust adhering to 
 their coats, and thereby causing irritation to the 
 skin, which we have known to break out into 
 eruptions like mange. As to periodical dressings 
 spring and autumn, for which huntsmen are gene- 
 rally such strong advocates, we shall merely ob- 
 serve, that where mange breaks out in any kennel, 
 it is presumptive evidence of improper food, or 
 neglect of cleanliness. When hounds are fed 
 nearly the same all the year round, mange will 
 appear from heat of body, or it may be induced 
 by bad litter. Oat or barley straw will unques- 
 tionably cause great irritation, and ought never to 
 be used as bedding, for which purpose clean, dry 
 wheat straw ought solely to be employed, and that 
 well shaken up every morning whilst the hounds 
 are out of the kennel, and the benches thoroughly 
 brushed with a stiff besom. 
 
 During the summer months, cabbages, young 
 and tender, not old and touirli, i^iven twice a week 
 in their food, will conduce much to the health of 
 
76 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 the pack, and prove a saving of oatmeal, mangel- 
 wurzel at that time being too hard and stringy, 
 although the liquor from the roots is still good. 
 The water in which cabbages or potatoes are boiled, 
 particularly that from the latter vegetable, ought 
 never to be given either to dogs or pigs ; in fact 
 the only method to dress potatoes, either for human 
 beings or animals, is by a steaming apparatus. 
 We tried the experiment one season of using pota- 
 toes thus cooked, but not answering our expecta- 
 tions, except as a relief to the meal bin, they were 
 discontinued, and young nettle-tops and cabbages 
 substituted in their stead. With these and occa- 
 sional alteratives, sulphur and cream of tartar, 
 Epsom salts, and regular exercise, hounds do not 
 require dressing as a general practice. If our re- 
 collection serves us, Beckford expressed an opinion 
 that '' he supposed the oftener hounds were dressed 
 the better they would look/' We are obliged to 
 differ with this great authority, and say, '^ We 
 know the oftener hounds are dressed the vjorse 
 they will look ; " and from several other observations 
 made by him, our impression is that he was a 
 better man in the field than in the kennel. His 
 feeder tells him that the best food for hounds is 
 part barley and part oatmeal ; but had he tried 
 the experiment for a few months only, he would 
 have made the discovery that good old oatmeal is 
 the thing, and the only thing, to feed foxhounds 
 with. No wonder that the use of barley meal 
 entailed upon his pack fi-equent dressings. 
 .Oats contain more nutritive and strengthening 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 77 
 
 • 
 
 properties than barley, and in the manufacture of 
 oatmeal the husk is entirely separated from the 
 grain, barley being ground down husk and corn 
 together, which causes so much irritation to the 
 stomach and intestines of dogs. We hear certainly 
 of the Irish and Scotch oatmeal being superior 
 to the English, and the reason is this : Oatmeal 
 being the staple of our Sister Isle, more attention is 
 paid to the cultivation of this grain, thus render- 
 ing it more palatable and digestible to the poorer 
 classes in those parts of Her Majesty's dominions, 
 who subsist principally upon this kind of farinaceous 
 food. But there is another reason why a greater 
 breadth of oats is sown in Scotland and Ireland. 
 The soil and climate are more congenial to their 
 growth than that of any other cereal, except rye, 
 the use of which began to decline with the rule of 
 the ancient Britons. Rye is still extensively culti- 
 vated in Germany, and not many years since the 
 post-horses were fed chiefly on rye bread mixed with 
 a portion of sand, to prevent ostlers and postilions 
 appropriating it to themselves. The sweetest bread 
 that can be made is composed of three parts of 
 wheat flour and one of rye ; but in the present 
 age, adulteration of flour is carried on to such a 
 villanous extent, wholesome bread is unattainable 
 from any town baker. It appears that from the 
 time of Pharaoh, King of Egypt, bakers generally 
 have been guilty of great malpractices, and richly 
 deserve to have their heads lifted up on gallows 
 high as Haman's. 
 
 To guard against adulterated oatmeal, the coarsest 
 
78 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 should be selected — almost whole grits, which, 
 although requiring more labour in boiling, proves 
 the most nutritious food. The manuflicture of this 
 meal is little understood in England, and less prac- 
 tised ; yet the process is a very simple one. The 
 oats, having been first dried on a kiln, are passed 
 lightly through the mill to disengage the husks — 
 then winnowed clean from all chaff and dust, and 
 ground coarsely or fine, according to the demand. 
 For foxhounds, this meal ought to be twelve months 
 old before used ; for, when new, we have found it to 
 disagree with them, and not stand firm after boil- 
 ing. There is great economy in having an old 
 stock on hand, a practice generally adopted in all 
 large hunting establishments. It goes much farther, 
 and pays well for keeping. We had large bins, 
 or rather wooden compartments, in our granary, 
 into which the meal was trodden down by men, 
 and then battened ; and thus stored it would keep 
 good for two years, if not wanted before. 
 
 In boiling, great attention is necessary that it 
 does not catch at the bottom of the boiler, which 
 ought to be of iron — not of copper or brass. We 
 had a careless feeder once, who might have lost his 
 life by negligence in this matter ; the meal, from 
 not being stirred, stuck to the bottom, causing the 
 boiler to burst with a loud explosion, and throw 
 the scalding pudding all over the boiling-house, 
 which the feeder had just left. " The proof of the 
 pudding is in the eating,'' and unless well boiled 
 for an hour at least, it will neither keep longer than 
 a day, nor take the proper allowance of broth to 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 79 
 
 break it up. The coolers also must be thoroughly 
 washed and scrubbed, and let dry before another 
 lot of meal is emptied into them, or it will assuredly 
 turn sour. When such precautions are requisite in 
 preparing the hounds' food, we need scarcely remark 
 that a good Tiian-cook or feeder is of the next 
 greatest importance to a good huntsman. 
 
 There is also considerable care necessary in 
 cooking the beefy which ought not to be boiled to 
 rags — a common trick with idle feeders, to save the 
 trouble of chopping. In this state it is divested 
 of all nourishing properties, and becomes indigesti- 
 ble — the answer to which is, the broth is all the 
 better. Then we reply, " Throw away the rags." 
 
 Hounds and dogs generally have hitherto exer- 
 cised a monopoly in horse-flesh, but it seems that 
 our versatile neighbours over the Channel are begin- 
 ning to dispute their ancient prerogative to tliis 
 patent ; and if the rinderpest continues its ravages 
 in this country, it is not improbable that we may 
 also be compelled to experiment upon kennel beef. 
 That Monsieur Soyer or any other French artist in 
 the culinary department could send up an entree 
 composed of horse-meat, so highly seasoned and 
 flavoured as to form a dish resembling hashed 
 venison, or any other hash, we do not pretend to 
 question. Fortunately, being a plain feeder, we are 
 exempted from such impositions upon our palate. 
 Prejudice goes great lengths, but, dispassionately 
 considered, we don't see any very valid reason why 
 the flesh of a racehorse, which has gone too great 
 lengths, by breaking down, or breaking his legs. 
 
80 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 should not be as wholesome food as ox-beef. Both 
 animals feed alike, although the horse does not 
 chew the cud ; and we are assured by those who 
 have tried the experiment that the meat of a young 
 fat horse is quite as good as that of a stall-fed bul- 
 lock — and so it may be, for all we can prove to the 
 contrary. My father's feeder told us that he gene- 
 rally dined in the boiling-house, but being a man 
 of Herculean strength in body and constitution, it 
 would not have surprised us had he cooked a couple 
 of young puppies for his breakfast, since old Tom's 
 stomach would digest anything except the prong of 
 the stirrer. De gustibus non est disputandvim — 
 but we suspect that our English eaters must undergo 
 a wonderful change, and extraordinary pressure from 
 without, before we shall deprive the kennel of its 
 perquisites in horse-flesh. 
 
 Greaves are a miserable substitute — the most 
 foul unwholesome stuff that can be given to dogs 
 of any kind, and totally unfitted for foxhounds, in 
 the season or out of season, being the refuse of 
 butchers' shops, odds and ends of candles sold by 
 servants as their perquisites, and any other articles 
 containing fat, all of which being boiled up together, 
 the sediment which remains, with the scum, is 
 pressed into a hard cake, and sold for dogs' meat. 
 Sheeps' trotters were formerly readily obtained, and 
 the broth from them is equally nutritious — more so 
 even than horse-flesh; the bones, of course, being 
 picked out before mixing with the meat. 
 
 Enough has been written to show that to keep 
 foxhounds in healthful condition, none but good 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 81 
 
 sound wholesome food should be given — coarse 
 old Irish or Scotch oatmeal being the staple. 
 During the summer months other farina has been 
 tried by masters, such as rice meal, Indian corn 
 meal, sago, biscuit, and coarse-ground wheat meal, 
 with one result — disappointment. Dog biscuit, so 
 called, is manufactured for the purpose, and con- 
 tains a great amount of rubbish ; but those prepared 
 from genuine coarse flour, unadulterated — of which 
 there is little chance — might answer the pur- 
 pose, when hounds are not in work ; but having 
 once used wheaten flour, ground from our own corn 
 at a country mill, when oatmeal had risen to the 
 enormous price of £22 per ton, we must speak of 
 it as a failure, and Indian corn also. 
 
 If, preparatory to cub-hunting, hounds should 
 require dressing at all — which with the rules we 
 have laid down for diet, alteratives, and exercise, 
 they ought not — the most simple and efiicacious 
 remedy is one composed of three parts of rape oil 
 and one of turpentine, thickened to the consistency 
 of cream with sulphur, and rubbed in by hand, not 
 by brush. To this may be added a small propor- 
 tion of soft soap, which will cause the dressing to 
 adhere more closely to the skin, and assist also in 
 washing it off again. Avoid all mercurial prepa- 
 rations as you would poison, for which there exists 
 no necessity, except, as we have before stated, in 
 virulent cases of red mange. Sulphur we know to 
 be one of the most useful and efficacious remedies 
 which can be employed in all cutaneous diseases, 
 and when given internally, works its way quickly 
 
 G 
 
82 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 through the system, and out by the pores of the 
 skin. The most critical periods for hounds — we 
 may add for horses also — are spring and autumn, 
 when they are shedding their coats ; and it is then 
 that a little irritation of the skin will generally 
 appear, which is of easy cure, by sprinkling a small 
 quantity of plain yellow sulphur over the hound's 
 back, or upon the straw which forms the bedding. 
 Some economists advise the discontinuance of straw 
 during the heat of summer, as not requisite, being 
 moreover productive of vermin. We say, never 
 suffer your hounds to sleep on bare benches or 
 boarding. The bedding may be less in quantity, 
 but of the same first-rate quality as used in winter. 
 Vermin are never found in any well-regulated 
 kennel. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 83 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 " Merry it is, in the good greenwood, 
 
 When the mavis and merle are singing ; 
 When the cub sweeps by, and the hounds are in ciy, 
 And the huntsman's horn is ringing." 
 
 Cub-hunting, the rehearsal of foxhunting — Teaching the young 
 ideas how to hunt — Tutors and governesses for the entry — 
 Division of the jjack — Early dawn most favourable for scent — 
 A single hound a match for a fox— Rambler showing the white 
 feather, and sent rambling — Cub-hunting in the evening — 
 Objections to it — Giving views — Blooding the entry — 111 eflfects 
 of lifting young hounds — ^More haste, less speed — The meaning 
 of the horn — Babbling and skirting. 
 
 Cub-hunting is the rehearsal of foxhuntinof, in 
 which actor and actress with their company are 
 practising their parts in anticipation of appearing 
 before the public on the opening day of the season; 
 and, to carry on the simile, we find as few interested 
 in these preliminary lessons in the woodlands as 
 antetheatrical exhibitions. No very agreeable en- 
 tertainment can be expected from hearing school- 
 boys floundering through the Latin or Greek 
 authors placed in their hands, supposed to be of 
 the easiest comprehension to juvenile minds. The 
 romantic tale of the loves of Pyramus and Thisbe 
 took our fixncy exceedingly when only just begin- 
 ning to imagine what true love might be. So deep 
 an impression did this fairy tale make upon our 
 
 G 2 
 
84 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 minds, that although nearly half a century has 
 passed over our head since its first perusal, we 
 believe we might repeat without much trouble 
 every line of it. When nicely recited by an inte- 
 resting youth, fully impressed with the romantic 
 incidents connected with it, the story possesses 
 great interest ; but few would have patience to 
 hear a stupid boy hammering away at some hard 
 words and making bad shots at others. 
 
 Few wish to be present at the schooling of 
 young foxhounds, which is, candidly speaking, very 
 uninteresting, dull work, except to masters ; and 
 many of these shirk this part of the business alto- 
 gether, leaving it in the hands of huntsmen and 
 whips to get the entry tolerably perfect in their 
 lessons, before performing in the presence of their 
 betters. It was our practice to draw out so many 
 of our old brood-bitches and dog-hounds becoming 
 slow, to form Avith the entry a pack of themselves, 
 wherewith to commence the cub-hunting season — 
 an equal number of each, if possible — and let them 
 work together up to the end of October. A draft 
 was then made of the young which had gone amiss 
 and the old not able to run up. Where the kennel 
 is not considered sufficiently large to admit of this 
 arrangement, a few young hounds are put into the 
 pack at a time, until all have learnt their first 
 lesson and comprehended the game they are to 
 pursue. Rarely, however, have we seen a pack so 
 managed to be thoroughly steady. The young, by 
 running riot at first — whicli they certainly will do 
 • — unsettle the one-season hunters, and a hullabaloo. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 85 
 
 cracking of whips, and vehement objurgations 
 follow, which scare the good, and create great con- 
 fusion. Even of the shortest pack, not exceeding 
 thirty couples, we would rather make two divisions 
 than adopt this plan. Ten or a dozen old hounds 
 are quite enough, where more cannot be spared, to 
 teach an entry of double their number how to set 
 about their business ; and this little knot of veterans 
 holding together, is quite sufficient to kill a brace 
 of cubs, or more if desired, without any other 
 assistance. The young ones may push away upon 
 other scents — so let them — full of spirits and high 
 courage. Cei-tain allowance must be made for the 
 exhibition of these, before they know the scent of 
 their legitimate game ; and probably many of the 
 entry have done a bit of hare-hunting at their 
 walks, with Shag and Viper ; but when once 
 blooded to fox, well-bred foxhounds rarely give 
 much trouble afterwards to the whippers-in. 
 
 For the ffrst morning's cub-hunting, the easiest 
 covert for killing them should be selected ; and as 
 fixtures are never made previously on such occasions, 
 the choice of weather rests with the huntsman — so 
 far at least that there is no necessity for beginning 
 on a windy, unpropitious day. In a dry autumn, 
 early dawn is the most flxvourable time for scent, 
 and the drag of cubs to their kennel when barred 
 out from their earths easily followed up by saga- 
 cious old hounds. There is another advantage with 
 peep'O'-day hunting : cubs or foxes are not in a 
 condition, from a late supper, or very early break- 
 fast, to run long before their enemies — in fact they 
 
86 SYSTEM! OF KENNEL AND 
 
 are often found napping, which is not such a rare 
 occurrence as catching k weasel asleep ; and, not- 
 withstanding the discussion in " The Field '" some 
 short time since about a single hound killing a fox, 
 we should have drafted any hound, male or female, 
 which would decline such an encounter. A big 
 burly dog, of twenty-five or even twenty-three 
 inches in height, with corresponding muscular 
 power, must be a cur in grain to turn tail upon an 
 animal of not half his weight or strength, and 
 which he is supposed to have been pursuing with 
 the most bloodthirsty intentions. 
 
 One hound only during our long experience as 
 M. F. H. do we remember showing the white 
 feather when meeting his fox, and that individual 
 was sent to us from a neighbouring pack. Good 
 he certainly was in all points save one. He drew 
 well, ran hard, and hunted his fox decently; but 
 kill him he would not, or attempt to do it. His 
 dismissal arose from the following circumstance : — 
 
 We were running into our fox, which was 
 making for a head of open earths, and had nearly 
 reached them, when this hound, Rambler, catching 
 view of him before any other, ran out of the pack 
 and overtook him just at the covert-side. The 
 whoop was just escaping from our lips, when, to 
 our utter disgust, the fox turned short round, 
 showed his teeth, and Rambler retrograded, giving 
 thereby time for the fox to reach the earths. For 
 this cowardly act. Rambler's travelling ticket was 
 issued for the first fitting opportunity, to go with 
 other delinquents included in the draft. We do 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 87 
 
 not aver that every young hound when first entered 
 would grapple with his foe in deadl}^ conflict, un- 
 aided by others ; but by the 1st of November, 
 when thoroughly acquainted with the game they 
 are to pursue, we expected each individual to do 
 his duty in this respect single-handed, agreeing 
 with the old adage, that " Catch is a good dog, but 
 Holdfiist is better/' 
 
 Some masters, from disinclination to get up, as 
 they call it, in the middle of the night, have had 
 recourse to cub-hunting in the evening, when, with- 
 out inconvenience to themselves, they can see how 
 the young hounds enter. There are, however, 
 many objections to this mode of proceeding. Scent 
 becomes worse always towards nightflill. There is 
 no drag to a fox's kennel, and other game is begin- 
 ning to move about without being disturbed by 
 hounds. Cubs also are leary, and can stand a deal 
 more rattlins: at this time than in the mornino^. 
 We don't think this of much consequence after the 
 second or third day's hunting, for, although at first 
 advocating an easy victory, and an early return to 
 kennel, we consider a little harder work, when 
 used to tlieir game, of great benefit to the entry, 
 by which their stoutness and resolution are to be 
 tested. Cubs cannot always be brought to hand 
 just at the moment they are needed, and by con- 
 tinual changing from one to another, hounds may 
 be running for two or three hours before catching 
 one ; and the great drawback to evening hunting 
 is that, in addition to the scent becoming worse 
 every hour, the shades of night are falling around 
 
88 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 you, and may put a stop to finishing with satis- 
 faction. 
 
 Beginning at four o'clock A.M. is a different 
 affair altogether. The day is before you, and you 
 can knock the cubs about, in the shade of the 
 woodlands, as long as ycu please. Cub-hunting is 
 a tame, quiet, elderl}^ gentleman's amusement, in 
 comparison with foxhunting. Hallooing, screaming, 
 and cracking of whips ought to be avoided as much 
 as possible, and the chief duty of the whipper-in 
 is to prevent the hounds going away with the old 
 fox. The huntsman's business is to keep near to 
 them, encouraging the young to join the cry of the 
 old ; and as cubs — unless stub-bred — will be con- 
 tinually trying to get into the earths, he will know 
 whereabouts to give them a meeting, if that sort 
 of thing is desirable, which we think not. We do 
 not even approve giving young hounds a view over 
 or down the drive. Nothing is gained by such an 
 extravaganza, except oculai- demonstration of tiie 
 animal they are to pursue, not by sigldy but by 
 scent. Wliy then give them a view at all ? They 
 will soon see and taste him, when his carcase is 
 held aloft for their especial admiration, before being 
 consigned to the jaws of their older companions. 
 What further proof is necessary for the identifica- 
 tion of their game ? At first they follow him by 
 his scent, they then assist in worrying him to 
 death, and lastly partake of his blood. What 
 doubt can they entertain further as to his person- 
 alities ? 
 
 We have as grave objections to hounds being 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 89 
 
 allowed to go to view-halloas in season, as adopting 
 this course of instruction to the entry out of season. 
 Jt all leads to the same inevitable result — dis- 
 traction. If boys at school require a thorough 
 grounding in grammar to make them proficients in 
 the Greek or Latin languages, so much the more 
 imperative is it to ground well the young fox- 
 hounds' noses — keep them there, and they cannot 
 fail to do well, if there is anything like well-doing 
 in their composition. Lift them up by hallotis and 
 screams, and they will assuredly do ill. Inde- 
 pendently, however, of the mischief done to tlie 
 entry by this wild work, you do not get a whit 
 nearer to your object — handling your fox — by 
 throwing them in upon him when crossing the 
 drive, but quite the revei-se. The old hounds are 
 thrown off the line, and unless there happens to be 
 a rare scent, the young will throw up their heads at 
 the very first short turn made by the cub, and then 
 all is in confusion. 
 
 Again, by teaching the young to look out for 
 their game, they will be ever on the qui vive, and 
 give chase to any other object which they catch 
 sight of; and how are they to distinguish a fox 
 from a hare, at a long distance ? The whipper-in 
 is then called to rate and scarify the delinquents, if 
 he can catch them ; and they may well wonder why 
 they are punished for doing that which their hunts- 
 man had been cheering them to do — run something 
 they had seen crossing the drive before they knew 
 '' what's what." We say, never give young hounds 
 a view at all. Harriers are spoilt by this sort of 
 
90 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 tiling ; why not foxhounds ? Both are equally de- 
 pendent on their noses. Before cub-hunting, they 
 ought to be made acquainted with the meaning of 
 the horn, when out at exercise — the huntsman 
 recalling them by it when allowed to run in ad- 
 vance of him ; and as for the yoicksing and 
 hoicksing, we have before expressed our opinion 
 on vociferous do£!:-lano:uao:e. 
 
 Supposing the object to be, on entering young 
 hounds, to make them handy, tractable, and steady, 
 their instructor must be steady and quiet, and never 
 in a hurry or flurry. All of the canine species 
 adapt themselves to the peculiarities of their owner. 
 If he is flighty, the}^ will be the same. If quiet, 
 their demeanour will be the reflex of his. By the 
 conduct of a pack of foxhounds in the field, the 
 character of their huntsman may be immediately 
 discerned. There is as much difference between 
 the dispositions of young foxhounds as boys at 
 school. Some enter readily, others slowly ; and a 
 few, perhaps, do not manifest any disposition to 
 enter at all. We are not partial to precocious 
 youngsters of any sort — biped or quadruped — and 
 very fast young hounds, as well as fast young gen- 
 tlemen, are generally the first to break down. We 
 must, however, for a certain time, let all run or 
 work together. Some from the first day settle 
 down quickly to their line of business, never needing 
 the smart of whipcord during their lives ; but there 
 will be mischievous ones in every entry — Pickles of 
 their schools, which must be left to the tender 
 mercies of Jem and Jack, to be broken of their bad 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 91 
 
 habits. There is one fault only for which a young 
 hound ought to be drafted, and may be put fairly 
 aside immediately — too much tongue. We have 
 never known an instance of amendment in this 
 case. Babbling increases with years. It cannot 
 be determined whether a young hound, not free 
 with his tongue, can be classed among mutes, before 
 a fair trial has been given him. He may pro- 
 bably be of a modest, taciturn disposition, or, 
 having tasted Jack's whipcord for venturing to 
 proclaim he was running a fox, when Jack would 
 insist he was running a hare, he might feel shy of 
 speaking on the subject again for some time. 
 
 Skirting is not of very early development ; but 
 if a young hound does persist in taking a line of 
 his OAvn, after repeated attempts to keep him with 
 the pack, he must be underlined in the list. 
 
92 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 " Oil ! there is sweetness in the morning air, 
 That sloth and luxury must vainly hope to share." 
 
 The twofold use of cub-hunting — Barring out young foxes — Shyness 
 of fox family — Main earths — Untenable objections to them — 
 Poachers, and their modus operandi — Former value of foxes — 
 *' Light come, light go" — Fence months to other game no defence 
 to foxes — The May fox and July cub— Early cub-hunting re- 
 commended — Difference between grass and arable countries — 
 Hardness of ground injurious to hounds' feet — Easy places and 
 short work — Early impressions most lasting — When to let well 
 alone — Marking to ground — Scene at a coalpit. • 
 
 Cub-hunting is not more necessary for instructing 
 young foxhounds in the wiles of the game they are 
 to pursue, than for making young foxes acquainted 
 with the enemies they have to avoid. Cubs require 
 routing to force them from home, and seek shelter 
 in more distant coverts ; and when the door of the 
 house is locked in which they have hitherto found 
 refuge, they are obliged to look out for other 
 lodgings. We can w^ell imagine the feeling of the 
 houseless desolates, when first barred out from the 
 homes of their happy cubhood, about which they 
 have been wont to gambol in the twilight, as soon 
 as the setting sun had disappeared beneath the 
 horizon — w^ith what eagerness to rush to the spot 
 where the buzzing of beetle or cockchafer gives 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 08 
 
 notice of striking the ground, and falling to them 
 an easy prey, when unable of themselves to procure 
 any other food until the return of their mother 
 with something more substantial for supper in the 
 shape of rabbit or leveret. 
 
 Litters of cubs are not often laid down in a 
 large head of earths, such being used occasionally by 
 badgers and other animals of the pole- cat and stoat 
 species, and, therefore, not sufficiently private for 
 the occupation of a vixen with her family of five 
 small children — that being the common number, 
 although we twice have seen litters of seven and 
 nine. Foxes are notoriously very shy and fond of 
 seclusion, and on that account the vixen generally 
 selects a retired place — an old rabbit-burrow, little 
 frequented, in a small coppice or bank facing the 
 west, or an old broken dry drain not far from the 
 covert-side — wherein to deposit her cubs until they 
 are able to run about, when they are removed by 
 her to stronger places of refuge. 
 
 Objections have been raised to main earths, as 
 leading rather to the destruction than salvation of 
 foxes, to which we cannot subscribe. True, they 
 may be known to poachers, but they are equally 
 well known to earth-stoppers, whose duty it is to 
 watch them throughout the season ; and if these 
 deep caverns in the bowels of the earth are fastened 
 up, as some writers on foxhunting have advised, 
 foxes will find other places not half so secure to 
 hide their heads in, and which probably may be 
 unknown to their protectors. Foxes bred under- 
 ground will lie underground somewhere in boisterous 
 
94 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 weather, or after a heavy fall of snow, through which 
 they are easily traced by poachers to their new 
 burrows or drains, and as easily bolted into a net 
 by the poacher's dog. Main earths are their only 
 safe lodging-houses in sandy or gravelly districts, 
 from which they can with the greatest difficulty be 
 dislodged, on account of the depth and ramifications 
 of these underground labyrinthian passages. The 
 best terrier in the world could not force an old fox 
 to vacate his holding in such a place, neither could 
 he drag him out whilst living ; and poachers' dogs 
 are not over hard in the mouth, which would defeat 
 their masters' objects. We have seen a large high 
 net, of extent sufficient to enclose all the mouths 
 and outlets of the earth or fox-burrow, set upon 
 sticks, with bells attached to it inside, while the 
 poacher and his dog were lying on a sack to await 
 patiently the voluntary issuing of the animal ; but 
 this was a tedious process. To keep watch through 
 two or three dark wintry nights, until the fox was 
 starved out of his den, was not less likely to starve 
 with cold the besiegers of his fortress. Yet the 
 auri sacra fames induces men to submit to almost 
 any hardships or inclemency of weather, and two 
 guineas for a stout healthy fox — the usual price 
 formerly-^amounted to as much money as a 
 labourer's wages for a month. "Light come, 
 light go,'' has been and still is the distinguishing 
 motto of fox-stealers, game poachers, and all of 
 that class who prefer a pilfering life to an honest 
 one. 
 
 Fox-netting in the present age is little practised, 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 95 
 
 for two reasons : first, that the value of the animal 
 has been considerably diminished, on the old score 
 that the supply is more than equal to the demand ; 
 and, secondly, that cheap articles being the order of 
 the day, and packs of foxhounds so multitudinous, 
 thistle-whipping masters won't give two guineas for 
 a bagman to turn out on high days and holidays 
 for the gratification of their supporters in green ; 
 consequently, the traffic in live foxes has diminished, 
 and the skins are now more in request than the 
 living carcases heretofore. For half a sovereign, 
 few men would lie down on the cold damp ground 
 through two or three nights, more surely committed 
 to catch the ague or rheumatism than to catch 
 their fox. Steel traps are more commonly used 
 now for old foxes ; but as every hunting country 
 has become pretty well stocked with this kind of 
 game, cubs scarcely pay for the trouble of catching 
 them. 
 
 Grass countries possess many and great advan- 
 tages over corn -growing districts, and in some, one 
 vacation month only exists between the killing of 
 a May fox and a July cub. We may have too 
 much of any good thing ; and, fond as w^e are of 
 foxhunting, this short respite for hounds must and 
 does tell tales upon them, as it diminishes unneces- 
 sarily the tails of foxes. Game are allowed their 
 fence months, with the exception of hares and rab- 
 bits, which are without the pale of the law, simply, 
 we suppose, in consideration of their breeding eight 
 months out of the twelve, and, from their produc- 
 tiveness, likely to overrun the land. Foxes, still 
 
96 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 ranking in the catalogue of vermin, may, as a mat- 
 ter of course, be killed at all times of tlie year and 
 by anybody ; and save for foxhunting having be- 
 come quite the fashion, and public opinion enlisted 
 on its side, the vulpine race would ere now have 
 been nearly extinct in this country. 
 
 Some few masters of hounds, having unlimited 
 power to do as they list, may therefore kill their 
 May fox and July cub, if the nuniber of foxes 
 suffice for such extravagance ; but these instances 
 are only to be found in woodland countries. In 
 moderation, the earlier young hounds can be entered 
 to their game, the more steady they will become 
 before the opening day of the regular season ; but 
 we think the time appointed for grouse-shooting is 
 quite early enough for cub-hunting to commence 
 also, and this can only be done in fav(fured locali- 
 ties, where the woods are surrounded by pasture 
 land on every side. In arable countries, the corn 
 is seldom cleared from the fields before the 1st of 
 September, varying a week or two according to the 
 season ; and if the weather continues hot and dry, 
 cub-hunting must be delayed until a heavy fall of 
 rain, to moisten the gi^ound, or your hounds will 
 suffer severely from begiiming to hunt on such hard 
 surface. Long toes are not conducive to the beauty 
 or efficiency of a foxhound. 
 
 Whatever may be said as to the tameness of 
 cub-hunting, it is the reverse of tame work to 
 hounds ; in fact, we do not know any more severe 
 than a woodland day in autumn before the menses 
 of the covert are opened, with the leaves yet green 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 97 
 
 upon the briers and underwood. The trackway 
 through which foxes and hares pass is sufficiently 
 wide to let them steer clear of burs and brambles. 
 The leading couples of a pack of foxhounds, how- 
 ever, press furiously forward, not in a line, but with 
 extended front, crashing and dashing through all 
 obstacles, regardless of scratches and bruises. In 
 the thickest part of the covert, where grow rushes, 
 reed, and blackthorn in rank luxuriance, there is 
 the fox's kennel more secure from disturbances than 
 in any other quarter of the wood. One of the 
 chief objects in cub-hunting is to make the young 
 hounds accustomed to face the most dense thickets 
 or gorse-brakes, and by their manner of doing this 
 will their characters for resolution or weakness be 
 shown. 
 
 We have recommended easy places at first, where 
 blood may be obtained without much difficulty, and 
 we also advise short work at the same time. Kill 
 your first cub as soon as you can fairly, that is, 
 by ftxir hunting, w^ithout mobbing or hustling, and 
 take your hounds home. Don't draw for a second. 
 Early impressions are ever most lasting. Let your 
 entry return to the kennel flushed with victory, 
 though easily won, and they will always believe 
 they arc to be victorious. Let them go home dis- 
 appointed, fagged, and w^eary, after a hard, unsuc- 
 cessful day's work, and they w^ill know that they 
 can be beaten. Herein lies the secret of the success 
 or failure of every pack of foxhounds dependent 
 upon their master's or huntsman's knowledge, when 
 
 H 
 
98 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 to let well alone. We have been met on this point 
 by the observation that staghounds, as they are 
 called, rarely taste the blood of deer, and yet run 
 their game with as much apparent eagerness as 
 foxhounds follow theirs. All the hunting species 
 of dogs love a scent of some sort, which instinct 
 directs them to pursue, and in which they are 
 encouraged by their masters. The pointer works 
 all day without the least expectation of tasting the 
 blood of the game he has been taught to hunt for. 
 More, he knows punishment would be inflicted 
 upon him for ruffling a feather ; yet there is no lack 
 of spirit or courage in scouring the stubbles or 
 turnip-fields to bring it within range of his master's 
 double-barrel. Right and left the dead birds fall. 
 The dog is satisfied ! the victory won by his mas- 
 terly skill ; his own exertions have been rewarded 
 by seeing the dead game lying on the ground before 
 him. Moreover, the hand laid gently upon his head 
 with the approving smile and kind words, spoken 
 in kindly tones, " Well done ! good dog,'' are of 
 themselves a sufficient recompense ; and, with a 
 look betokening his gratified feelings, Ponto goes 
 forth with renewed alacrity and zeal to hunt for 
 the other scattered birds of the covey. Now, let 
 this dog be transferred to a bad shot, who would 
 day after day blaze away with very indifferent 
 success, and a corresponding change would soon 
 be perceptible in Ponto's deportment. He would 
 become slack in ranging ; run in, perhaps, upon 
 the birds ; and give chase to a winged one, in 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 99 
 
 despair at his new owner's blundering way of 
 doing business. 
 
 As to staghounds, it is well known that the 
 scent of deer is the strongest as well as sweetest of 
 all game. Hounds luxuriate in it. They have no 
 necessity to work with their noses on the ground, 
 like foxhounds or harriers, over and through many 
 opposing difficulties. The scent of this large animal 
 is carried widely behind him as he flies up wind. 
 Widely and wildly do his pursuers stream away in 
 his wake, with heads well up in the air, to inhale 
 the odoriferous vapours floating there. They have 
 little else to do than put their best legs foremost, 
 except upon very rare occasions. And then the 
 result. The deer is brought to bay, and their vic- 
 tory is won. They have beaten him ; he can no 
 longer escape them on land, and therefore takes 
 refuge in the water. No doubt, like many of their 
 assistants in the chase, they would like to have a 
 taste of his haunch ; but the master says " No," 
 and he lives to run another day. They are partly, 
 if not wholly, satisfied. In like manner, fox- 
 hounds are not down-hearted when they have run 
 their fox to ground ; but when, day after day, th^y 
 are prevented by ill-luck, i.e., bad scenting weather, 
 or the injudicious interference of their huntsman, 
 from coming to a satisfactory conclusion, the " hope 
 deferred maketh the heart sick," and they become 
 dispirited. 
 
 Marking a fox to ground is also a very necessary 
 lesson in the education of young hounds, and a cub 
 
 H 2 
 
100 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 must be occasionally dug out and given to them 
 upon the earth. To effect this, a large rabbit- 
 burrow may be left open, which they have fre- 
 quented. When rattled about until beaten, they 
 will often seek shelter in a single pipe in the wood- 
 bank, or in a short drain under a gateway, from 
 which they may easily be bolted by the terrier, or 
 dug out. There may be said to be more honour in 
 the breach than in the performance of this act. 
 We do not advocate an unnecessary repetition of 
 it ; that necessity only exists casually in cub-hunt- 
 ing, to teach the entry where to stop when the 
 scent fails before them, and, after a hard toilsome 
 day in foxhunting, that hounds may not be disap- 
 pointed of their reasonable hope. 
 
 We recollect rather an appalling incident con- 
 nected with digging out a cub, which made us wary 
 in prying into the hidden places of the earth. The 
 cub had found refuge in what we thought to be a 
 small drain in the covert, as we could touch him 
 with the end of a long stick. Extraction having 
 been decided upon, since the young hounds had 
 been working hard all the morning, and were at that 
 time fifteen miles from kennel, a spade was bor- 
 rowed from a labourer, and in a few minutes we 
 came upon the unfortunate cub, which was pulled 
 out by one of the old hounds, and dispatched 
 immediately. Our horror may be imagined when 
 on looking farther into the drain we made the 
 discovery that he had been standing over the 
 mouth of an old coal-pit shaft, to avoid falling 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 101 
 
 into the yawning abyss ; the poor brute had pre- 
 ferred falling into the jaws of his enemies to a 
 lingering death by starvation in the dark regions 
 beneath. Had we been aware of the dire extremity 
 to which this fox had been reduced, nothing would 
 have induced us to take his life ; and we reflected 
 with gratitude upon our escape from a fate which 
 might have been, save for his instinct, of the most 
 feaiful kind. 
 
]02 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 * * Oft list'ning how the hounds and horn 
 Cheerily rouse the slumb'ring morn." 
 
 Master's , presence necessary to judge of entry — Duties devolving on 
 jiiaste^'s — Some ezca^es for neglecting them — First-class hunts- 
 men — Duke of Beaufort's letter to "Will Long — Goosey and Will 
 , G/Oodall — Tom- Sebright ajid others — Anecdote of Tommy Moore, 
 '" 'tij,e, Tuef— -TfihUt'e of respect to Charles Tread well— Wanton 
 sliedding of fox-b'lood — Accidents may happen — Weeding 
 litters — Bloodthirsty preservers — Counting noses — "I never 
 counts 'em whilst they suck " — The fashion in foxhunting. 
 
 The remarks of " Dryasdust '' on cub-hunting, 
 in Land and Water, deserve honourable men- 
 tion among all foxhunters, and we trust they may 
 produce also some good effects upon those masters 
 of hounds who are disposed to leave the tuition of 
 the entry entirely in the hands of their huntsman, 
 as gentlemen too commonly do, the breaking of 
 young pointers to their keepers, "and thus,'' as 
 " Dryasdust '' observes, *'the master, w^ho should be 
 cognizant of every detail, and with whom should 
 rest every appeal in all that concerns the manage- 
 ment of a pack of foxhounds, loses the opportunity 
 of judging for himself what are likely to prove the 
 characters of the young aspirants of the pack, and 
 he is obliged to entrust the very important task 
 of drafting to his huntsman, for the fulfilment of 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 103 
 
 that duty now rapidly ensues, and the satisfactory 
 performance of which must engage the most serious 
 and experienced consideration that can be brought 
 to bear upon it." 
 
 More true words were never penned. Yet how 
 few masters in the present age will give their time 
 and attention to this most important of all the im- 
 portant duties attached to their office — watching 
 the progress of the entry, and determining from their 
 own observation what young hounds are deserving 
 a place in the kennel list, as likely to contribute to 
 the strength and efficiency of the pack. Gentlemen 
 undertaking to hunt a country have many un- 
 pleasant as well as pleasant tasks to fulfil, and 
 some will argue, that where they employ a first- 
 class huntsman, thoroughly acquainted with his 
 duties and business, there can be no necessity for 
 them to curtail their hours of rest to superintend 
 the entering of their young hounds ; and there are 
 no doubt many huntsmen of the present day, as 
 there have been in past times, who will faithfully 
 discharge their duties in this respect, and do ample 
 justice to the'pack under their control — men above 
 suspicion, who would never think of drafting a 
 hound for a bribe, and who really take as much 
 interest in showing a good and clever entry as the 
 master himself In large establishments of old 
 date we find this to be especially the case, and we 
 could mention many who have had almost the sole 
 management of the pack within our recollection, 
 whose zeal was only equalled by their fidelity to 
 the trust confided in them. Such as Philip Payne, 
 
104 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 for many years huntsnian to the Badminton, and to 
 "whose knowledge and experience in breeding it is 
 said the hounds in that kennel owed their supe- 
 riority. He was succeeded by Will Long, and, 
 irrespective of our opinion of him, we think the 
 letter addressed to him by the present Duke of 
 Beaufort, when leaving his Grace's service, is suffi- 
 cient proof of the estimation in which he had been 
 held. As this letter was printed in the year 1855, 
 we may, witliout scruple, insert a few sentences from 
 it, honourable alike to master and man : — 
 
 " As you have asked me whether I am satisfied 
 with the manner in which you discharged your 
 duties up to the time of your leaving my service, 
 I can truly say, that I am thoroughly convinced 
 that you performed those duties diligently and 
 conscientiously, and to the advantage of your 
 employer. The hounds having been thrice in your 
 time reduced to half their number, you were placed 
 in the difficult position of having to double their 
 numbers in a short time. That you did this care- 
 fully and well, and showed great talent in so doing, 
 must be apparent to any one who looks over the 
 hounds carefully at this present time." 
 
 In the Bel voir kennels we remember Goosey, 
 and poor Will Goodall, who was cut down in the 
 prime of life, both of whom well deserved the con- 
 fidence reposed in them by their noble masters. 
 In the latter we took great interest from his joyous 
 good-humour and lack of all self-conceit ; and we 
 must do him the justice to say that, although 
 accused of a little flightiness in the field, he had 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 105 
 
 brought the Belvoir pack to a standard of symme- 
 try and excellence far above that — as far as our 
 recollection serves — which we noticed under the 
 management of his predecessor in office. Goosey 
 bred many clever hounds, whose names and mea- 
 sures are dotted down in our note-book ; but 
 Goodall could sliow numbers equally clever, and all 
 possessing a family likeness ; in short, the last time 
 we paid a visit to the Belvoir kennels, the year 
 before Goodall's death, the pack had then attained 
 the acme of perfection. 
 
 Tom Sebright also, who had been, when I last 
 saw him, thirty-seven years huntsman to the Milton 
 pack, obtained a workl-wide reputation as a breeder 
 of foxhounds, irrespective of his talents displayed 
 in the field. Jem Hills, with the Hey thro p, the 
 two Tread wells, one with Mr. Farquarson, and the 
 other for many years huntsman to the Bramham 
 Moor pack, were men deserving the confidence of 
 their masters. And in later years Charles Payne, 
 of Pytcheley notoriety, has exhibited talents of no 
 mean order, in raising that pack to a high standard, 
 which, when he first undertook their management, 
 might be said to consist of odds and ends. 
 
 We have mentioned these huntsmen, wdiose con- 
 duct and character have come under our own 
 observation, to prove that there have been, and ever 
 will be, men of this class, to whom the manage- 
 ment of a pack of foxhounds may be safely 
 entrusted, even without the interference of a mas- 
 ter. It does not follow, as a matter of course, that 
 men filling such responsible situations, with credit 
 
106 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 to themselves and satisfaction to their employers, 
 are of low plebeian origin, although occupying the 
 position of servants. Their pedigrees may not, 
 perchance, be found in " Burke's Landed Gentry," 
 yet, as we have ever expressed the opinion that 
 " blood will tell,'' we entertain no doubt that many 
 of these men have better blood flowing in their 
 veins than some of the families Mr. Burke has 
 been pleased to honour witli a place in his pages. 
 
 The story is told of Tom Moore, the poet, when 
 dining with the Prince Regent, afterwards George 
 IV., and the name of Dr. Moore, the author of 
 " Zeluco," being mentioned, the Prince asked if he 
 was of the same fiimily. Moore, thinking his 
 humble origin was well known, and that the 
 question was intended as an insult, answered, " No, 
 please your Royal Highness ; I am the son of 
 Tom Moore, the grocer in Dublin,'' — an answer 
 which offended the Prince, and he was never asked 
 to Carle ton House again. That the author of 
 " Lalla Rookh " was a man of low vulgar ex- 
 traction, every line of that poem disproves, although 
 his father might have been a grocer. In the 
 annals of the poor we should find many now 
 occup3ang a very humble position, whose ancestors 
 have held high places in society, and vice versa. 
 Millionaires spring from the lowest ranks, whose 
 god has been Mammon, and whose motto through 
 life in making money may be borrowed from old 
 Horace, " Si possis recte si non quocunque onodo 
 possis/' 
 
 Having said thus much, as in justice bound, in 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 107 
 
 praise of such huntsmen to whom we render the 
 honour due to them, we must, however, admit that 
 their number is comparatively small, and as a 
 general rule, the observations of *' Dryasdust " are 
 unfortunately too well founded. During our career 
 as huntsman for nearly thirty years, we found one 
 man only, out of seven or eight others, first 
 whipper-in and kennel huntsman, to whom we 
 would have trusted the management of the pack, 
 either in the kennel or field — and that individual 
 was the late huntsman of the Bramham Moor, 
 Charles Tread well, to whom we could securely have 
 trusted untold gold ; and we believe no bribe, 
 however large, would have induced him to betray 
 his master's interest. 
 
 As to the killing of cubs and foxes, notwith- 
 standing we think nearly all huntsmen agreed on 
 one point — to kill them when they can, to count 
 scalps on the kennel door, they are rather too 
 indifferent how the scalps are obtained, and we 
 remember a story told — it may be such in reality, 
 i.e., a fib — of a huntsman allowing his hounds to 
 devour a whole litter one morning ! Even were 
 this a fact, it admits of palliation or explanation, 
 since accidents will occur in the best-regulated 
 families ; and with the intention of taking one 
 only out of a litter, we remember once to have 
 had the ill-luck to kill four, and without the power 
 of preventing such unpremeditated slaughter. You 
 cannot prevent cubs — hitherto undisturbed and 
 unacquainted with their enemies — being chopped 
 up sometimes in a very unsatisfactory manner ; 
 
108 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 and if there is no earth-stopping done for a 
 second litter, tlie first will suffer more severely 
 than intended, or you must go home. The weeding 
 of the litter, however, ought to depend very much 
 upon tlieir locality. Those bred in pit places ought 
 to be tenderly dealt with, stirring them up a little 
 to let them know " what's what,'' and unstopping 
 the earths when they have had a sufficient rattling. 
 In large woodlands, more may be taken out of each 
 litter if required, since when the regular hunting 
 season commences, foxes will always resort to the 
 big woods. Although, generally speaking, not 
 more than one member out of the same litter should 
 be killed in a day, we have occasionally been 
 obliged to deviate from this rule, in ticklish places, 
 where a litter has been saved literally to be killed 
 off by the hounds in one day, if possible. This 
 may be called a queer method of fox-preserving, 
 yet there were more than one or two owners or 
 renters of coverts who bred up litters of cubs for 
 us on these conditions, besides keepers to whose 
 wishes we deemed it prudent to yield, and if we 
 had not yielded, the cubs would have disappeared. 
 We remember one mornin^ killinor two out of a 
 litter thus circumstanced, which we thought more 
 than sufficient, when the owner of the covert — not 
 a very large one — said, " You are not going home 
 yet ? " 
 
 " Quite time we should," was our reply ; " a 
 brace in one day." 
 
 *' Oh, no ; there are five in the litter, and as I 
 have viewed one going away, some little time ago, 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 109 
 
 to those spinnies under the hill, I want to see how 
 your young hounds can run over the open/' 
 
 We pleaded in vain for a respite to this young 
 fox, which had taken a capital line of country, in 
 the hope of his showing us a run in the season. 
 
 " Nothing like time present,'' was his answer ; 
 " a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, and 
 you are not sure of finding him again — besides 
 whicl), I am no rider to hounds, as you know, so 
 here I shall sit in my saddle on the brow of the 
 hill, whilst you go down to turn him out, and then 
 I shall be able to tell you which is the fastest hound 
 in your entry, and how they come on over the 
 greensward — won't that be a pretty sight ? " he 
 asked, with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. 
 
 *' Others would like to witness that sight as 
 well as yourself." 
 
 " Very likely ; but as I breed cubs for my own 
 amusement and yours, not for the field, about 
 whom I don't care a rap, I am quite sure you will 
 indulge my fancy : then we shall have two young 
 and two old left still." 
 
 His wishes being somewhat in the nature of 
 commands, we were obliged to go in search of 
 Number 3, and our friend on the hill saw more of 
 the run than we did, the cub being caught just as 
 he reached the wood-hedge, greatly to the owner's 
 delight. 
 
 We were, however, never guilty of killing cubs 
 for the sake of counting noses, which huntsmen 
 generally are prone to do. This is their weak 
 point ; and to be paraded in print as the destroyer 
 
110 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 of SO many brace of foxes by the end of the 
 season, they take the opportunity of swelling their 
 list of slain by snapping up cubs, when there can 
 be no merit in killing them. 
 
 An old huntsman, whose name does not at this 
 moment occur to us, w^as once twitted by a junior 
 holding a similar appointment, for the paucity of 
 his number booked. His reply is deserving the 
 attention of huntsmen in the present day : — 
 
 " I never counts 'em whilst they sucks/' 
 
 Our sporting papers are doing not only little 
 service, but much mischief to the cause, by pub- 
 lishing any amount of foxes killed before the 1st 
 of November ; up to that time they ought, if there 
 must be such notice taken of them, to be entered 
 by their proper name, '* cubs,'' and not entered 
 on the list as foxes. " Poor is the triumph o'er 
 the timid hare/' and poorer still the triumph over 
 a litter of cubs, barred out from their home, and 
 murdered by the sudden onslaught of their ene- 
 mies, biped as well as quadru2:)ed, with screams 
 and yells, and the thundering roar of the pack iu 
 their rear, enough to frighten them out of their 
 senses. 
 
 The first day of November is the first recognized 
 meeting of foxhunters for the dispatch of regular 
 business — the 1st of September for partridge 
 shooting — the 1st of October for the slaughtering 
 of pheasants ; we say slaughter of pheasants, 
 because they are driven up in a corner, like cattle 
 in South America, to be killed in a wholesale 
 manner. To shoot game before these legalized 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. Ill 
 
 periods, involves the penalty of paying so much 
 money to the exchequer for killing it out of 
 season, and to appear at the covert side in regular 
 trim before the accredited time, involves generally 
 the penalty of being miscalled a muff. Fox- 
 hunting is the fashion — but it is not in fixshion 
 till the 1st of November, until which time, 
 masters, huntsmen, and whips do everything in 
 their own way. There are no regular fixtures — 
 no regular hours of meeting or leaving off — no 
 regular course of drawing. They are amenable to 
 no criticisms. It is the cub-hunting season, they 
 must be let alone. 
 
 We award them all this, and more ; but then we 
 don't see any reason for accrediting them with 
 cubs, slain as so many foxes, to be added to the 
 list, of which we know nothing. Cub-hunting 
 ought to pass for what it is in reality — the 
 blooding of the young hounds to their legitimate 
 game, and instructing them in their preliminary 
 lessons : all we beg is, not to be disgusted with 
 the sight in print of some twenty or thirty brace 
 of foxes being killed before the 29 th of October. 
 
11-2 SYSTEM OF KENNEIi AND 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 "The fading many-colour' d woods, 
 Shade deepening over shade, the country round 
 Imbrown : a crowded umbrage, dusk and dun, 
 Of every hue, from wan declining green 
 To sooty dark." Thomson. 
 
 Visits and visitations to cubs — Pet places — Idleness the parent of 
 vice even in foxes — To be kept moving — Small and large coverts — 
 Mr. Ward and the Craven country — Southgrove the elysium of 
 foxes — Friendly societies — A novel plan for breaking them up 
 — Faggots vice foxhounds — Always at home — Woodland foxes. 
 
 If practicable, every litter of cubs, bred within 
 the limits of the hunt, should be visited by the 
 young hounds before the first day of pheasant 
 shooting. To those in small coverts, a short 
 morning call will be sufficient, just to stir them 
 up a little, upon others in large woodlands, 
 a visitation may be inflicted, — a thorough good 
 routing. There are pet places in every country, 
 wdiich masters often spare until the commencement 
 of regular hunting, but nothing is gained by for- 
 bearance. Young foxes, from having been so long 
 undisturbed, become fat and indolent, and being 
 unacquainted with their enemies, are easily snapped 
 up, without aff'ording any sport at all, besides 
 which, being ignorant of country, save, perhaps, 
 
SCIEKCE OF FOXHUNTING. 113 
 
 witliin a mile or two of their home, they know 
 not where to run. We recollect killing four young 
 foxes out of the litter of five, which had not been 
 previously disturbed, on the 1st of November, by 
 a singular misadventure. The first brace were 
 caught in covert without any sport. The second 
 having gone away to another small brake about 
 a mile distant, which lay in our draw for that day, 
 came unfortunately across our path, and the pack 
 again dividing, each lot killed their fox in the open, 
 after a short scurry, on one of the best scenting 
 days we ever remember. This pet place did not 
 produce us another fox until after Christmas, and 
 we thereby were taught a lesson — always to give 
 every litter a turn before the opening day of the 
 season, leaving the earths unbarred, however, that 
 the cubs could get to ground, when disposed to 
 do so. 
 
 We cannot prevent foxes being killed or chopped 
 in small coverts ; but we must, if possible, prevent, 
 their being eaten by the hounds within the wood- 
 hedge. Take them away quickly out into the 
 adjoining field, some distance from it, and then let 
 the dismemberment of the carcase be performed. 
 Although deterred from lying during the day in 
 small coverts, from which they have been recently 
 routed by hounds, foxes visit their old haunts by 
 night, and are cautious in kennelling again near 
 the slaughter-ground of one of their family. In 
 large w^oods they may and will shift their ground 
 from one quarter to another, but to break up a 
 fox in a small gorse-brake, or any pet place of 
 
 I 
 
114 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 that kind, insures it being drawn blank for weeks, 
 if not months. Moderately-sized coverts ought 
 not to be visited by hounds oftener than once a 
 month, and of big woods it may be said as of 
 walnut-trees, in the old couplet, " the more you 
 beat them the better they be/' We are disinclined 
 to believe that women or spaniels would be much 
 improved in disposition by severe chastisement. 
 Walnut-trees may be benefited by it, for any- 
 thing we know to the contrary, and some large 
 woodlands admit of being knocked about once a 
 week with advantage. 
 
 During Mr. Ward's tenancy of the Craven 
 country, there was a large covert lying on the 
 outskirts, called Southgrove, which, being a con- 
 siderable distance from the kennels, then located at 
 Hungerford, was rarely drawn by his hounds in 
 the regular season ; in fact it was used principally 
 for cub-hunting, and as a dernier ressort in the 
 spring of the year, when a May fox, or half-a- 
 dozen, might be safely killed, without doing the 
 slightest injury to the prospects of sport for the 
 ensuing season. Consequently, upon foxes being 
 allowed to hold their own places Avith so little 
 interruption, Southgrove became a kind of elysium, 
 where the vulpine race congregated in large num- 
 bers to enjoy their otiimij and when disturbed 
 at long intervals, they played their cards so well 
 on the reciprocity system of mutual assistance, 
 that the hounds were beaten long before any of 
 the fraternity could be brought to hand ; in short, 
 there was a pack of foxes on foot to contend with 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 115 
 
 a pack of hounds. The issue may be anticipated — 
 no sport — no runs. Foxes were not obliged to 
 run, and of course they would not run. 
 
 Well, it so happened that a very celebrated 
 master of foxhounds, who had won an immensity 
 of laurels in the Quorn country, no less a person 
 than the late Assheton Smith, having obtained per- 
 mission to hunt this covert from Mr. Ward's suc- 
 cessor, threatened annihilation to this great preserve 
 of foxes. Still, with all his experience and know- 
 ledge of their habits and wiles, these wily animals 
 defied for a time all his strenuous efforts to dislodge 
 them — go they would not. He tluen bethought 
 him of a stratagem hitherto unpractised in the art 
 — smoking them out, not from the earths, but from 
 the wood altogether, large bonfires being lit in the 
 drives during the night to scare them away. Some 
 of the most timid did, we believe, take this as 
 notice to quit, retreating in orderly manner to 
 another stronghold not far distant, called Colling- 
 bourne "Wood, but the old sticklers for place held 
 on still, regardless of the new element employed 
 for their ejectment. 
 
 This singular proceeding adopted by the Squire 
 of Tedworth created no small stir amongst the old 
 foxhunters of that and other adjoining countries, 
 exciting the ire of that most orthodox preacher 
 and foxhunter, the late Fulwar Fowle, a stanch 
 supporter of Mr. Ward's hounds and country, by 
 whom the division of the latter was regarded as a 
 most unwarrantable infringement of the laws of 
 foxhunting, equally obnoxious as the new mode of 
 
 I 2 
 
116 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 trying to make foxes break covert ; and he was 
 heard to remark to a stranger joining the hunt, 
 "We have something new, sir, in these parts re- 
 garding foxhunting, introduced by Mr. Smith, who 
 in place of hounds uses fire, to smoke them out ! " 
 However novel the experiment, and unsportsman- 
 like, by dint of bonfires by night and hounds by 
 day, foxes at last began to fiy, and Southgrove 
 became a weekly fixture, one day per week through- 
 out the whole season, and with this continued 
 routing it was rarely drawn blank. 
 
 "Always at home,"' is a great thing to masters 
 of hounds .and genuine sportsmen — finding the 
 animal of the first consideration, when found, of 
 minor importance — and we should as soon expect 
 to hear a man complaining of having too much 
 money as a master of too many foxes. The latter 
 may be not quite so easily dispersed as sovereigns, 
 but they possess this advantage over coin — that 
 however scattered, you may make pretty sure of 
 finding them again. Fast men abhor big woods, 
 yet are they generally indebted to woodland 
 foxes for their runs of the season. Big woods are 
 the preserves from which our game is circulated 
 throughout the country, and when properly hunted 
 supply the pet places with the best and straightest 
 running foxes. 
 
SCIENCE OF rOXHUNTlNG. 117 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Faults in foxhounds — Hard work and no play makes Jack a dull 
 boy — Trial of speed in the open — Hasty drafting censured — 
 Beckford's anecdote — Packing together — The cry of hounds — 
 Happy medium — Touch and go — Noisy at fences — Will 
 Goodall's opinion of large hounds — The late Assheton Smith 
 and Freeman — The music of the pack — Gervase Markham 
 thereon. 
 
 As '' hard work and no play makes Jack a dull 
 boy," so must there be some relaxation given to 
 young hounds from hard woodland work, to which, 
 when sufficiently inured, a scamper over the open 
 country with a young fox Avill be of service, teach- 
 ing them to get away from covert, to horn and 
 holloa. Moreover, the master and huntsman will 
 have an opportunity of seeing how they can run 
 together, wdiether some have the speed of others, 
 and whether there w^ill not be one or two not able 
 to run up at all. Well-shaped foxhounds are 
 rarely troubled with the sloius, and it is not to be 
 taken for granted because a young hound does not 
 at first run up with the rest, that he cannot do so. 
 This may arise from want of inclination rather than 
 from want of physical power. We should be slow 
 to draft a promising young hound for such a fault 
 — if fault it can be fairly called — without giving 
 
118 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 him time to amend his ways, having seen many 
 slack at first, turn out the quickest in their second 
 season. Beckford relates an instance of a young 
 hound never joining the pack, either in hunting or 
 drawing, until one day, catching a view of his 
 beaten game, he ran up for the finish, and ever 
 afterwards pressed forward to the front. When, 
 however, it becomes clear that any hound has not 
 speed sufficient to keep his proper place, there is 
 very little prospect of improvement ; in this respect 
 it is not likely his pace will be increased by feeling 
 his own deficiency ; it is more than likely he will 
 cut corners or become a rank skirter. There may 
 be also one or two individuals occasionally too fast 
 for the body of the pack, which must go with the 
 slows to some other destination — drafting from 
 head to tail being the only method of making a 
 pack of foxhounds hold well together. 
 
 There is an old simile — a very old one — so old 
 that even Beckford thought it too threadbare to 
 notice in his "Thoughts on Hunting,''' comparing 
 the running of foxhounds to the fiight of pigeons, 
 almost universally adopted by our modern chroni- 
 clers of runs in BeWs Life, The Fields and Land 
 and Water, with the addendum of " clustering 
 so close together, that they might be covered 
 by a casting-net." Beckford uses (if we remember 
 rightly) one more appropriate, expressing his 
 opinion that they ought to be, when in chase, 
 "like the horses in the chariot of the sun — all 
 abreast,'' and in this order pigeons take their 
 flight over the fields, in a long extended line. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 119 
 
 which would require a drag instead of a casting- 
 net to enclose them. There can be little doubt 
 that the efficiency of the pack very much depends 
 upon the head they carry. To elucidate this, we 
 will suppose hounds running as a flock of geese fly, 
 with one leader, the rest falling behind in triangular 
 fashion. The foremost foxhound, supposing one to 
 have the speed of the others, when at fault, from 
 his game turning shortly to the right or left, must 
 take a certain time in making his cast to recover 
 the line. But when the body of the pack is of 
 equal speed, the scent is carried on, without inter- 
 ruption, by an extended front taking it up on 
 either side at the point of deviation. However 
 handsome, a young hound too fost for the rest 
 should be drafted, although we know the reluctance 
 of masters and huntsmen to part with anything 
 very ornamental for a slight fault of this kind. 
 But if the efficient working of the pack is of the 
 first consideration — and that cannot be maintained 
 without keeping them well together — drafting must 
 be adopted freely of all likely to mar this object. 
 
 There is a great difference between well-bred 
 foxhounds as to toncoie, some heincr much more 
 musical than others, and it is a very nice point to 
 determine the happy medium. Babblers are as 
 universally condemned as mutes, and properly so, 
 since no pack can do well with them, the first 
 always holding back, and the second preventing the 
 pack getting forward. When hounds are running 
 hard, as we call it, heads up and sterns down, 
 there must, of necessity, be little cry at that par- 
 
120 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 ticular time, but that is not the time for deciding 
 the question whether the}^ have too much or too 
 little tongue. Hounds may be too free with their 
 tongues without being absolutely babblers, yet this 
 freedom of speech generally ends in babbling when 
 they grow older. We don't like to hear a liound 
 throw his tongue too readily to cry when a fox is 
 first found. We may know for a certainty that 
 old Bounty never told a lie, but we don't approve 
 her proclainiing a find without her own nasal ex- 
 perience of the fact. Again, in hunting, a hound 
 may say too much about it, without being decidedly 
 noisy or a babbler. " Touch and go "' ought to be 
 the motto of a foxhound. We have heard of old 
 blue-mottled harriers so delighted with the discovery 
 of a scent, when juniors of this fraternity had 
 failed to unravel it, that they would raise their 
 heads on high with a loud yell, and even spring 
 back a few spaces in an ecstasy of enjoyment at 
 their success. 
 
 It is all very well on paper, writing of hounds 
 enjoying a scent, and in the field this sort of thing 
 may suit harriers, but it is destructive of sport 
 with foxhounds. Hundreds — we may say thou- 
 sands — of times we have seen foxhounds running, 
 not hunting, with a scent so queer (the m.ost ex- 
 pressive term we can use), that not even a whimper 
 could be heard. Still they were going — running 
 briskly, feeling secure the scent was before them, 
 yet not so secure that they would proclaim it as a 
 certainty. This is, or ought to be, the distinguish- 
 ing characteristic of a pack of foxhounds — always 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 121 
 
 to the fore, and making the best of a bad matter. 
 Now these same hounds, mute on such occasions, 
 for which they cannot be too highly commended, 
 will open their mouths freely when all doubt is 
 removed from their minds — opining that dogs have 
 minds. We don't like to hear hounds throw their 
 tongues at fences which they ought to get through 
 or over as quickly as possible, without saying any- 
 thing about it. Again, at park railings and walls 
 some are exceedingly vociferous, instead of trying 
 to surmount them or finding a breach higher or 
 lower down. Here large hounds have the advan- 
 tage over little ones, and we think generally at 
 all kinds of fences. We remember having a long 
 discussion with poor Will Goodall on this point, 
 relative to the strong bullfinches in the Belvoir 
 Vale, which he considered more easily encountered 
 by small hounds creeping through the menses, 
 where a large hound could not go. 
 
 " Very true," we observed, " but a well-bred big 
 one would take a spring at the fence higher up, 
 and like a heavy weight, force bis way through in 
 his stride/' 
 
 Some years ago the late Squire of Ted worth, 
 better known as Tom Smith, paid a visit to our 
 kennel, when a hound, called Freeman, then a four- 
 season hunter, particularly attracted his attention. 
 
 "That is a very clever hound,'' he remarked; 
 " and the more I look at him the more I like him — 
 capital legs and feet — good shoulders, strong back 
 and loins — in short, I can't see a faulty place. 
 Have you had much from him ? " 
 
122 SYSTEIVI OF KENNEL AND 
 
 "No/' was our reply. 
 
 " May I ask the reason why you have not ? '* 
 
 *' Certainly : he is rather too free with his 
 tongue/' 
 
 "In other words, I suppose he is noisy ?" 
 
 " No, not that exactly, or you would not have 
 seen him in our kennel ; but he speaks twice when 
 once would have been sufiicient. That is his only 
 fault : in every other respect Freeman is nearly per- 
 fection — draws well and quickly, runs hard, hunts 
 the lowest scent/' 
 
 "By Jove!" he exclaimed, "that hound is just 
 the thing for our flints and fallows ; but I should 
 like to see how he works. Will you sell him ? " 
 
 " No,'' we replied ; " but as you have taken such 
 a fancy to Freeman, he can go back to your kennel 
 when Dick Burton comes down for the ladies he has 
 left here during this frost/' 
 
 With many thanks the Squire took his leave, and 
 at parting we said, " Now, bear in mind, we advise 
 you not to breed from that hound, much as you 
 will like him in his work, for although not noisy 
 now, yet he will be so two years hence, if he lives 
 so long/' 
 
 The Squire gave us a look, which we understood 
 by the twinkle of his eye as tantamount to teach- 
 ing grandmammas or grandpapas how to suck eggs. 
 Well, Freeman went to the Tedworth kennels, and 
 soon after we i*eceived a letter from the Squire, eulo- 
 gizing his performances, and concluding thus : — 
 " Notwithstanding your caution, I like Freeman so 
 much, that I have put him already to two of my 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 123 
 
 best brood bitches, rather shy of tongue, and I 
 think the cross will succeed admirably/' 
 
 Being in the habit of paying an annual visit to 
 a very old and sincere friend, residing within five 
 miles of Tedworth, a stanch supporter of Assheton 
 Smith's hunt, we had an opportunity afterwards of 
 seeing the sons and daughters of Freeman in the 
 field as well as in the kennel, and the majority 
 of them verified our prediction, turning out too 
 loquacious by half. Handsome they all were — 
 neat as new pins, especially the ladies, to each of 
 whom the couplet might be applied — 
 
 ** If to her share some trifling errors fall, 
 Look at lier/or77i and you forget them all." 
 
 Such appeared to be the Squire's opinion, and he 
 would not then admit he had committed an error 
 in judgment by breeding from a hound too free 
 with his tongue ; although some few years after, 
 when out of temper with one of Freeman's pro- 
 geny, the confession escaped his lips, ** Confound 
 that Freeman ! '' The Squire of Tedworth, or, as 
 he was very appropriately called in that country 
 by the lower orders, " the hard gentleman,'' from 
 his hard riding and contempt of falls, was very 
 partial to our pack, and the list of his hounds, 
 published by Mr. Delm^ Ratclifie in his book 
 entitled "The Noble Science," in the year 1888, 
 shows that he had in kennel at that time no less 
 than thirty-seven couples got by our hounds. Free- 
 man, it is true, was not exactly of our sort, his 
 father coming from another kennel, but he was bred 
 and educated in our own. Our sort were not remark- 
 
124 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 able for being free with their tongues. Packs of fox- 
 hounds vary very much in this respect, some possessing 
 deep sonorous notes, but claiming, as we think, a 
 cross with harrier blood at some remote period ; 
 others are squeakers only, so light of tongue that 
 there is no music in their cry. This cannot be 
 called a feult, since they do speak as loudly as they 
 can to a scent. In bygone times the music of the 
 pack claimed more attention than it does in these 
 fast days. Old Gervase Markham gives us some 
 curious information on this point, thus : " If you 
 would have your kennell for sweetnesse of cry, then 
 you must compound it of some large dogges that 
 have deepe solemne mouthes, and are swift in 
 spending, which must, as it were, beere the base in 
 consort, then a double number of roaring and loud- 
 ringing mouthes, which must beere the counter- 
 tenor, then some hollow plaine sweete mouthes, 
 which must beere the meane or middle parte ; and 
 so with these three parts of musicke, you shall 
 make your cry perfect ; and lierein you shall observe 
 that these hounds thus mixt do run just and even 
 together, and not hang off loose one from another, 
 which is the vilest sight that may be ; and you 
 shall understand that this composition is but to bee 
 made of tlie largest and swiftest deep-mouthed dog, 
 the slowest middle-sized dog, and the shorter-legd 
 slender dog. Amongst these you cast in a couple 
 or two of small-singing beagles, which as small 
 trebles may warble amongst them ; the cry will be 
 a great deal the more sweeter.'' "If you would 
 have your kennell for loudness of mouthe, you shall 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 125 
 
 not then choose the hollow deepe moutlie, but the 
 loud clanging mouthe, which spendeth freely and 
 sharply, and as it were redoubleth in tlie utterance ; 
 and if you mix with them the mouthe that roareth, 
 and the mouthe that whyneth, the cry will be both 
 the louder and the smarter ; and the hounds are 
 for the most part of the middle size, neither extreme 
 tall, nor extreme deepe flewed, such as for the most 
 part your Shropshire and Worcestershire dogs are ; 
 and the more equally you compound these mouthes, 
 having as many roarers as spenders, and as many 
 whyners as of either of the others, the louder and 
 pleasanter your cry will be, especially if it be in 
 sounding tall woods, or under the echo of rocks/' 
 
 This advice as to the compilation of a musical 
 lot of hounds may be of service to any new master 
 of hounds. 
 
126 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 * * A cry more tuneable 
 Was never halloo'd to, nor cheered with horn." 
 
 Fashion of the day not in favour of music — Pace only thought of — 
 Distinction between a mute and light tongue — Peculiar instinct 
 in drawing — Deputy — The late Mr. Codrington on gorse coverts 
 — Opening on the drag — Too much bow-wowing reprehensible — 
 How to convert harriers into foxhounds — A veritable fact — Tree- 
 ing a martin — A narrow escape — The run home — Qualities in 
 foxhounds — Cardinal points — Long and hard days occasionally 
 of service. 
 
 In these latter days Gervase Markham's suggestions 
 as to the cry of hounds, or the harmonious blend- 
 ings of sweet and loud voices to the pack, are very 
 little, if at all considered, and the system of fox- 
 hunting now in fashion is antagonistic to them. 
 Dum hec vitia vitant in contraria current Fear- 
 ful of running into one extremity, masters of 
 hounds and huntsmen rush into the other, and so 
 long as pace is everything and hunting nothing, 
 foxhounds will be nearly as mute as fish. Hark, 
 halloa ! toot — toot — toot ! — gone away ! — found ! 
 forward 1 — and with cracking of whips and wild 
 screeches, hounds are driven off their noses, and 
 ready to fly anywhere with a scent or without it ; 
 in fact, they are taught to run at a scent, instead of 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 127 
 
 being allowed to carry it with them ; and were it 
 not for cub-hunting and an occasional woodland day 
 during the season, when they must hunt, they 
 would trust more to their ears and eyes than their 
 noses. It is a nice point to determine how much 
 tongue hounds may give without being really what 
 we call noisy. 
 
 Fast men do not care a rap about the melody of 
 a pack of foxhounds, and such would be of little 
 consequence to them, provided they could get a 
 good start for a quick burst. Genuine foxhunters, 
 however, delight in a full chorus, and they are right, 
 for more reasons than one. There is something 
 cheering and exhilarating in the cry of hounds ; 
 even the horses we ride are wonderfully excited by 
 it, and from this very excitement strain all their 
 nerves to keep near them. 
 
 **Me other joys invite, 
 The horn sonorous calls, the pack awak'd, 
 Their matins chaunt, nor brook my long delay. 
 My courser hears their voice ; see there, with ears 
 And tail erect, neighina: he paws the ground ; 
 Fierce rapture kindles in his red'ning eyes, 
 And boils in every vein." 
 
 When running in large coverts, how are we to 
 know their whereabouts, except by that cry, par- 
 ticularly in windy weather, and when sometimes 
 giving us the slip out of them, what else have we 
 to guide us in the direction they have taken ? A 
 light-tongued — we don't mean a mute hound — 
 may find his fox, if wide of the pack, and be off 
 and away with him before the others could hear 
 him, and it does not necessarily follow that this 
 
128 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 hound must be a skirter because at a distance from 
 Lis fellows. Some possess a peculiar instinct in 
 directing them at once to the kennel of a fox, 
 and will go straight to it, when the pack may be 
 drawing another part of the covert, which the 
 huntsman might consider the most likely ground to 
 find his game ; and this peculiarity is not the result 
 of age and experience, as may be supposed. We 
 have known young hounds even in their first season 
 thus gifted, and one in his second season remarkable 
 for the manner in which he drew for his game. 
 When the pack were dashing into the stuff*, this dog 
 trotted up the drive, testing the several menses lead- 
 ing into it by smelling the twigs, without putting 
 his nose to the ground, and if satisfied that a fox 
 had passed, he generally threw his tongue once or 
 twice, and then went rapidly up to the fox's kennel 
 without again speaking, until he had roused him, 
 of which he gave us full notice, the rest of the 
 pack flying to him like lightning ; for Deputy 
 never spoke falsely. This hound, as he grew older, 
 became so thoroughly an fait at this business, 
 that if convinced no fox was in the covert, he would 
 come back to us, and look up in our face with an 
 expression of disappointment, as much as to say, 
 ''It's no use trying more, master, there is no fox 
 here \' and we never found Deputy wrong in his 
 decision. 
 
 The late Mr. Codrington, a master of great 
 celebrity in his day, used to say, that by drawing 
 his hounds round a gorse-covert, he could tell 
 whether it contained a fox or not ; and generallj^ 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 129 
 
 speaking, there is almost a cei*tainty in finding, 
 where hoiinds are eaejer in drawincj. 
 
 We have seen in the West of England a pack of 
 foxhounds opening as freely upon the stale drag of 
 a fox as harriers on the trail of a hare ; but this 
 sort of thing does not accord with our ideas about 
 foxhunting — in short, we should draft such hounds 
 as these, considering them as babblers. It is very 
 agreeable news to be told, when looking for a fox, 
 that he has been and may be somewhere in the 
 neighbourhood, but much more satisfactory that he 
 is positively in the covert you are drawing. There 
 is no dependence to be placed on diag-hunters, 
 since the fox they are talking about may have 
 passed, it is true, through the covert late at night, 
 or early in the morning, but he may be at that 
 time miles away. On the other hand, when highly- 
 bred and well-educated hounds throw their tongues 
 on a drag, we may rest assured he is within a 
 quarter of a mile of them. There is also another 
 very great objection to drag-hunters, especially in 
 a woodland countr}^, whilst drawing down wind — 
 sometimes an unavoidable necessity — the fox will 
 be movinor a loner time before the hounds reach his 
 kennel ; and although they maybe hunting him all 
 day, there is little chance of their getting on much 
 better terms with a wide-awake old traveller. Even 
 with harriers, much hoiv-wowing on the trail of a 
 hare is very objectionable, but quite inconsistent 
 with the proper working of a pack of foxhounds. 
 We like to hear a jolly good chorus of musical 
 tongues, as much as any jolly old foxhunter uf the 
 
 K 
 
130 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 present or past time, when a fox is first found on a 
 fair scenting day, or afterwards in full chase, when 
 the scent will admit of it ; and we quite agree 
 with ^' Dryasdust/' that this should be attended to 
 in breeding foxhounds as well as other qualifica- 
 tions, which could easily be effected by putting 
 dams of light tongues to sires of deep or heavy 
 ones ; we don't mean noisy hounds. 
 
 A short time since we heard of a curious mode 
 adopted by a master of harriers to convert his 
 currant-jelly dogs into foxhounds, and coming from 
 an authentic source, we have every confidence in its 
 truthfulness. Hares being more scarce than foxes 
 in that part of the principality, it was resolved and 
 carried unanimously by the members of the hunt, 
 to fly, or have a fling, at the more fashionable pur- 
 suit, and it being then late in the season, and no 
 time to be lost in blooding the pack to their new 
 game, a fox was trapped, killed, and skinned, ready 
 for eating — the naked carcase dragged across country 
 by a man on foot, and the hounds laid on the scent 
 of it. Whether with that of aniseed or other 
 odoriferous oil anointed, whether stuffed with sage 
 and onions to impart a higher flavour, or peppered 
 and salted, our deponent sayeth not, but the drag 
 proved sufliciently enticing, and the pack went at it 
 furiously, to the great delight of the master and his 
 supporters, for some two or three miles, until they 
 overtook the aforesaid carcase thrown down upon 
 the ground ; while the dragsman, becoming alarmed 
 at the great outcry in his rear, had quitted terra 
 Jlrma for a more secure position in a tree. On the 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 131 
 
 master reaching the spot with two of his first- 
 flight men, where some of the hounds were still 
 rolling on the ground, man and fox had dis- 
 appeared. 
 
 " Halloa ! '' quoth the master, '' here's a go ! they 
 have eaten the fox, of course, as I see part of his 
 head sticking out from Jowler's jaws ; but what's 
 become of Jack Martin ?" 
 
 " Eaten him, too, I suppose,'' said Tom Hark- 
 away, laughing. *' Hungry enough to eat a horse, 
 old fellow, as you have given them no victuals for 
 two days past. But hark ! hark ! I hear the cry 
 of some hounds forward still — crossed the line of 
 another fox — come on ! " and away goes Harkaw^ay, 
 full tilt, laughing and screeching, with the j^osse 
 comitatus in close attendance for nearly a mile, 
 where the missing hounds were found, baying round 
 a stunted oak. 
 
 " Ha ! ha ! ha ! " cried Tom, almost bursting 
 with laughter. ^^ Treed their Martin, by jingo 1 
 after eating their fox ! Ho ! ho ! ho ! This is a 
 go, indeed ! Halloa, Jack, what d ye do up 
 there ? " 
 
 "Too glad to get there, sir, for 'twere a near 
 thing, as that red devil of a dog snapped at my 
 trews as I were climbing up the tree, and tore a 
 bit off of 'em." 
 
 " Well, never mind. Jack, a miss is as good as a 
 mile ; and as you stink as much as the fox, get 
 down whilst we take the hounds away, and I'll 
 give you five shillings for another run." 
 
 K 2 
 
182 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 " Not for five sovereigns, Squire Harkaway, 
 would I have another run like this/' 
 
 " Come, come, Jack, no nonsense ; you ain't in a 
 position to make terms, but ta take those that are 
 offered, being a prisoner of war, surrounded by 
 your enemies. So now listen to my terms : — The 
 master shall take the hounds away, and Til give 
 you twenty minutes' law, by which time you can 
 reach home, without being tree'd again." 
 
 ** It can't be done in the time. Squire." 
 
 " Yes it can, Jack ; you can do two miles and a 
 half within the twenty minutes, easily, so come 
 down from the tree and be off, and I'll keep time 
 for you honestly, or here you shall stay till mid- 
 night." 
 
 Jack, knowing the character of his customer, 
 descended to terra firina, pocketed the five shil- 
 lings tendered by Harkawa}^, and set off at full 
 speed, reaching home about five minutes before the 
 clamorous pack were yelling at his cottage door. 
 
 This may appear a funny method of entering 
 hounds to a fox-scent, yet it is not altogether a 
 novelty, since Beckford relates an anecdote of an 
 old sportsman, a clergyman, also, who entered his 
 young hounds first at a cat, ** which he dragged 
 along the ground for a mile or two," and it is but 
 reasonable to suppose that the cat was first killed, 
 and not dragged to death over the country ; although 
 probably not skinned. This is a novelty, and we 
 do not imagine these harriers would have touched 
 the dead carcase of this fox, much less have eaten it, 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. ] 33 
 
 unless absolutely starved for the purpose, thorough- 
 bred foxhounds, we know full well, having little 
 inclination to break up their game unless killed by 
 themselves. We have been dwelling perhaps too 
 long upon the faults and vices of the pack, and it 
 is now time we should say something about their 
 good qualities. 
 
 We have before alluded to drawing covert as of 
 primary importance, and we like to see hounds 
 spreading wide, dashing quickly, though steadily 
 from riot, through the coppice. Their movement in 
 gorse will of course be much slower, and we know 
 no surer test of a hound's courage than working 
 through a three-year-old gorse-brake, backwards 
 and forwards, after a short-running fox. The two 
 next necessary qualifications or cardinal virtues 
 are, stoutness of constitution and fineness of nose, 
 without which no foxhound has any claim to per- 
 fection, perfect though he may be in symmetry of 
 mould. In the present day few opportunities 
 present themselves for testing the first sterling 
 quality, and not many more for the second, our 
 hours of meeting during the regular hunting season 
 conmiencing about eleven o'clock, and terminating 
 about four in the afternoon, thus allowing five 
 hours for hounds being in work or chase, so that 
 their power of endurance cannot be fairly ascer- 
 tained. We are not, as must be apparent from 
 former observations, an advocate for very long or 
 hard days, and think when hounds have done their 
 work properly, and killed their fox handsomely, 
 after a run of say an hour and more, the next best 
 
134 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 thing they can do is to be drawing home instead 
 of drawing for another fox. 
 
 Nevertheless, long days aad hard days are of the 
 greatest possible consequence to masters of fox- 
 hounds, as proving the stamina of which the pack 
 is composed. 
 
 A hound may be able to hunt the lowest scent, 
 but he ought to possess strength of constitution and 
 muscular power to follow his nose throughout the 
 longest days. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 135 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 "Upon some little eminence erect, 
 Fronting to the ruddy dawn ; its courts 
 On either hand, wide op'ning to receive 
 The sun's all-cheering beams." — SoMER^^LLE. 
 
 Sites of kennels — New building preferable to old — Ancient mansions — 
 The Belvoir kennels the model for all others — Ground and asi)ect 
 — Too small dimensions bad economy — The Author's ideas on the 
 subject — Drainage— Hot air — Walls and palings — Seclusion — 
 Supply of water — Tanks Hobson's choice— Other observations on 
 the kennel — Warm lodging as necessary as good feeding — Whole- 
 some meat indispensable to health. 
 
 Before purchasing a bird, it is generally thought 
 advisable to provide a cage to keep him in ; but in 
 our discourses about hounds, we have assumed it 
 as granted that a kennel had been already erected 
 for their accommodation in the country taken by a 
 new master ; such, however, not being invariably 
 the case, and some old kennels being so badly 
 placed, or in such a dilapidated condition, as to 
 require a considerable outlay in repairs, we would 
 offer the advice of one somewhat experienced in 
 these matters, to any young aspirant for honours 
 in " the noble science,'" never to make the attempt 
 of patching up an old rickety building, whose loose 
 walls have become a receptacle for vermin of all 
 kinds — rats, mice, and creeping things supposed to 
 enact the part of phlebotomists to animals of the 
 canine species during the dog days. Those who 
 
136 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 Lave tried the experiment of adding to old houses, 
 on the score of economy, have generally found out 
 their mistake ; and it is far better, and cheaper also, 
 when various alterations are contemplated in decay- 
 ing edifices, to raze the whole at once to the ground 
 and construct a new one in its place, for which the 
 greater part of the old materials may be rendered 
 available. Our ancestors had particular fancies about 
 the sites for building houses, and we usually see 
 old manorial residences located in low, we may 
 add unhealthy, situations, although less exposed to 
 the inclemencies of the weather ; and it was one of 
 their maxims that people ought to walk some dis- 
 tance to see the view, rather than behold it from 
 the drawing-room windows — if view there were to 
 be seen. We, however, entertain different opinions, 
 believing there are very few situations under the 
 hill, unless in gravelly soil, either dry or healthy— 
 those especially surrounded by high trees, which 
 not only prevent a proper circulation of air, but 
 are productive of much damp during the autumnal 
 and winter months. 
 
 Having gone through all the great kennels of 
 England, save one, and visited numerous others of 
 minor note, we are enabled, from actual observa- 
 tion of these various edifices, to form something 
 like a correct plan of their requirements on a mo- 
 derate scale. As to construction and conveniences, 
 the Belvoir kennel stands conspicuous above all 
 others ; but the expenses of erection must have 
 been very great, since nothing has been left 
 undone which ought to be done, and everything 
 
SCIE^'CE OF FOXHUNTING. 137 
 
 done in first-rate style, including the most perfect 
 arrangements for the health and comfort of the 
 beautiful pack of hounds dwelling within its walls. 
 Sed non cuivis homini contingit adiri Gorin- 
 thum. Men of moderate means must be content 
 to view the castle as well as the kennels of Bel- 
 voir at a distance, although hints may be taken 
 from their structure and reduced to a minimum 
 scale. The other kennels we have visited were 
 deficient in general arrangements, and the lodging- 
 houses too low and small in many to be healthy. 
 We have seen some in such low situations as to 
 admit of water being conveyed through the courts, 
 and where the current has been rapid, the 
 hounds were not aftected with kennel lameness. 
 Stagnant pools near them, however, are most ob- 
 jectionable, and the drainage should be complete, 
 to carry off quickly all the washings from the 
 yards. As a general rule, the advice of Somer- 
 ville should be followed in building new kennels. 
 
 If such situations are not to be found, the 
 ground at least ought to be sound, or rendered so 
 by artificial means of a thick layer of broken 
 stones or coal-ashes, and the aspect south, with no 
 large trees in front to interrupt a free currency of 
 air throughout the whole buildings. Beckfords 
 recommendation to build on a sufficiently exten- 
 sive scale at first, is the best than can be offered, 
 since after-additions too often mar the appearance 
 of the whole edifice; and it is very bad economy to 
 curtail the size of courts and lodging-rooms to 
 save a few perches of walling or brick- work. 
 
138 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 According to the number of hounds must be 
 the dimensions of their sleeping apartments, but 
 for a moderate estabhshment two rooms, eighteen 
 feet long by sixteen wide, and ten feet high, and 
 two smaller for lame or sick hounds on either side, 
 sixteen feet deep by twelve wide. The courts 
 must be of greater length, and in place of having 
 the outer doors opening into the fields or park, we 
 would prefer an entrance into a passage running 
 up between the two kennels, as in the Belvoir plan, 
 at the other end of which stands the feeding-house 
 under the same roof, and into which hounds may 
 be drawn through a side-door in the lodging-room, 
 without being obliged to wait shivering in cold 
 or wet weather whilst being fed, with no cover 
 over their heads. The two larger we will call 
 the hunting kennels ; and by having two of mode- 
 rate size, instead of one, the pack will always 
 enter upon a dry floor every morning, which is of 
 great consequence, damp being always productive 
 of rheumatism and mange, as well as other mala- 
 dies to which dogs are subject. To prevent this, 
 the flooring also of the dormitories ought to be of 
 brick, and the inside walls lined with the same 
 materia], if not entirely built with it ; and for 
 partitions between lodging-rooms a single brick 
 is quite suflicient. It signifies little what the 
 flooring of the outer courts may be, whether of 
 stone pennant or concrete, provided they are frost- 
 proof, and so laid with a suflicient fall to the cen- 
 tre that no water can stand upon them. We say 
 fall to the centre, because hounds are less liable to 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 139 
 
 slip up when the pavement is thus pitched, and 
 the water is drawn off more quickly than by a 
 long slope, however steep. 
 
 At the back of the kennel, on one side, stands 
 the boiling-house, from which a flue may be carried 
 into the wall of the dormitory, to afford greater 
 warmth to the hounds after hunting ; and this 
 same kennel may be appropriated to the use of the 
 entry after the season, unless a separate lodging 
 is prepared for them, with a greenyard attached 
 to it on the western side ; and the harem may 
 be placed in any convenient position by itself, 
 unconnected with the building and the courts, 
 which may consist partly of grass and flagging, 
 being sufficiently capacious to admit of free cir- 
 culation of air. The outside walls should be con- 
 structed of stone to the height of five feet only, 
 and palings placed upon them overhanging the 
 wall, so that a hound cannot stand upon it. This 
 precaution is necessary to prevent the hounds 
 coming in contact w4th strange dogs, or being 
 excited by passing objects. For this reason the 
 spot selected for the site of a kennel cannot be too 
 secluded away from town and villages, and not 
 near any highways. 
 
 We have already recommended good old Irish 
 or Scotch oatmeal as the best, and we may add 
 the cheapest, food for foxhounds, or any other dogs, 
 boiled for an hour, until it becomes as thick as a 
 suet-pudding ; and to prevent its turning sour, a 
 cooler of slate, or of well-seasoned elm board, 
 should be prepared for its reception, when taken 
 
] 40 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 out of the boiler, and placed in a cool place outside 
 the boiling-house. There ought to be a separate 
 boiler for meal, sufficiently capacious to hold pud- 
 ding for two days' consumption, and another for 
 flesh, both being of cast iron. Those of copper or 
 brass cannot be safely used in a kennel, where 
 feeders are not like men-cooks, very particular as 
 to the cleanliness of their culinary utensils. A 
 good supply of water is indispensable to keep 
 everything in a sanitary condition. In high situa- 
 tions, springs of fresh w^ater are not always to be 
 found, and if found, cannot be perhaps appro- 
 priated to the sole use of one individual. Wells 
 also in some localities are not to be depended 
 upon, so that we must have recourse to tanks and 
 cisterns, supplied by rain-water from the roofs of 
 the houses ; and many are the districts within 
 our knowledge which look to the clouds as their 
 only reservoirs of water. To those who enjoy the 
 blessings of pure springs, the runnings of houses 
 must appear most objectionable and unwholesome, 
 yet such is not the case where the cisterns are 
 large and deep. The water, although descending 
 with many impurities, purifies itself, and becomes 
 clear as crystal, although retaining a sooty taste, 
 disagreeable to the palate. Strange to say, it is 
 not consequently soft water, but requires soda to 
 boil vegetables with or make tea. Where this 
 most necessary of all the necessaries of life cannot 
 be obtained from the spring-head, or drawn up 
 from the bowels of the earth, we must submit to 
 Hobson's choice — tliat or none; and thousands are 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 141 
 
 too glad to get it, a thunderstorm in hot weather 
 proving to them a Godsend in a dry season, when 
 a fearful fathoming of tanks is commenced, to 
 ascertain how many inches of the precious fluid 
 yet remain before the next downfall of rain is 
 expected. For the water-troughs in the kennel, 
 slate is the best and most easily kept clean, iron 
 next, stone and wood last. These ought to be placed 
 about eighteen inches above the floor or flags, with 
 a plug-hole at the bottom, standing over the drain, 
 and fresh water added every morning. 
 
 To keep the lodging-houses clean, access must be 
 free for the hounds into the outer courts, either by 
 the door being left partly open, or through an aper- 
 ture in the centre of it — a movable panel sus- 
 pended by a hinge from above, to turn either way. 
 In hot weather it is preferable to leave the doors 
 quite open during the niglit. All the posts of doors 
 through which hounds have to pass should be 
 rounded, to prevent injury to their stifles. The 
 frame of the sleeping-benches should be made of 
 red deal, standing upon legs of oak, two feet high 
 from the floor, and spars of deal three inches wide 
 by one and a half in thickness, four or five of these 
 joined together movable — not nailed to the frame 
 — so that they may be all taken off* by the feeder 
 when the litter is taken up in the morning ; and if 
 any are wet, they can thus be easily dried in the 
 sun or before the boiling-house fire. The distance 
 between the spars must not exceed one inch and 
 a half We object to the benches being fastened 
 to the wall for two reasons : the hounds will be 
 
142 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 always contending for the warmest place, and in 
 scrambling over each other, fighting must follow, 
 and some be knocked over on the floor ; and unless 
 heated by flues, walls are generally very retentive of 
 moisture, and, consequently, productive of rheuma- 
 tism. The position of the benches should be such as 
 to admit of two hounds passing each other by their 
 sides all the way round, and a wide spar or board 
 nailed from leg to leg, to prevent them attempting 
 to get underneath. The window of the lodging- 
 rooms should be of glass — not mere lattice-work — 
 and made to open and shut, like those in conserva- 
 tories, from top to bottom, so that in hot weather 
 they may be kept quite open, to admit freely 
 
 *'The nitrous air, and purifying breeze," 
 
 and entirely closed at night during the hunting 
 season. It is an error to suppose horses and hounds 
 are able to contend with the cold wintry elements 
 without, because they are kept in cold stables or 
 kennels. Such is not the case ; but quite the 
 reverse. Warm lodging is as necessary as good 
 feeding to keep animals of all kinds in good 
 condition ; and this fact has now become so tho- 
 roughly patent to farmers and graziers, that build- 
 ings for cattle are more insisted upon than barns to 
 store their corn in. Weather permitting, we know 
 there is nothing more conducive to health than a 
 free circulation of air through our own sleeping 
 apartments ; but experience has also taught us that 
 a cold chilling night wind is neither good for man 
 nor beast. To add to the warmth of the lodging- 
 houses, the roof should be constructed of reed, or 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 143 
 
 what is commonly called haulm, which has like- 
 wise the advantage of being more cool in the 
 summer than slate tiles, although the latter are more 
 sightly to the eye. But thatch, when properly laid 
 on, and in sufficient thickness, by a clever thatcher, 
 has not only a very neat appearance, but will 
 endure many years. When moss-grown, also, it 
 admits of being shaved down, presenting a reno- 
 vated appearance. The only objection that can be 
 raised to thatch is, that it may afford lodging for 
 rats and mice, as the rooms below do for foxhounds. 
 Access, however, to the eaves of the roof by these 
 vermin may be easily cut off by a sloping ledge of 
 half-inch board, fixed against the walls all round. 
 
 Having mentioned old oatmeal as the best and 
 most nutritious of farinaceous food for dogs of all 
 descriptions which have hard work to undergo, we 
 must add a few words respecting the meat and 
 broth wliich must be added thereto. It has been 
 said, but very ftilsely, that ''anything is good 
 enough for dogs.'' We say nothing is too good for 
 sporting dogs, if they are to be kept in first-rate 
 condition. Bad flesh of any kind, whether of 
 horse, bullock, calf, or sheep, which have died from 
 disease, must strike any man of common sense as 
 not likely to contribute to the strength or healthy 
 secretions of any dog, and particularly unfitted for 
 foxhounds, which undergo such an immensity of 
 fatigue and work during their season. It is there- 
 fore necessary that the master should be very 
 particular as to what meat is consigned to the 
 flesh-pot. 
 
144 SYSTEM OF KEXNEL AND 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Enjoyable duties of huntsraen— Intellect and physical abilities re- 
 quisite — First-rate horsemen — Heavy versus light weights— Power 
 in the saddle— Honesty and sobriety — Good temper — The whip 
 too much used — Feeding time — Things hastily done, badly done — 
 Even condition of the pack proof of good kennel management — 
 Dainty feeders — System of the Author. 
 
 Of all occupations under the sun, we consider that 
 of huntsman to a pack of hounds the most enjoy- 
 able — for a man in that station of life, we ought, 
 perhaps, to have added, supposing he has adopted 
 the profession from natural inclination and love of 
 the sport ; since we have known some who have 
 regarded their office in a business point of view 
 only. We are now, however, only alluding to 
 those whose heart and hand are alike engaged in 
 the line of life they have chosen from boyhood of 
 their own free will ; and^ to succeed, they must 
 possess also intelHgence and intellect above the 
 common order. The duties of a huntsman are 
 various, all requiring exercise of mind and energy 
 of action. So long as he has played a second part 
 as whipper-in, he was under authority ; sometimes, 
 it is true, thrown upon his own resources, in cases 
 of emergency, yet generally subservient to the 
 orders and will of his superior in office. With the 
 horn at his saddle-bow, " a change has come o'er 
 the spirit of his dream " — a dream now realized. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 145 
 
 He must think and act for himself, and he will find 
 more than sufficient opportunities for exhibiting the 
 very best talents he may be endowed with. To 
 a certain extent he has been initiated into the 
 mysteries of the science, and cannot have passed 
 through his ordeal as whipper-in without observing 
 the acts and deeds of his predecessor — how he has 
 hunted and handled his pack. But looking on at 
 others playing a game of cricket is a very different 
 aflfiiir to playing it yourself. You may see how it 
 is done, but when the bat is placed in your own 
 hands, you will make the discovery that theory is 
 not practice. Besides which, the duties of a whipper- 
 in vary much from those of a huntsman. Tliese, 
 however, we may have occasion to notice in their 
 proper place. 
 
 As to physical abilities, a strong constitution is 
 needful to enable any man to undergo the hardships 
 of hunting a pack of foxhounds. Setting aside 
 the wear and tear of every-day life during the 
 season, through all kinds of weather, casualties still 
 occur, even to the best rider — falls, knockings 
 about, hard blows, perhaps a broken collar-bone or 
 ribs, which will prove of what stamina the corpo- 
 real is composed. To be always with his hounds, 
 he must be a first-rate horseman ; not a bold, reck- 
 less rider ; and as to weight, we think twelve or 
 thirteen stone in the saddle quite as likely to hold 
 his own over a stiff vale country as one under. 
 Big fences more oflen obstruct light weights and 
 light-made horses than those of the contrary cahbre 
 or stamp. A little horse, to be always taking high 
 
 L 
 
146 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 leaps, which he must do to get clear of strong 
 blackthorn or other thick hedges, will soon have the 
 " puff taken out of him. In short, he is alwa3^s 
 in difficulties from violent exertions ; whilst the 
 heavy weights work their way through all oppo- 
 sition with comparative ease. Light weights are 
 also more inclined to take liberties with their horses 
 than men of more robust frame, who know they 
 must husband their resources as much as possible. 
 We have had both heavy and light men as whippers- 
 in, and always found the former could beat the latter 
 on the same horses over an enclosed country. By 
 heavy weights, we do not mean a lump of so much 
 human flesh, but a muscular frame, stripped of all 
 superfluities, without an ounce of flesh to spare — 
 that is, a powerful man in the saddle — elastic, wiry, 
 and agile, one who can assist the animal he is be- 
 striding in difficulties, and hold him together when 
 requisite. 
 
 More than once or twice we have heard the idea 
 ridiculed, that the rider can assist or lift his horse, 
 and it is true that we have very often seen the 
 horse exercising supreme superiority over his master, 
 carrying him where he likes, and doing just as it 
 pleases him ; but in these cases the rider has been 
 over-matched, without sufficient muscular power to 
 regulate his horse/s action ; a little man mounted 
 on a fifteen-stone hunter always reminding one of 
 a tomtit on a leg of beef. 
 
 Having alluded to the physical, we must now 
 treat of mental power and other qualifications neces- 
 sary to constitute a perfect master of the science. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 147 
 
 Perhaps it may be considered that the power of 
 mind ought to take precedence of that of body, 
 and in human life, intellect ranks first. But were 
 a huntsman the cleverest man in the world, and a 
 bad rider, unable to keep with his hounds, all the 
 other talents he might possess would be of little 
 avail. It is required of stewards that a man be 
 found faithful, and undoubtedly honesty in a hunts- 
 man or other head servant in an establishment, 
 where much is entrusted to them, is of the utmost 
 importance. Sober he must be, or his business 
 would be neglected, and no amount of intelligence 
 can compensate for that worst of all vices — drunk- 
 enness — the root from which spring so many evils. 
 In the present generation, this vice is less prevalent 
 amongst men of tolerable education, occupying 
 trustworthy situations, than formerly. Hard drink- 
 ing in any respectable class of society may be said 
 to belong to the past, and swearing also. In our 
 younger days, we have often seen men, ranking as 
 gentlemen, as well as huntsmen and whippers-in, 
 who indulged freely in potations before taking the 
 field, and then, as it is called, " riding like the 
 devil ; '' and being clever men, these vices in the 
 latter were tolerated. 
 
 There is one other indispensable quality besides 
 honesty and sobriety, of which a huntsman to fox- 
 hounds ought to be possessed — good temper. Hie 
 Tnoderatur equos qui non onoderatitur irce, is as 
 true now as in the days of old Horace. Many can 
 control their horses who give loose reins to their 
 own passions; irrespective of the unpleasantry which 
 
 L 2 
 
148 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 will arise between master and man, where the 
 greatest cordiality should exist, when the latter is 
 blest with an infirmity of temper, it is obvious that 
 the well-being of the pack depends in a great 
 measure upon a quiet, kindly disposition, combined 
 with patience and forbearance. Animals generally, 
 dogs particularly, will not attach themselves to men 
 of harsh, violent tempers ; they judge us as we 
 judge them and our fellow-beings, by that most 
 unerring index of the spirit breathing within — the 
 eye. With what reluctance have we witnessed 
 pointers and setters following and obeying a sulky, 
 ill-conditioned brute of a keeper, who, upon resist- 
 ance or misunderstanding his orders, would nearly 
 flay them alive ; and although huntsmen, by the 
 rules and nature of their office, are not permitted to 
 flog their hounds, and cannot positively be accused 
 of showing bad temper in the field, we can tell by 
 the manner of their dependants towards them the 
 characters of the men, without examining their phy- 
 siognomy. Beckford relates an instance of a hunts- 
 man who used to flog his hounds whilst at the 
 feeding-troughs, quaintly remarking, that " he sup- 
 posed if they did not get a bellyful one way they 
 got it the other ; '' and in our days the whip is too 
 frequently used, and without discrimination, in the 
 kennel during the dinner hour, as well as at other 
 times. There is too much hastiness and bustle, 
 and by far too many hounds let in together to the 
 feeding-court. They rush about over each other, 
 chopping at their food like a lot of half-starved 
 pigs, half-choking themselves in swallowing as much 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 149 
 
 as they can within the allotted time, somewhere 
 about two or three minutes, in which they are con- 
 sidered to have filled their stomachs, or sufficiently 
 so to keep them in tolerable condition. Then 
 " pop goes the whip,'' instead of the *' weasel,'' and 
 the satisfied as well as unsatisfied are alike hustled 
 away from the troughs out into the greenyard. 
 Now this practice is bad and slovenly, and although 
 adopted by huntsmen of high standing in large 
 establishments, not less on that account deserving 
 censure. It is done to save time ; but what is 
 done hastily can never be well done. The excuse 
 condemns the act. More than five or six couples 
 cannot be fed properly at the same time, and those 
 should be drawn off first together which are light 
 feeders, and have rather delicate appetites. The 
 gluttons follow after, by whom the troughs will be 
 quickly cleared. One of the greatest difficulties in 
 kennel management is to maintain the entire pack 
 in even condition, not some fat and others lean, and 
 by this we know how to judge of a man's merits 
 or demerits as kennel huntsman. Such knowledge 
 cannot be acquired except by practical experience ; 
 and here a young huntsman will most probably 
 find himself on slippery ground, since whippers-in 
 are rarely admitted to the canine dining-room, 
 where the feeder assists the huntsman. Some 
 hounds require feeding twice a day on the daintiest 
 food the boiling-house can produce, and, even then, 
 can never be persuaded to eat enough to keep pace 
 with their work. Others, if left to themselves, 
 would eat too much, and thus, from over-depletion, 
 
150 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 would not be equal to work. Our general practice 
 was, to divide the daily allowance of the whole 
 pack into two meals, never giving any except the 
 poorest feeders the chance of a bellyful at one 
 single meal ; and by adopting this plan, we not 
 only found our hounds could undergo the most 
 severe work, but that they lived to a greater age 
 than those in other kennels ; and we were told, a 
 short time ago, by a master of hounds who has 
 handled the horn some ten years, that he had 
 adopted our plan from his commencement as Inmts- 
 man, and had continued it ever since with the most 
 satisfactory results. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 151 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 HUNTSMEN AND WHIPPERS-IN. 
 
 Meal and meat — General practice of feeding opposed to the Author's 
 — Cravings of hunger — Long abstinence injurious — Huntsmen in 
 the field — Fine voice of secondary importance — More reliance on 
 hounds' noses than huntsman's head — Knowledge of country — 
 Line of foxes — Enterprising genius — Lifting hounds — Self-posses- 
 sion and decision — An eye to business — Beckford's opinion of 
 huntsman and first whipper-in — Qualifications of the latter — 
 Opportunities of assisting huntsman — Gone away ! 
 
 A TOUCHY old gentleman, when asked by a friend 
 his reason for doing an act rather at variance with 
 the usages of genteel society, replied very testily, 
 " I never give any explanation of my conduct, 
 sir/' We have no desire to follow this elderly 
 gentleman's example by saying, stet loro ratione 
 voluntas. And as the observations we are led 
 to make on hunting and system' of kennel are 
 intended to convey instruction to the uninitiated, 
 the mainspring of our actions must be revealed 
 and explained. In our last paper, the practice of 
 feeding hounds, or any other dogs, twice instead of 
 once only a day, was recommended from long 
 experience of its advantage over the common treat- 
 ment. In a state of nature, the carnivori make 
 but one meal in the twenty-four hours, which, 
 consisting of raw flesh and bones, requires rest and 
 several hours for digestion. They prey at night. 
 
152 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 and remain passive in their dens or lairs throughout 
 the day. Moreover, except when ravenous from 
 long abstinence, they rarely glut themselves with 
 food. The fox, which affords us so much amuse- 
 ment, is a light feeder, although a great depredator, 
 and we know when, perchance, he gets into the 
 poultry-house that he will kill as long as he can 
 catch, carrying all away and hiding them for 
 future provision ; and being such a bloodthirsty 
 animal, we feel less compunction in his destruction 
 than in that of the more timid deer and hare. 
 
 The practice in the majority of kennels is to 
 feed the hounds about eleven o'clock, so that they 
 have twenty-four hours without again tasting food 
 — the hour of meeting being now at the same hour, 
 and then it does not always follow that they do 
 taste their fox. Supposing the day unpropitious, 
 without this desired contingency to a run, the 
 probability is, that six hours more will elapse before 
 their return to kennel, making about thirty since 
 the time of their daily feed on the previous day. 
 Oatmeal is the strongest of all farinaceous food, 
 but when diluted with the large quantity of broth 
 generally used, cannot afford that amount of nutri- 
 ment required for hounds or any other sporting dog 
 in hard work, and therefore, during the hunting 
 season, we divided the meal, giving in the morning 
 more broth, and in the afternoon pudding mixed as 
 thickly as possible with meat. We all know by 
 experience the craving sensations inseparable from 
 an ungratified appetite at our usual dinner hour. 
 Few things in life ruffle a man's temper more than 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 153 
 
 to be kept waiting half-an-hour even for his accus- 
 tomed meal. The fact is, that he is rather suffer- 
 ing at that time from irritability of stomach than 
 infirmity of disposition. As "hope deferred 
 maketh the heart sick/' so dinner deferred maketh 
 the stomach angry. Judging from our own 
 feelings, we may imagine those of animals when 
 similarly affected. By feeding our hounds with 
 the substantial meal about 3 o'clock p.m., in 
 moderate quantity, we calculated upon their not 
 being so lean as others fed so much earlier in the 
 day, and consequently better able to endure the 
 fatigue of hard work, bearing in mind Beckford's 
 observation, that a half-starved hound will never 
 kill an afternoon fox. 
 
 Having mentioned some of the domestic duties 
 of a huntsman in kennel management, we must 
 now treat of his capabilities in the field — a wide 
 field for the display of all the talents the cleverest 
 man may possess ; and since in all occupations or 
 possessions the power of mind becomes conspicuous 
 above others not so highly gifted, so will it prove 
 in this instance. A huntsman must possess intel- 
 lect of a superior order, or his career will never be 
 a brilliant one. As to voice, we think that of 
 secondary importance, or we might add, of no 
 importance at all, although the tones well modu- 
 lated ever fall pleasantly upon the ear. If hounds 
 understand the meaning of their master's language 
 it is enough ; and as they are supposed to find a 
 fox, there is no merit in his finding him for them. 
 Knowledge of country is of very great importance 
 
154 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 to a huntsman in directing him how to recover his 
 lost fox, since the line taken by one is commonly 
 followed by another, wind permitting. Instead of 
 this knowledge, if transferred to a new country, 
 the young huntsman must place more reliance upon 
 his own head and his hounds' noses — above all, the 
 latter, and we think better by far of such a begin- 
 ing, teaching him the first and greatest lesson he 
 can be taught — reliance upon his hounds as his 
 surest guide through difiiculties. Knowledge of 
 country may afterwards be of service to him, when 
 he has learnt to depend upon his hounds. 
 
 In the present era of foxhunting, too much is 
 expected from the genius and talents of tlie hunts- 
 man, which are supposed to be equal to all emer- 
 gencies ; and we have heard of and seen what are 
 called "heaven-born huntsmen/' but we must 
 confess to a great disappointment in their perfor- 
 mances. This appeared to us a misnomer, inas- 
 much as their distinguishing characteristic savoured 
 more of earth than of the ethereal spirit — know- 
 ledge of foxes' earths and haunts, which is derived 
 generally from experience and observation. These 
 men are too much dependent upon their own 
 enterprising genius to allow their hounds to do 
 their work properly, and when at fault, or hunting 
 too slowly to please them, they are lifted forward 
 to some covert, tlie favourite resort of foxes, where 
 it very frequentlj^ happens that instead of getting 
 upon the line or recovering their hunted fox, a fresh 
 one is roused up, and the " heaven-born huntsman '" 
 takes the credit of having displayed his talent in a 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 155 
 
 very meritorious manner, whereas he has just made 
 a hash of it — done what a steadier man would 
 have avoided. 
 
 Two of the most necessary quahfications in a 
 huntsman to foxhounds are self-possession and deci- 
 sion ; he should never be in a hurr}^, although, Avhen 
 emergencies arise, quick in deciding how to act. 
 A good eye and ear are also indispensables, to see, 
 when hounds are running, how fiir the leading 
 couples have carried the scent ; and the organ of 
 hearing perfect, to detect what is going on in covert 
 when he cannot avail himself of his eyesight. A 
 fine ear reveals to him at once whether his hounds 
 are running a stale or fresh scent ; and he can also 
 tell how near they may be to their fox, witli as 
 much certainty as if he were an eye-witness of 
 their doings. Although the observed of all obser- 
 vers, he should never be thinking of what his field 
 may be thinking or saying about himself; regarding 
 only his hounds and his business — et totus in illis 
 — he should shut his ears to all other things; and 
 we do not think the master should ever interfere 
 with him or dictate in the field, which would de- 
 stroy his self-confidence. Beckford has said that 
 he would prefer a first-rate whipper-in and a second- 
 class huntsman, as more likely to afford sport ; and 
 we quite agree with him, that a stupid whipper-in 
 is the greatest drawback to the efficient working 
 of the pack, since upon him so much depends. 
 
 The first whipper-in may be said very often, if 
 not always, to hold the trump card in his hand, if 
 
156 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 he is a trump, and not an ignoramus. He must 
 know well the hunted from a fresh fox, and if the 
 pack divides, stop instantly those on the wrong 
 scent ; and by his quickness and cleverness in this 
 matter depends the fortune of the day. This is an 
 act thoroughly independent of the huntsman, who 
 cannot hunt and rate hounds at the same time. 
 Then he must be well acquainted with all the earths 
 and drains in the country to which foxes generally 
 resort ; and when the hunted fox is evidently run- 
 ning for one of those unstopped, it is his business 
 to get forward without instructions from the hunts- 
 man and prevent the fox gaining it before him, and, 
 if quickly done, the first whipper-in has here the 
 credit of killing his fox. He ouofht also to know 
 the shortest way across country to any given point, 
 and although at some times acting, as we have just 
 before mentioned, quite independently of the hunts- 
 man, at others he must be obedient to his com- 
 mands. A good temper is not so indispensable as 
 in a huntsman, yet his infliction of punishment on 
 the hounds, when running riot, should be tempered 
 with justice and moderation. We like to see a 
 man sparing of tongue, but vigorous in action, — 
 one who will not be foolish enough to rate when he 
 is unable to enforce obedience, since riotous hounds 
 know as well as he does that they are un-come-at-able 
 in high coppice of seven or eight years' growth, 
 and therefore they will have their fun out, notwith- 
 standing the most furious objurgations. A sensible 
 whipper-in will wait patiently until the delinquents 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 157 
 
 are within reach of his lash, when emerging into 
 shorter stuff, then he will pounce instantly upon 
 them, with a blow first and a rate afterwards. It 
 is not unlikely on this occasion that a little irrita- 
 bility of temper may be exhibited, which we regard 
 .as being very natural, provided the lash does fall 
 upon the real culprit. A whipper-in has no right 
 whatever to strike a hound in the presence of the 
 huntsman, to whom he flies, as a matter of course, 
 for protection; and if he loses his opportunity of 
 punishing him when caught in the act, he must 
 wait for another. He should also make himself 
 acquainted with the different dispositions of the 
 hounds, since for one a word of caution or rate 
 will generally prove sufficient, while others may 
 require a severe castigation ; and we have known 
 some from their youth addicted so much to evil 
 practices, that they proved incorrigible. 
 
 That a first whipper-in is placed in a position 
 where he has the opportunity of contributing very 
 greatly to the sport of the day, admits of no doubt, 
 but at the same time he must never attempt to take 
 hold of the hounds so long as the huntsman is pre- 
 sent ; and we decidedly object to his helping to hunt 
 them in covert — a loose practice encouraged by some 
 huntsmen. Such interference should not be per- 
 mitted — on the contrary, his voice should never be 
 heard except in rating or turning straggling hounds 
 to the pack, or in a view-halloa when the fox has 
 broken covert. In short, his place is to be forward 
 outside the covert, the second whipper-in being in 
 
158 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 attendance on the huntsman. There is another 
 practice adopted by huntsmen, which we cannot 
 approve, although by it sometimes time may be 
 gained in making a cast to allow the whipper-in to 
 assist him, by holding half the pack in one direction 
 whilst he is trying in another. This has been 
 called a quick scientific way of doing business, but 
 in our opinion, loose and unsportsmanlike. We 
 like to see men and things in their right places, and 
 the first whipper-in is certainl}^ out of his place 
 when he is assisting to hunt the pack in coverfc, or 
 dividing them to recover the line of a hunted fox 
 in the open. When hounds are running for a par- 
 ticular covert, and there can be no doubt as to the 
 point the fox is making, the place of the first 
 whipper-in is to get forward to the other side of 
 that covert, there patiently to remain until the 
 hounds enter it. There he will sit quietly on his 
 horse awaiting the issue of events. One or two 
 foxes may perhaps be seen by him stealing away 
 from the wood-hedge, yet he moves not in his 
 saddle, or appears by his indifferent look to have 
 even noticed their departure. They are gone, and a 
 smile only plays about his mouth. Presently there 
 is some object upon which his eye becomes riveted, 
 and his attention fixed, as if engrossing all his 
 thoughts. He knows it at a glance to be the 
 hunted fox, slowly leaving the wood-hedge, and 
 casting one furtive lingering look behind : still not 
 a muscle of his features moves, until the fox is lost to 
 view beyond the next fence. Then the nature of 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 159 
 
 the man seems entirely changed. He is' all energy 
 and animation, scream succeeds scream, until the 
 hounds come tearing through the covert to his well- 
 known view-halloa. The victorv over his beaten 
 foe that day belongs to him, he knows, but he does 
 not claim it. 
 
160 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Second Whipper-in — Natural talents for his profession — Place of 
 second whip — His disposition — Implicit obeclience to superiors — 
 Master reflected in man — The Baronet and Parvenu — Old law of 
 honour — Ink vice blood — Huntsmen in communion with gentle- 
 men — Order of march to covert side and back — Huddling 
 hounds together — Discipline too strict fails in its object — The 
 late Squire of Tedworth and his pack — The attache of the hunts- 
 man — Seeing not always believing — Drawing over foxes — 
 Pugilist Jack and the last hound — Dismounted duties. 
 
 It has been said by some writers on foxhunting, 
 who ought to have known better, that any boy who 
 can crack a whip will suflSce to fill the situation 
 of second whipper-in ; we must differ with such 
 authorities, toto codo. Defend us fi*om a boy who 
 can just crack a whip as from an urchin with a 
 penny pipe in his mouth ; no greater nuisance can 
 befall a pack of hounds than a boy who fancies he 
 must be continually flicking them with his lash, 
 which he imagines is placed in his hands for that 
 purpose. The lad who is to succeed in after-life as 
 a whipper-in or huntsman must be born with a 
 head upon his shoulders containing a full comple- 
 ment of brains, and ought to know when to strike 
 a hound and when to let him alone, without being 
 perpetually lectured about it. Every yokel taken 
 from the plough-tail cannot be converted into a 
 whipper-in, whether he will or no. Time and trou- 
 ble are thrown away upon any but acute intelligent 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 161 
 
 lads, the sons of huntsmen or whippers-in, who 
 have been bred up to the profession, and take to 
 it kindly from childhood ; although it does not in- 
 variably happen that the children of huntsmen are 
 inclined to adopt their father's calling, or are fitted 
 for it ; but when they do so choose for themselves, 
 like well-bred foxhounds, they require less trouble in 
 breaking. There is a vulgar expression, peculiarly 
 applicable to a sleepy lad, intended for this line : 
 •* he has not got it in him ; '' and if so, you cannot 
 put it in him ; neither birch nor whipcord would 
 avail in this case. Knowledcje of the noble science 
 cannot be dunned into the boy's head like Latin 
 and Greek, unless he is anxious to acquire it. We 
 have tried many lads of respectable parentage, and 
 although delighted at first with the idea of becom^ 
 ing whippers-in to a pack of foxhounds, yet we 
 could not get on with them ; some proved too 
 hasty, some too slow, and others too stupid, to 
 persevere with them ; but they did very well for 
 thistle-whipping, where they had the master's eye 
 continually upon them in the open field, and were 
 obliged to obey orders. 
 
 The place of the second whip to foxhounds is to 
 be in attendance upon his superior at certain times, 
 at others, be left to his own devices ; and during 
 cub-hunting, he may be amusing himself by cracking 
 nuts instead of cracking his whip, whilst the hound.s 
 are running covert. Boys will be boys, and we 
 must make some allowance for their frolics ; but 
 unless a lad has been well brought up at home, has 
 naturally a good disposition, and is kind to animals, 
 
 M 
 
162 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 it will be " love s labour lost '' to attempt to make 
 anything of him. Complete obedience, civility, and 
 attention to his superiors, are the first lessons \yhich 
 ought to be impressed upon the mind of any youth 
 intended for the service of gentlemen ; and we quite 
 agree with the remark we once heard expressed by 
 an old foxhunter : '^ Show me the servant, and I 
 will tell you the character of his master." Although 
 perhaps little thought of or noticed in these times, 
 there cannot be a more sure test of a servant's 
 respectability — the master is reflected in the man. 
 
 We remember a scene, some years ago, between a 
 baronet of sporting celebrity, both on the turf and 
 in the field, and the groom of a soi-disant gen- 
 tleman — in other words, one who had plenty of 
 money to spend upon servants and horses, but knew 
 little about the usages of good society. The baronet 
 was picking his way quietly on his hunter's back 
 through a dirty lane to the place of meeting, when 
 this groom dashed by him at half-speed, bespattering 
 him with mud from head to foot. Now, the baronet 
 being very particular as to personal appearance, 
 always dressing well, and being rather of a peppery 
 disposition, became exceedingly irate at seeing his 
 €lean pink, and Avhite buckskins dotted over with 
 black spots, like a leopard-skin, through the inso- 
 lence of this blackguard, and the more enraged 
 when the fellow pulled up a short distance before 
 him, looking back with a grin at the baronet's 
 grotesque appearance. 
 
 " The name of vour master ? " demanded Sir 
 
 »/ 
 
 L. G., riding up to him. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 163 
 
 " I shan't tell it, unless asked in a civiler way/' 
 tbe groom replied. 
 
 "Then I will find it out, and horsewhip him 
 instead of you, unless he discharges you instantly 
 from his service for such outrageous behaviour.'" 
 
 The day proving unfavourable, our novus liomo 
 did not put in an appearance at the place of meet- 
 ing, but the next morning a friend of the baronet's 
 called upon him to request that the servant who 
 had behaved so insolently the previous day might 
 be discharged. OVjjections being raised to this pro- 
 posal, Captain D , on the part of the baronet, 
 
 suggested the expediency of his naming a friend 
 upon whom he might call to arrange preliminaries 
 for a meeting as early as possible the following 
 morninor. 
 
 o 
 
 "What, sir!" exclaimed the astonished gentleman, 
 *'am I to be shot at because my servant happened 
 to throw some mud over your friend in galloping 
 up a road ? I have had dirt thrown in my face 
 when galloping after the hounds by those riding 
 before me.'' 
 
 " Not unlikely, sir ; but your servant did this 
 purposely to insult my friend when there were no 
 hounds running ; and by his pulling his horse up 
 immediately afterwards, there can be no doubt as 
 to his object." 
 
 " I have my doubts about ifc, Captain D , 
 
 and I shall not discharge my man. Now, would 
 you, in my case? As a soldier and a gentleman, 
 I ask your candid opinion." 
 
 " A master is answerable for his servant's action 
 
 M 2 
 
164 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 in such cases as these ; and I would not retain one 
 in my service who could so misconduct himself. 
 That would be my course of proceeding/' 
 
 "Very well, Captain D , then I will follow 
 
 your suggestion/' Thus the groom was discharged 
 without the discharge of pistols — the usual mode of 
 settling differences in those times, now happily dis- 
 couraged and disallowed. In place of placing your 
 antagonist on turf so many paces distant, to be shot 
 at, you now put him in print, where you may 
 pepper away at each other as long as it pleases 
 both parties, with spilling of ink, not spilling of 
 blood. The servants of well-bred gentlemen have 
 been, and always will be, distinguished from the 
 rude and crude by civilitj^, and deference to their 
 superiors. Huntsmen and whippers-in, by their 
 vocation, are brought more immediately before the 
 public, and in communion with gentlemen, than 
 any other class of dependents, and we rarely see 
 them spoilt by this indulgence, but the reverse. 
 Their manners are greatly improved by it. A little 
 personal vanity must be expected, and we rather 
 like to see these men proud of their position, and 
 the opportunity given them of being the chief con- 
 tributors to the sport of the whole field. 
 
 On their way to the covert- side, the place of first 
 whipper-in is in advance of the huntsman, and 
 that of the second a considerable distance behind 
 him, so far as to allow any hounds to fall back 
 without molestation from his whipcord; and it 
 would add very much more to the comfort of the 
 pack, if Jack were altogether out of sight. Whilst 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 165 
 
 thus travelling on their outward journey, and in 
 coming home also, tired hounds should be allowed 
 plenty of room to pick their way through sloppy 
 roads or lanes in bad weatlier. We dislike to see 
 hounds at any time huddled up together round 
 their huntsman, like a flock of sheep penned in the 
 corner of a field, by a dog snapping round them. 
 When the entry have become steady, and are ad- 
 mitted into the pack, discipline of this kind is as 
 injurious as unnecessary, since we have remarked 
 that hounds kept in such strict order are more 
 inclined to run riot than those treated with more 
 confidence. The late Assheton Smith was, in this 
 respect, the most trusting huntsman we have ever 
 seen in the field, and we were often amused with 
 the sudden change in the behaviour of his hounds 
 on his arrival at the place of meeting. Whilst in 
 charge of the kennel-huntsman and two whips 
 they trotted along in a compact body, solemnly and 
 demurely, not a hound venturing to step out of 
 place ; but no sooner did they catch sight of their 
 master, or hear his voice, than, breaking loose from 
 further restraint, like boys out of school, they rushed 
 eagerly to meet him, jumping and playing round 
 his horse, with other manifestations of excessive 
 delight. The character of the hounds seemed 
 changed in a moment, and as they moved off* to 
 draw covert, an independence of action was assumed 
 totally at variance with their former deportment. 
 They knew no whipper-in dare touch or control 
 them in their huntsman's presence, to whom, how- 
 ever, they yielded that cheerful obedience so pleasing 
 
166 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 to behold in all animals attached to a kind master, a 
 word or wave of the hand being sufficient to recall 
 or turn them in any direction. 
 
 The place of the second whipper-in, when hounds 
 are drawing covert, is at the tail of the pack, to 
 watch their proceedings, and if perfectly satisfied 
 that any are running riot, to stop them directly ; 
 but he is not to be too hasty in his conclusions, 
 and should be convinced by ocular demonstration, 
 since a hound given occasionally to malpractices 
 will be right sometimes. The huntsman's conduct 
 at this time will be his best guide, to whom he is 
 considered as an especial attache, waiting generally 
 his directions and orders. When he cheers all is 
 right, and for that cheer the second whip must 
 wait, as a rule, before taking upon himself to de- 
 cide. Even seeing is not always believing. A 
 hare may be running the same line as the fox, 
 which we have often seen, and lookers-on would of 
 course say they were running riot. We knew 
 otherwise ; but it is the huntsman only, or clever 
 first whip, who could distinguish at a glance by 
 the hound's manner whether they were right or 
 wrong. Hounds should not be hurried when 
 drawing covert, time and room being allowed them, 
 or you will draw over many foxes in the course of 
 the season on bad scenting days or windy weather. 
 In thick sedgy underwood foxes will lie very close, 
 and not move until nearly pushed out by the 
 hounds. Whether they are judges of good scent- 
 ing days, from the fact of their occasionally hunt- 
 ing down their game, we do not pretend to say. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. ] 67 
 
 although they certainly appear to possess this 
 knowledge. 
 
 When being hunted, foxes as well as hares 
 distinguish the distance between themselves and 
 their pursuers, and if not pressed in the chase, 
 seem to draw their conclusions that they may take 
 liberties on such occasions by loitering on their 
 course, or running back the foil. It is no un- 
 usual occurrence to see many foxes chopped before 
 getting on their legs during the hunting season. 
 We remember once in particular, when drawing a 
 thick blackthorn brake, a hound, named Pugilist, 
 by Mr. Osbaldiston's Pontiff, making a dead stand 
 at a bush. Being a capital hound, as true as steel 
 to a fox scent, we knew, of course, no other ani- 
 mal could be there. We stopped on our horse, 
 waiting to see the issue. The hound stood for a 
 second or two more, when, springing into the bush, 
 he rolled the fox out of it on the other side, and 
 before I could jump off my horse had killed him. 
 This fox, save for Pugilist's perseverance in work- 
 ing about this thick stuff, when the other hounds 
 had dashed forward, would have been drawn over ; 
 and it had been better to have so happened than 
 die ignominiously without a run for his life. It, 
 however, goes to show how very closely foxes will 
 lie in gorse-brakes or very thick underwood ; and 
 therefore it is necessary to impress on the mind of 
 the second whipper-in that he is to keep a respect- 
 ful distance whilst hounds are drawing such places, 
 and never interfere with them when they appear 
 busy in any particular spot. 
 
168 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 When the fox is found, the second whipper-in 
 must keep as near the hounds as possible, still 
 prepared to attend to any directions from the 
 huntsman, with his ears well open to receive them. 
 When the fox breaks covert, it is his business to 
 bring on any tail-hounds that may remain behind. 
 This duty is not perhaps, sometimes, a very agree- 
 able one, yet, being indispensable, Jack must be 
 content to perform it, and the quicker and better 
 it is done, the more fun he will have by seeing the 
 run out from beginning to end. If, however, it is 
 done in a slovenly way, and some hounds still left 
 in the covert, he will be sent back by the huntsman 
 to collect them together and bring them on, which 
 will throw Jack out of his anticipated amusement, 
 and teach him a lesson which, if he is worth in- 
 struction, need not be repeated, that so long as a 
 single hound remains in covert, when the pack have 
 left it, he has no business out of it. 
 
 We have written enough to show that the task 
 allotted to a second whipper-in is not such as can 
 be performed by a boy who can merely crack a 
 whip. He must be bred up to his profession from 
 early youth, as assistant to the huntsman in and 
 about the kennels, also an occasional helper in the 
 stable, and to ride horses out to exercise, whereby 
 he may acquire a good seat on horseback, as well 
 as how to handle the reins, since the knowledge of 
 hunting and managing hounds would be of little 
 avail to him without the former qualitications. 
 The dismounted duties of the whipper-in will de- 
 pend upon the establishment. If not required to 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 169 
 
 help wash the hounds in kennel after they return 
 from hunting, his business will be to clean and 
 dress his own horse, which he may think rather a 
 bore after a hard day, but this will afford him 
 also a good lesson to distinguish between the use 
 and abuse of the horses he has to ride. The more 
 care he takes of them in the field, the less trouble 
 will they give him in the stable. 
 
170 SYSTEM OF KENXEL AND 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Second horseman — Few good riders to hounds — The first start — 
 Different modes of crossing country— Genuine sportsmen — Seats 
 in the saddle — Good riders and hard riders — The worst kind 
 of fall— Anecdote of Jack Stevens— Riding down hill — Truth of 
 the old triplet — How to take fences — "Expert© crede" — Irish 
 hunters — Jack and his Kilkenny friend — Going at water — The 
 late Lord Kintore — Untrodden ground the safest — The horse and 
 his rider — Must part company sometimes. 
 
 The introduction of second horseman into the 
 hunting- field originated, we believe, with the late 
 Lord Sefton, who succeeded Mr. Meynell in the 
 Quorn country, and for men of heavy weight the 
 practice is not only defensible, but commendable, 
 as affording great relief to their horses. A good 
 second horseman, however, is as rare as a first-class 
 whipper-in, for, like him, he must possess with 
 other qualifications a knowledge of country, and 
 the general line of foxes, which are necessary to 
 enable him to nick in, as it is called, at the proper 
 time with a fresh horse, when his master is in 
 difficulties with a beaten one. There is an art in 
 doing this effectually not to be attained by a lad 
 just out of a racing-stable, or a common groom. 
 He will also have to ride the run throughout, 
 sometimes in the wake of his master, and ready to 
 assist him when called for. The difference be- 
 tween heavy and light weights is not so great as 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. l7l 
 
 that between a perfect horseman and a bad rider, 
 the latter being certain to beat his horse long 
 before the formei'. 
 
 The art of riding to hounds is not to be learnt 
 in a month or a season by every man who goes out 
 hunting, or we should never behold those scenes in 
 the field which so commonly meet the eye in the 
 grazing districts, when out of such large numbers 
 assembled at the place of meeting, so few are 
 found who can live with hounds, even tlirough a 
 short sharp burst ; and in a trying run fewer still. 
 When the fox breaks covert, the great majority are 
 so hurried and flurried that they scarcely know 
 what they are about, rushing and pressing forward 
 in a crowd, impatient for a good start, which, if 
 perchance they get they cannot keep : the cause 
 of this is that they have not served an apprentice- 
 ship to foxhunting in early youth, and do not, 
 consequently, understand how to get to or live, as 
 we call it, with hounds. Some, sailor-like, go at 
 their fences right earnestly, and at any hound also 
 which has the misfortune to be in their line, rasp- 
 ing away with loose reins, until brought down to 
 mother earth. Others take a well-known sports- 
 man for their guide, whom they will follow as long 
 as able to do so, greatly to his annoyance, and 
 perhaps detriment in case of a fall. The few 
 knowing ones choose a line of their own, listening 
 attentively to the cry of the pack whilst in covert, 
 never far from them at any time, and ready for a 
 start the moment they are away. These men have 
 learnt by experience the business part of foxhunt- 
 
172 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 ing, and never throw away a chance by coffee- 
 housing under the wood-hedge after the first hound 
 has thrown his tonOTe. This is the signal for him 
 
 o o 
 
 to be on the alert, with eyes and ears open to all 
 that is now passing around him. He is not in a 
 hurry or flurry, galloping up and down the drives, 
 or larking over fences outside the covert ; but 
 creeping quietly about, shiftiDg his position as the 
 fox shifts his ground, and generally pretty sure of 
 viewing him over the drive or across the first field 
 from covert ; when, and not before, his voice will 
 be heard to some purpose. Neither is he in a 
 hurry now that the pack are clear of the wood- 
 hedge, and settling down on the scent ; there is no 
 restless impatience in his manner to be ofi* and 
 over them. He can afford to wait until they are 
 fairly committed to the run ; and then, keeping 
 wide of them, right or left, according to the wind, 
 and not alongside of the leading couples, which he 
 knows is not his place, if it is that of the hunts- 
 man, but with his eye fixed upon them, so that 
 he may pull up at the first check. He will know 
 how far the hounds have carried the scent, and 
 when, in. the eagerness of the burst, they have 
 overshot it, and turn his horse's head in the 
 direction they incline to ; in short, he is a thorough 
 sportsman, one of that character to whom master 
 and huntsman may look for assistance and support 
 in difficulties. 
 
 As to a seat on horseback, there are quot homines, 
 tot sententice ; some prefer the military seat, others 
 ride by balance ; some by purchase, or clinging 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 173 
 
 tightly by thigh and leg to the saddle ; some in 
 long, others in short stirrups : every man rides, 
 we conclude, as it suits him, or according to the 
 instructions received in early youth, or later in 
 life from a riding-master. The best and firmest, 
 although perhaps not the most elegant, is that 
 acquired by a self-taught boy on his pony, who will 
 stick to the pigskin through kickings, rearings, 
 swervings, and such-like devices to dislodge him. 
 The balance seat we consider the most insecure, 
 not only in the hunting-field but elsewhere. Well 
 enough as long as his horse goes straight at fences, 
 but should he swerve just before taking them, ten 
 to one against the balance man keeping his equili- 
 brium. We have noted many hard riders of this 
 class, — good riders we cannot call them, since good 
 riders and hard riders are by no means synonymous 
 terms. We consider that may be the best sports- 
 man who can keep his place in the field with the 
 fewest falls; and we may go a step fiirther, by say- 
 ing that the horse and his rider ought never to 
 part company, except under very peculiar circum- 
 stances. The worst fall you can get is when going 
 fast down hill your horse puts his foot into an old 
 rut or rabbit-hole ; a roll over is then the inevit- 
 able consequence, and if no bones are displaced 
 you may consider yourself most fortunate. 
 
 An anecdote related of the once-celebrated Jack 
 Stevens, whipper-in to the more celebrated Osbaldis- 
 ton, occurs to us here, showing the dare-devil cha- 
 racter of the man. He was seen riding fast down 
 hill, over very uneven ground, dotted with large 
 
174 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 mole-liills, on a horse having very rickety fore-legs, 
 and whilst so doing, what think you was his occu- 
 pation? Tying a lash to his whip, and the open blade 
 of his pocket-knife between his teeth. The man who 
 could perform such a feat as this, we may naturally 
 conclude would stick at nothing. Just the sort of 
 fellow to lead a forlorn hope or dash up to the 
 cannon's mouth. Experienced foxhunters are agreed 
 that there is no surer proof of courage than riding 
 quick down hill, although, in our opinion, this act 
 shows want of judgment and really good horse- 
 manship, for what says the old triplet ? — 
 
 Up the liill spare me, 
 Down the hill bear rae, 
 On the flat never fear me. 
 
 There is often a deal of truth in these wise old 
 saws, and in these three lines are condensed the best 
 rules for riding to hounds. The forcing your horse 
 against rising ground is the surest method of stop- 
 ping him altogether, if in the least distressed, and 
 hurrying him down the descent, most likely to 
 eventuate in a most calamitous cropper. The next 
 most dangerous fall generally comes from going too 
 fast at timber — a great mistake — or riding at a 
 swinging gate, which we have seen men do to 
 show their contempt of danger. Some horses have 
 rather a fancy for gate-jumping ; but they require 
 to be left to their own discretion how to take 
 them, which they will do by shortening sail and 
 gathering themselves together for the spring. In 
 fact, all animals of the jumping order slacken their 
 pace before taking their leap — deer particularly, 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING 175 
 
 which go bounding along in their course, and might 
 be expected to go at obstacles in the same manner, 
 yet, having watched them often, we have invariably 
 noticed that, unless very closely pursued, they would 
 break into a trot, and sometimes clear high leaps 
 standing. Taking a lesson from them, we invari- 
 ably draw the rein Avhen approaching any fence, and 
 to this caution we attribute our encountering so very 
 few serious accidents during a long hunting career. 
 Some of your raspers and thrusters may think this 
 a slow mode of doing business, and that hounds 
 would run us out of sight and hearing from losing 
 so much time. Experience led us to pursue this 
 plan, as enabling us to see more of a run than 
 those who adopted the contrary one ; and in our 
 younger days we were quite as fond of jumping as 
 hunting. When, however, we took to the horn, our 
 whole attention was given to the hounds, regarding 
 fences only as so many impediments in our way, 
 irrespective of which, we made the discovery that 
 strong fences stopped hounds as much as horses, and 
 that we could easily keep our i)\ixce with them if 
 well placed at starting. Hounds cg^nnot beat a 
 well-bred horse, with a workman on his back, 
 through enclosures, although they may and will 
 run away from them over open downs with a good 
 scent. Irish horses, from their particular educa- 
 tion, having been accustomed when young to follow 
 their breaker over fences with a long rein, which 
 enables them to disport themselves as most conve- 
 nient, are generally found to be the best standing 
 leapers ; and we remember a little event between 
 
176 SYSTEJM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 our second whipper-in and a thorough-bred Irish 
 hunter which we had recently purchased for his 
 riding. Jack was bringing along a hound or two 
 left behind in covert, and pressing forward to join 
 us in the chase, when, on jumping into an enclosure, 
 he found himself so far pounded that the only 
 means of exit lay over a five-barred gate, at which 
 some two or three of the field were posted, trying 
 hastily to break the lock. 
 
 "Now, gentlemen, if you please,"' cried Jack, 
 " master will be wanting me up with the pack, and 
 if you can't manage the gate, let me have a go 
 at it." 
 
 " Come on, then,'' they said, making room for 
 him, and expecting he would, by breaking the top- 
 bar, let them through easily. 
 
 Jack, not needing a second invitation, gave the 
 Irish horse a dig with his spur, thinking he would 
 take it like other horses, but he reckoned without 
 his host on this occasion ; the Irisher went straight 
 enough at first, but, just as he reached the gate, he 
 turned short under it, sending Jack clean out of the 
 pigskin and over the top-bar ; then, raising himself 
 on his hind-legs, vaulted over to join his rider. On 
 Jack's being thrown, a loud laugh was raised by 
 those on the wrong side at Jack's expense, who, on 
 picking himself up, said, " The laugh's on my side 
 now, gentlemen," and, raising his cap, wished them 
 " Good-bye ! " 
 
 "We cannot say this way of negotiating timber 
 was a very desirable or pleasant one ; but this 
 horse, having been so instructed, would always take 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 177 
 
 it in this way, and Jack, being once made acquainted 
 with the trick, they became inseparable friends ever 
 after. 
 
 Some men have an idea that horses must be sent 
 with a certain impetus at all fences alike, and, so 
 far fi-om slackening their pace when nearing them, 
 increase that impetus by the spur ; yet it is quite 
 evident that a horse so hurried cannot measure his 
 distance ; and, if making a mistake on taking off, 
 a rattling fall will be the consequence, which will 
 cause greater delay than if the horse had been ridden 
 at it more leisurely, enabling him to land safely on 
 the other side. We think that a little more powder 
 may be added when going at water ; but even then 
 we should prefer taking it with a brisk trot rather 
 than at full speed. We remember seeing three first- 
 flight men, one of whom was the late Lord Kintore, 
 riding furiously at a brook, each anxious to get the 
 lead, when the first horse, swerving on the brink, 
 being so close in the pace, all three went under 
 water. The most puzzling of all aquatic adven- 
 tures of this sort is when the banks are flooded to 
 some extent on both sides of the stream ; and even 
 then we have seen some men foolhardy enough 
 to gallop through it, supposing their horses could 
 distinguish where to take off. 
 
 Now, if there is one thing more particularly to 
 be attended to in foxhunting, it is the state of the 
 ground from which 3^our horse takes his spring; 
 never regard the lowest place in the fence, nor 
 that where the bounds have been lately mended. 
 Fresh ground is always the most safe where there 
 
 N 
 
178 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 are no foot-marks ; and, although the quickset may 
 be higher at this point, there is less risk of a mis- 
 adventure. A good rider to hounds has no sooner 
 cleared one fence than his eye is cast forward to see 
 his best way over the next, and, having made up 
 his mind on this point, he will not deviate from 
 his line. At brooks especially, the first horse has 
 always the best chance. In this case it is danger- 
 ous to follow a leader. But of all the disagreeables 
 in a foxchase, peaty water meadows, with a brook 
 in the middle, are the worst to be encountered. As 
 a general rule, the horse and his rider ought to be 
 inseparable ; yet are there exceptional cases, in some 
 of which they must of necessity dissolve partner- 
 ship, and that, too, for mutual benefit and conve- 
 nience. The towing-path under the arch of a canal 
 is one place where a man must dismount at once 
 and lead his horse, unless he chooses to run the risk 
 of having his brains knocked out. The wooden 
 drawbridge over it, with a gate at both ends, and 
 no room to take off, is another. A drop leap into 
 a deep stony lane is better accomplished by leading 
 down than riding down into it ; eleven or twelve 
 stone on your hunter's back being more likely to 
 shatter his fore-legs than to save them ; to say 
 nothing of a cropper to yourself, with a bloody 
 nose, and broken knees to your horse, which will 
 detract from his value ever afterwards. We have 
 come to park-palings in the course of a run, over 
 which the boughs of trees were hanging so low and 
 stiffly, that riding at them was an impossibility, 
 unless you were anxious to incur the fate of 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHCTNTING. 179 
 
 Absalom. The parting between horse and man 
 being imperative, we considered it the wisest and 
 quickest plan to dismount instantly, do what we 
 could in breaking the top palings, and leading our 
 horse over, to contend with the rest of the timber 
 as he best could. 
 
 N 2 
 
180 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Old hunters and young riders — Vacating the pigskin sometimes a 
 voluntary act — With stirrups or without them — Riding for sale — 
 The mount by a friend the reverse of friendly — Rule as to 
 kickers in the field — Buck-jumpers — Two strings to your bow — 
 Snaffle bridle — Martingales — Breastplate — Unnecessary gear — 
 Spurs — Their use and abuse — The Author's objection to them — 
 Hunting costume — Jack-boots — The old top — The cap and hat — 
 Colour of coat — The spare shoe— Eau de vie — Old Meynell's 
 cordial — Contents of waistcoat -pocket. 
 
 The best advice we can offer to a young aspirant 
 for honours in the liunting-field is to purchase a 
 well-made hunter or hunters, which will give him a 
 more experimental and useful lesson in the art of 
 riding to hounds than we can communicate by the 
 pen. The older they are the cheaper they will be, 
 and if screws, no matter ; they will teach you in a 
 month that which we might fail to impress upon 
 your mind in twelve months. An old stiff-jointed 
 hunter will have things his own way, and if you 
 attempt to force him out of it woe betides you. 
 Give him his head without whip or spur, and you 
 will find him a trustworth}^ friend. Knock him 
 about the head and ears, and he will play the devil 
 with you. The greatest mistake a man can make 
 is to suppose that his liorse will go for a fall, as his 
 master does sometimes, to get grassed on the other 
 side of a fence. An old hunter will never go for a 
 faP until there is no go left in him. Young riders 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 181 
 
 on young horses must expect to get falls, and plenty 
 of them ; and as there is said to be some method 
 even in madness, so is there some art in knowing 
 how to fall well, when fall you must. So long as 
 a chance remains of holdinor him toorether, the 
 pigskin should not be abandoned, but when that 
 chance is gone, by your horse's fore-legs getting into 
 the ditch on the other side, throw yourself clear 
 of him, to avoid a pommelling. 
 
 Huntsmen and whippers-in, when going at a 
 dangerous place, or expecting a ducking, throw 
 their stirrups across their horse's withers ; and 
 having often adopted this practice, we can recom- 
 mend it as advisable on particular occasions, to 
 prevent entanglement. Stirrups are no doubt a 
 very necessary and luxurious ap])endage to a saddle, 
 since it is not very pleasant to have your legs 
 dangling about your horse's sides. Moreover, to 
 ride by gripe only any long distance occasions great 
 strain upon the muscles of the thighs and legs ; 
 still, a good horseman ought to be able to ride 
 without stirrups as w^ell as with them. Losing 
 shoes is of more fi-equent occurrence than losing 
 stirrups, yet on crashing through a thick bullfinch 
 or blackthorn hedge, you may be nearly torn out 
 of the saddle and one of the stirrups left behind, 
 which, in a run, there is no time to recover. Some 
 men, " to one thing constant never," are continu- 
 ally chopping and changing their horses — like some 
 young ladies, fond of new flices. Others buy young 
 horses to make them, for those who can afford to 
 give high prices for made hunters ; but unless really 
 
182 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 in want of the needful, the best rule is never to 
 part with a horse that suits you. More than half 
 the enjoyment of a good run depends upon being 
 carried comfortably throughout it. Horses, like 
 hounds, have all their peculiar dispositions, and 
 there is no pleasure riding a fiery-tempered, hard- 
 pulling brute, who will have everything his own 
 way. 
 
 We were once oflFered a mount by a friend upon 
 what he was pleased to call a first-rate hunter, in 
 the shape of a tall, strong animal, standing over 
 sixteen hands, with head and tail well up, and the 
 action of a gentleman's London cab-horse. On 
 beholding the hounds, every organ and muscle of 
 his brute body was set in motion. Ears cocked 
 up ; nostrils dilated ; eyes ready to come out of 
 their sockets ; teeth intent on eating the bit, if 
 feasible ; tremblings in every limb, with circumvo- 
 lutions and pawings, ominous of a restless, ungo- 
 vernable brute within his huo^e carcase. Thinks I 
 to myself, a pretty beginning for a quiet elderly 
 gentleman, desirous of looking over the pack first, 
 and following them afterwards with an eye to busi- 
 ness. Meanwhile my friend sat lounging in his 
 saddle, seemingly as much at ease as when reclining 
 in his side-padded arm-chair after dinner. Ever 
 and anon we detected a mischievous glance of his 
 eye directed towards the pirouetting, curvetting 
 monster, upon which, [from sheer malice prepense, 
 or murderous intentions, we believe he had mounted 
 us. Now, it was sufficiently vexatious for a quon^ 
 dam '^ M. F. H.'' to be so placed as to be precluded 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 183 
 
 the gratification of inspecting the hounds for fear 
 of his steed rushing in amongst them ; but we felt 
 also exceedingly uncomfortable in our exalted posi- 
 tion, from which the animal we were bestriding 
 appeared resolved to dislodge us as quickly as pos- 
 sible. Some men have a fancy for prancing horses, 
 to show off their horsemanship before ladies, and 
 this may do very well in Rotten Row, although 
 rather out of place at a meeting of foxhunters, 
 where such exhibitions do not find favour. It is 
 an established rule in the hunting-field, that no man 
 has a right to bring a kicking or riotous horse into 
 a crowd of others, or near the hounds. The risks 
 men encounter in the chase are great enough with- 
 out being subjected to the chance of having their 
 legs broken by a bad-tempered brute at the covert- 
 side. Finding it impossible to keep our Highflyer 
 in decent order, we were obliged to make ourselves 
 scarce, and watch the proceedings at a respectful 
 distance ; but no sooner did the cry of the hounds 
 on finding their fox arise, than he became ungovern- 
 able, and on breaking covert we were hurried along, 
 nolens volens, across a couple of fields, and over 
 a flight of hurdles, into a low gorse-brake, through 
 which Highflyer tore also, making fearful bounds ; 
 but the most daring feat of all was his charging a 
 high, solitary thornbush, not even standing in his 
 path, in which it was an *' all but '' that we had 
 not been left impaled amidst the branches. Scent 
 being bad, with little prospect of a run, we soon 
 took a line of our own straight to his owner's 
 stables, and have ever since entertained a whole- 
 
184 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 some dread of being mounted by a friend. True, 
 there is an old saying about " your friend's horse 
 and your own spurs/' but we never could find any 
 pleasure in riding strange horses. They neither 
 understand your way of doing business, nor you 
 theirs, so there must of necessity be doubts and 
 drawbacks until both become more intimately ac- 
 quainted. Scarcely any two horses go at their 
 fences in the same manner. Some are quite easy 
 to sit, others very difficult, a buck-jumper the most 
 difficult of all at first, but when you know how 
 your horse is going to set about it, you prepare 
 yourself for the spring. 
 
 Double bits are more generally used now than 
 formerly, especially in the grazing districts, where 
 horses are sent at their fences rushing wildly, like 
 a bull at a gate ; and where so little is done for 
 their education as hunters, it is better to have the 
 two strings to your bow. All horses will go easiest 
 to themselves, and their riders, if allowed to go 
 pretty much in their own way, and according to 
 their formation. Those with small heads neatly 
 joined to an arched neck, with oblique shoulders, 
 will go best in a snaffle bridle ; others with ewe- 
 necks or thick jowls require a double bridle to 
 hold them together. Others, again, carry their 
 heads so high as to require a martingale, but these, 
 if too tightly curbed — w^e might say unnaturally — 
 a good rider will see directly that his horse carries 
 his head as it is set on by nature, and humour him 
 in that inclination as far as necessary. Anything 
 impeding the action and free use of a hunter's 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 185 
 
 limbs and lungs is wrong ; but it is better to ride 
 with a breastplate than draw tlie girths too tightly 
 to keep the saddle in its proper position. In hill 
 countries this appendage is more required, particu- 
 larly for light-bodied horses, but the attention of a 
 good horseman will be continually directed to its 
 not pressing too tightly on the neck, and that the 
 throat-lash is sufficiently loose ; the curb-chain also. 
 Perhaps half the men who go out hunting never 
 think of looking to these little matters, whicli, in 
 reality, are great matters to their horses ; but, 
 before mounting, a good sportsman always makes 
 a minute examination of these things, upon the 
 proper adjustment of which the comfort of his 
 horse so much depends. Unnecessary gear about 
 saddle or carriage horses should be avoided, and on 
 that account we prefer a single bit in his mouth, 
 and a saddle without martingale or breastplate 
 attached to it, since they may impede the progress 
 of your hunter in more ways than one over a 
 stiffly- enclosed country. A padded saddle-cloth, 
 made of rough material on the upper side next 
 the saddle, will tend to keep it in its proper place, 
 and answer the purpose of the breastplate. Spurs 
 are considered by some as necessary appendages to 
 a man's boots, as much, perhaps, for ornament as 
 use, and may be required sometimes to keep a 
 horse straight at his fences ; but for a good hunter 
 au fait at his business, rarely indeed, since we 
 believe he will require no such persuaders to do 
 his best and keep as close to the pack as he pos- 
 sibly can of his own free will. In this respect, 
 
186 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 the cry of hounds exercises the same influence over 
 the horse as it does over his rider, the difficulty 
 being rather to keep him within bounds, and check 
 his ardour. Having ridden for the greater part of 
 our hunting career without spurs, we have come 
 to the conclusion that they are not necessaries, 
 although they may be used as auxiliaries. A slug 
 may require a little pricking, but a free-going 
 hunter should never be spurred at any time ; and 
 we have, moreover, seen serious accidents* from 
 their unintentional application when going through 
 fences and coppices, by the foot being caught by 
 a stiff bough, and the spur pressed against the 
 horse's side. The heel of the boot or the voice 
 are quite sufficient to answer the purpose of adding 
 a little more energy to your horse, if required, and 
 with a lift of the hand and clip of the leg, his 
 spring may be assisted, and speed accelerated with- 
 out drawing blood. 
 
 As to the costume of a foxhunter, nothing can 
 be more appropriate or artistic than the leathers 
 and tops in use for so many years ; and although 
 the fashion in these times, the French jack-boot 
 is not less unsportsmanlike in appearance. It may 
 be more comfortable to the wearer, and possibly 
 turn aside a thorn from your knee, yet it cannot 
 equal the neatness of the old top-boot, so identified 
 with all our sporting reminiscences. Caps were 
 worn formerly chiefly by huntsmen and whippers- 
 in, being rather regarded as that distinguishing 
 headpiece or badge of office ; now they are adopted 
 by every sporting man who would be thought 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 187 
 
 a sportsman. The hunting- cap has its advantages 
 as well as disadvantages ; the head is better pro- 
 tected from external injuries by its shape and 
 stronger manufacture than that of hats, or the 
 numerous skull- defenders now in vogue. A blow 
 from the bough of a tree, which would knock your 
 hat off your head, and nearly your head off your 
 shoulders, would strike harmless against the firm 
 texture of the cap ; and in a fall you are less liable 
 to injury. The drawbacks to it are, that the sides 
 of your face and nape of your neck are more 
 exposed to the pitiless peltings of rain and sleet. 
 The cut and colour of a foxhunter's coat are matter 
 of taste, opinion, or profession ; scarlet has been 
 ever considered the most appropriate, as patronized 
 by royalty some centuries ago, and it certainly 
 gives a gay and cheerful aspect to the hunting-field. 
 Green is also assimed to the hunting of deer and 
 hares ; but as it has been said that a good horse 
 cannot be of a bad colour, a good rider is certain 
 to make himself conspicuous in whatever cloth he 
 may appear ; and we have remarked that a " gen- 
 tleman in black " can hold his own across country, 
 and compete with his brothers in brighter hues. 
 
 Some years ago we were almost reconciled to 
 the yellow plush worn by the brothers Oldacre, 
 from their superior management of the old Berkeley 
 foxhounds, as huntsman and whippers-in. By the 
 fox hunters of the old school, a few little extras 
 were considered requisite to complete their equip- 
 ment for the field. The loose shoe Avas generally 
 attached to the saddle, in case of losses of this 
 
188 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 kind. A small leather case, for eau de vie or 
 tincture of rhubarb, according to taste — the latter 
 having been, as reported, the usual cordial taken 
 by the great Mr. Meynell, when exhausted by the 
 fatigue of a long run. De gustihns non dispub' 
 tandum. That a drop of eau de vie has stood us 
 in good need when meeting with accidents in the 
 hunting-tield, we can vouch for, and once in par- 
 ticular, when our fox took his line through a farm- 
 yard up hill, which, there being no other mode of 
 getting to the hounds by a high wall on either side, 
 we were obliged to follow. Our only means of 
 exit was through an open door — not a gate — and 
 being young, hot, and hasty at that time, without 
 considering the difference of rising ground, instead 
 of leading our horse through, which we ought to 
 have done, we had the temerity to ride him. The 
 consequences might have been seen had we allowed 
 ourselves a moment for reflection. In lowering our 
 head to pass under, the back of our neck came in 
 contact with the lintel, which, being rather old, 
 gave way ; but the concussion was so severe, that 
 finding ourselves on the point of fainting, we swal- 
 lowed the contents of our flask, and scrambling out 
 of the saddle lay flat on the grass. 
 
 A good pocket-knife may also be found of great 
 service, containing two strong blades, a picker, and 
 small punch, since tliere are occasions upon which 
 all may be required. A small lancet, in a case by 
 itself, should find a place in the other waistcoat- 
 pocket. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 189 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 The Kennel Register — Genealogical book of reference— Breeding from 
 too near relationship — High courage in foxhounds indispensable — 
 Blood always tells — Interchange of civilities between masters — 
 Mutual confidence — Exchange of stud hounds — Belvoir, Bad- 
 minton, Brocklesby, and Milton packs — Bramham Moor and 
 Badsworth — Earl of Wemyss and Duke of Buccleuch — The new 
 Master of the Quorn — Huntsman's Diary — Karthstoppers — List 
 of hounds — Efficiency before numbers — Our first essay in the 
 field — Numerical strength a deception. 
 
 There are two books usually kept in all foxhound 
 kennels of any pretensions to the lucidus ordo of 
 doing things. One is the register of births and 
 parentage, the young hounds of every season's 
 entry being regularly inserted therein. This book 
 is carefully preserved and handed down from one 
 huntsman to another, althoufjh considered an heir- 
 loom in the family of the master, as proving the 
 genealogical descent of the pack. Without this 
 book to refer to, it would be impossible for a new 
 huntsman to go on breeding hounds with any 
 prospect of success, since too near relationship 
 between sporting dogs of all kinds, particularly 
 foxhounds, has been discountenanced by all expe- 
 rienced sportsmen and masters from the earliest 
 periods. We have heard it asserted by breeders 
 of cattle, that breeding in-and-in, as it is called. 
 
190 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 has not been found to act prejudicially to that kind 
 of animal ; and some go a point beyond, by saying 
 they are improved by it, in diminution of bone 
 and consequent increase of meat. This may be the 
 case, and, if so, is one reason more why such a 
 result is not desirable in breeding foxhounds, bone 
 being considered an indispensable by masters and 
 huntsmen, as well as plenty of muscle. The two 
 animals, in fact, are bred for wholly different pur- 
 poses, the one for an inactive short life, to put on 
 flesh and fat as expeditiously as possible, the other 
 to undergo work so long as he can work, arid that 
 of the most severe kind. Beyond the decrease of 
 bone, which we have found to follow breeding too 
 closely in hounds and sporting dogs, their courage 
 is also diminished, which a foxhound should possess 
 in a high degree, or he is unfitted for his business. 
 He should never creep through a fence he can jump 
 over, and never give in or shut up, as huntsmen 
 say, at the end of the longest run. His courage 
 is also proved by resolutely facing blackthorn or 
 gorse coverts, a disinclination to draw which, shows 
 the white feather, or rather, a too soft skin. When 
 we say that a foxhound ought not to tire after a 
 severe day, we are supposing him to be in first- 
 rate condition, with muscular power and bone equal 
 to any labours, without which the spirit of a lion 
 would be unavailing ; but if thus fitted for the 
 chase, and he shows symptoms of weakness, there 
 must be something amiss in his constitution or 
 pedigree. It is true that some hounds do a deal 
 more towards killing your fox than others, working 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 191 
 
 hard from the finding to the finish ; still, if highly 
 bred, they will never give in, even "when the 
 moon rides pale regent of the sky/' 
 
 From time immemorial every master of fox- 
 hounds has been conceded the privilege of breeding 
 from his neighbour's pack, or any more distant 
 ones, without payment of money, save the usual 
 fees to huntsmen and feeders, as a trifling remu- 
 neration for their attention to the ladies consie:ned 
 to their care for this purpose ; and so far from their 
 keep being charged, they live free of expense to 
 their owners during the short period of their 
 sojourn at the other master's kennel. This is a 
 custom we believe unknown to breeders of other 
 sporting dogs, showing the friendly feeling existing 
 between brother-masters anxious to promote the 
 common cause in so disinterested a matter. In 
 some cases reciprocal advantages may occur, but a 
 young master forming a new pack, may for years 
 be importer-general of the best blood from an 
 old-established kennel, without the power of 
 making any return whatever, since the owners of 
 old establishments would not think of sending to 
 those of late formation, and composed, as they 
 generally are, of draft-hounds. Before the intro- 
 duction of railways, we sometimes had to send 
 more than two hundred miles to a stud-hound of 
 high repute, the journey being performed by road 
 with horse and suit, and a trustworthy servant. 
 Whatever cause of annoyance to foxhunters in 
 other respects, railways are a great convenience to 
 them in the quick transit of horse and hound, at 
 
192 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 half the expense formerly incurred. In transactions 
 of this kind (we do not mean railway shares, but 
 kennel shares) one master or huntsman places 
 himself quite at the mercy of the other ; but as 
 there is said to be honour amongst thieves, we are 
 quite sure of fair treatment from professors of the 
 noble science, whether masters or men, and our 
 practice was to leave it in the hands of the hunts- 
 man to cater for us in the best way he could. It 
 often happens in first-rate kennels that the seraglio 
 is usually filled, at certain periods of the year, by 
 ladies from other establishments courtinc: the favour 
 of Sultan, the best stud-hound in the pack. Under 
 such circumstances, the wishes of all masters cannot 
 be gratified. There may be, however, a brother or 
 brothers of Sultan, not perhaps quite so celebrated 
 or so clever ; but, being of the same blood, perhaps 
 it would be better to avail yourself of their 
 services than be quite disappointed in your mission. 
 Knowing that such untoward events would some- 
 times occur, we generally provided for them by 
 writing the huntsman a full description of the 
 characters of the ladies sent to his kennel, re- 
 questing, if the hound we had selected was pre- 
 viously engaged, to give us the benefit of his 
 judgment, by using any other he could recommend. 
 Another course has also been adopted by masters 
 of foxhounds to obviate this inconvenience, in 
 lending or exchanging favourite stud-hounds for the 
 season — far more satisfactory, since they have by 
 these means the opportunity of judging by ocular 
 demonstration the true characters and working 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 193 
 
 propensities of the stud-liounds they desire to breed 
 fi*om. 
 
 Of the numerous packs of foxhounds now and 
 for some years in existence, it would be invidious 
 and difficult to say which is the best, even could 
 such a conclusion be arrived at, although those of 
 the oldest date ought to take precedence of others 
 more recently formed as possessing the oldest blood. 
 The Belvoir and Badminton kennels have, for a 
 length of time, stood at the head of the list with 
 the Brocklesby and Milton packs, the latter having 
 reached the highest perfection under the judicious 
 management of their late talented and celebrated 
 huntsman, Sebright. Farther north, the Bramham 
 Moor pack lays claim to great antiquity, and are 
 hard-working, powerful hounds, fitted for any 
 country. The Badsworth again, under the scientific 
 mastership of Lord Hawke, for more than thirty 
 years have obtained well-merited notoriety. No 
 pack has shown more uninterrupted good sport, 
 season after season, for many years past, than that 
 belonging to the Earl of Wemyss, better known to 
 the sporting world as Lord Elcho. In Scotland, 
 the Duke of Buccleuch's establishment stands at 
 the head of the list, containing, as we are told, a 
 splendid pack of hounds. Retracing our steps 
 back to merry England, there are numerous other 
 packs, deserving more than cursory notice, of which 
 we may have occasion to speak hereafter ; and we 
 are glad to find the Quorn kennels are again 
 occupied by a large number of the old pack, under 
 the new mastership of the Marquis of Hastings, to 
 
 o 
 
194 SYSTEIVI OF KENNEL AND 
 
 whom we wish all success in his very arduous 
 undertaking. 
 
 Next in order to the stud-book stands the 
 huntsman's diary, in which the events of each 
 day's sport ought to be registered, the weather, 
 place of meeting, foxes found, how many killed or 
 run to ground, scent good, bad, or indifferent, a 
 list of the hounds out for that day, with remarks 
 upon the work of each. The addendum of what 
 earths were stopped will also prove of great service 
 at the close of the season, showing to what re- 
 muneration every keeper or earth-stopper is en- 
 titled, without trusting entirely to their own little 
 accounts ; and when foxes have gone to ground in 
 any known head of earths, the pay should be 
 stopped, to make these gentry more careful for the 
 time to come. The excuse is often made by an 
 idle stopper of earths, that they had been opened 
 again, after being properly closed, by badgers and 
 poachers ; but as it is his business, for which he is 
 well paid, to see that they are rightly sealed early 
 in the morning, and unsealed again before night- 
 fall, there is no excuse for this carelessness, 
 particularly if the hounds meet near his covert, 
 where his presence is required. The greatest use, 
 however, of the huntsman's day-book, is in show- 
 ing the number of days each hound has hunted 
 throughout the season, and the manner in which 
 he has done his work. The faults committed also 
 are dotted down, with other remarks, at the time, 
 which, save for pen, ink, and paper, might escape 
 the memory long before the ides of March came 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 195 
 
 round again. A list of the hounds drawn for the 
 day's hunting should be carried in his pocket, so 
 that if any are missing, by reference to this slip of 
 paper, in calling over their names, he will at once 
 see which it is. In large establishments this may 
 be thought a work of supererogation ; but as the 
 huntsman has some leisure hours after returning: to 
 the kennel, even supposing he hunts every day in 
 the week, sufficient time will be found for this 
 post-prandial occupation. The number of the 
 hunting pack will depend upon the body from 
 which they are drawn. 
 
 We are no advocates for useless incumbrances, 
 and although the great Mr. Meynell was wont, as 
 is said, to appear at the place of meeting with 
 some forty or fifty couples in his earlier days, he 
 lived to discover that this was a great mistake. 
 We consider eighteen couples the outside com- 
 plement to take into the field, no matter what the 
 country may be, either pasture or woodland, a 
 small body of hounds being more likely to hold 
 together than a large one ; and if they should 
 divide, eight or nine couples, if good, are sufficient 
 to kill the stoutest fox that ever bore a brush. 
 We first commenced our foxhunting career with 
 eight couples and a half only of draft-hounds — 
 odds and, ends from an old kennel ; but being 
 known to each other, they made a surprising fight 
 across country, and, strange to say, rarely missed 
 their fox, although, some being in their first season, 
 and others in their sixth and seventh, they could 
 not be said to go together like a flock of pigeons, 
 
 o 2 
 
196 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 reminding us of Beckford's description of a similar 
 lot of hounds in his neighbourhood, which ran in a 
 long extended line, the scent being always recovered 
 by an old southern hound. If scratch packs, ill 
 matched, can give good accounts of their foxes, 
 eight or nine couples of really efficient hounds are, 
 save for the fashion and appearance of the thing, 
 quite sufficient for the purpose of hunting and 
 killing any fox. The great mistake in the present 
 day is to suppose that nothing can be done without 
 vast numerical strength in the kennel or the stable. 
 We hear of sixty, seventy, and even eighty couples 
 of hounds being kept in some large establishments, 
 with a corresponding number of horses and servants, 
 to hunt four days a week, whereas somewhere 
 about half that number would do the work more 
 efficiently, with an immense saving to the master. 
 
 I think we have before remarked that young 
 hounds cannot be worked too much, particularly 
 those of unsteady character ; and as long as they 
 can jump off their benches quickly, they will be 
 better hunting in the field than lying idle in their 
 lodging-room. Good old steady hounds, of well- 
 tried character, should be used more sparingly, 
 although every hound in the kennel, taking the 
 season throughout, should be able to show at the 
 covert- side at least two days in a week, except 
 from lameness or accidents. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 197 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 *'Thus on the air 
 Depends the hunter's hope. When ruddy streaks 
 At eve forbode a blust'ring stormy day, 
 Of low'ring clouds, blacken the mountain's brow, 
 When nipping frosts and keen biting blasts 
 Of the dry parching east menace the trees 
 With tender blossoms teeming, kindly spare 
 Thy sleeping pack, in their warm beds of straw 
 Low sinking at their ease. — Somerville. 
 
 Uncertainty of scent — Atmospherical changes — Tlie Coplow run — 
 Much dust — Foxes in a quiescent state — Drawing up wind — 
 Making out the day — Let well alone — Etiquette between masters 
 of foxhounds — " Noli me tangere " — Catch him if you can. 
 
 Of all the uncertainties in this uncertain world, 
 there is none greater than that of scent, wdiich 
 seems governed by no general rule, setting at nought 
 the conjectures and speculations of the oldest and 
 most experienced sportsman. There is no state of 
 atmosphere upon which we can confidently depend 
 for a good scenting day, and no state of ground. 
 "A southerly w4nd and cloudy sky'' may proclaim 
 it a hunting morning, yet these prognostications 
 are rarely verified. We might naturally think 
 that a keen cutting east wind would certainly cut 
 off all communication between fox and hound, by 
 driving away and dissipating every particle of efllu- 
 vium escaping from the animal's body in his quick 
 transit over a hard and parched ground ; but we 
 
198 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 have noticed a capital scent under circumstances 
 apparently so unfavourable. And what says the 
 writer of the old Coplow song ? — 
 
 *' The wind from nortli-east was forbiddingly keen." 
 
 Again, we should infer that a heavy fall of 
 snow would damp out and obliterate every trace 
 of scent ; but every year's experience teaches us 
 the fallacy of such inferences. Hounds run wildly 
 whilst the elements are in wild confusion around, 
 even whilst the ground is whitened by the falling 
 flakes. During the March winds, whilst the dust 
 in thick clouds is flying in their noses, the hounds 
 are seen flying over hard fallow fields. Scent, in 
 short, is a puzzle which none can unravel, a mys- 
 tery which none can explain, one of those pheno- 
 mena in nature which we know exists, and yet 
 cannot tell how exists ; and the next most won- 
 derful thing is, that fineness of nose with which 
 hounds and sporting dogs are endowed in following 
 on the track over which the game has passed so 
 long before. Evidently there are two kinds of 
 scent, one proceeding or exuding from the body 
 and breath of the animal when in motion, and 
 the other that left by the foot or pad. The first, 
 although the strongest of the two, is dependent 
 chiefly on the atmosphere, and fails more rapidly 
 than that left by pressure on the ground ; but the 
 strongest of all is where the game brushes through 
 grass, heather, or stunted gorse, to which these 
 floating exhalations will adhere, instead of being 
 dispersed into liquid air. Foxes in a quiescent 
 state emit little odour, apparently not so much as 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 199 
 
 hares, rabbits, and other game which pointers and 
 setters will find and stand at some distance ; and 
 drawing over a fox is no uncommon occurrence. 
 On this account, when feasible, the draw should 
 be up wind, thus giving hounds every chance of 
 finding their game. This is not of easy accom- 
 plishment in our own time, from fixtures being 
 made generally the previous week, and therefore 
 we cannot follow Beckford's advice in this particu- 
 lar, as he suggests, by not going out hunting in 
 bad weather, unfavourable to hounds and scent. 
 We are obliged to take the rough with the smooth, 
 and whilst one pack may by good luck get the 
 best days for their sport, another may fix upon the 
 worst, as it rarely happens that two days in suc- 
 cession are equally bad. Although unable to do 
 as Beckford did, there is no necessity, when the 
 elements are combined to mar sport, and when 
 hounds really can do nothing, to persevere in draw- 
 ing coverts, and finding fox after fox to no purpose. 
 Such a proceeding is not only disheartening to 
 hounds, but wanton, by spoiling a good draw for 
 another day. Moreover, foxes finding they cannot 
 be pressed, acquire the bad habit of running short. 
 It does so happen sometimes that an unpropitious 
 morning is succeeded by a fine afternoon ; but 
 when the day turns out badly about twelve o'clock, 
 there is rarely any improvement afterwards ; and 
 there are days — and many too — during the season 
 when hounds and horses would be much better at 
 home. 
 
 We do not wonder that huntsmen get out of 
 
200 SYSTEM OF KEXNEL AND 
 
 temper when obliged, in deference to the wishes of 
 some influential man in the field, to keep drawing, 
 for the sole purpose, as it appears, of eking out the 
 day, for the gratification of those who have nothing 
 better to engage their time ; and we have seen, 
 under such circumstances, what is called a sham 
 draw, the huntsman not wishing to find a fox, and 
 if he should, take the first opportunity of losing 
 him. Subscription masters are unfortunately so 
 dependent upon their supporters, that they can 
 scarcely be said to have a will of their own ; and 
 there are many of these men who stand out for 
 their money's worth ; and a day's hunting to them 
 is literally to be a day's hunting, or drawing, or 
 following hounds about from covert to covert, be 
 the weather ever so opposed to sport, unless rain 
 is falling in torrents ; the type of man who " won't 
 go home till morning'' from a ball or festive enter- 
 tainment. To our mind, however, enough is as 
 good as a feast, and we have never been in the 
 habit of measuring sport by the hour, or continu- 
 ally drawing for fox after fox, until we could see 
 to draw no longer. Even on good scenting days 
 hounds may have too much of a good thing, and 
 if well bred and in condition, they will run and 
 hunt as long as they find foxes, yet not in the 
 same style as when above tlieir work and flushed 
 with success. In these matters we ought not to 
 be guided by the watch, and when a run has 
 exceeded an hour with satisfactory results, dulce 
 domum should be the next order of the day. 
 If the weather is favourable to scent, and with 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 201 
 
 an early find, and you kill your fox before twelve 
 or half-past, after thirty-five or forty minutes' burst, 
 there can be no objection to draw for another, when 
 hounds are in high feather, and their spirits ready 
 and willing. Never mistrust them then, for they 
 will assuredly — barring untoward events — give as 
 good an account of Number 2, although he may run 
 for a couple of hours or more. Afternoon foxes 
 are proverbially stouter runners than those found 
 in the morning, not because they are in reality 
 better in frame, but because, having enjoyed a 
 longer rest from the previous night's exertions in 
 seeking provisions for their larder, with longer 
 time for digesting their su])per, they are equal to 
 go great lengths with their pursuers. There is 
 another turn also in their favour : scent generally 
 becomes worse towards the turn of the afternoon. 
 Hounds may keep on, running sometimes and 
 hunting sometimes, but, somehow or other, they 
 don't make that rapid progress they did in the 
 morning. Their speed also imperceptibly dimi- 
 nishes. Fast for one mile, slow for two, imtil by 
 a piece of good luck your fox may wait for you, or 
 a change from bad soil to good cause a diversion 
 in your iavour. So long as a fox can maintain a 
 certain distance between his own corpus and the 
 pack, by slackening his pace the scent becomes less, 
 although we do not suppose this wily animal to be 
 cognizant of the fact, fact though it be. 
 
 Upon several occasions we have been enabled to 
 prove this by ocular demonstration. Once in par- 
 ticular, after a severe chase, on our fox ascending a 
 
202 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 stefep hill, we could witness his every movement, 
 being nearly beaten. He was labouring up the 
 hill-side, sometimes stopping entirely, to look down 
 upon his on-coming foes ; and we noticed that on 
 those spots where he stood still, the scent failed 
 more than on any other part of the ground. 
 Being nearly beaten ourselves, and obliged to dis- 
 mount and walk our horse up the hill, we were 
 unable to improve our position but by lifting the 
 hounds forward to a view, a piece of generalship 
 allowable when running into your neighbour's 
 country to catch your fox before he reaches the 
 earths there. Our impatience may be imagined 
 upon so tempting an occasion, of which we were 
 so anxious to take advantage ; but knowing the 
 point to which he was bending, we contented our- 
 selves with watching his proceedings and husband- 
 ing our horse's strength for what we knew would 
 be the final struggle when once over the crest of 
 the hill.- It happened as we expected. The fox 
 having got second wind, went ofi' again at good 
 speed over the open down, and as his pace in- 
 creased, so pari passu increased the pace of the 
 hounds. There was nothing before us for miles : 
 not a fence nor even a ploughed field, and seeing 
 the point for which he was making, we took the 
 liberty of lifting our hounds with a short cheer or 
 two, of which, knowing the meaning, they caught 
 sight of their game, and never lost sight of him 
 again until they rolled him over on the plain. 
 There are occasions upon which huntsmen may 
 fairly take such liberties with a good pack of 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 203 
 
 hounds, -witliout any ill effects, although the "hark 
 halloa ! " system, if frequently pursued, would 
 soon inevitably spoil them. A spirt of this kind 
 at the end of a long day rouses the spirits of 
 hounds and horses, and the former knowing by 
 their master's cheer and manner, when riding at 
 their head, that the fox is in view before them, 
 strain all their energies to the utmost. By the 
 law, or custom rather, of foxhunting, one master 
 has no right to send a whipper-in forward to stop 
 his neighbour's earths ; when the hunted foxs 
 point is evidently to reach that place of refuge, he 
 must catcli him before he can find sanctuary there, 
 which is held to be sacred ground ; neither has 
 he any right to disturb the earth by pickaxe or 
 spade. It is considered fair, however, to dislodge 
 him when running into a small pipe or drain, if 
 he can be bolted by a stick or terrier ; although 
 this is sometimes looked upon as a casus belli, calling 
 for reprisals on the other side, which, for the com- 
 mon cause, ought to be avoided ; and w^e think it 
 far better to avoid collision— to do by our neighbour 
 as we should like to be treated ourselves ; and if 
 our hounds are running with a moderate scent for 
 one of his coverts, to stop them from entering it. 
 An act of courtesy like this jungit amicos serviU 
 que junctos. Masters are very sensitive upon this 
 point, and whatever they may say, they do not 
 like to hear of a fox being killed in their country 
 by another pack, although ever so fairly dealt with. 
 It is quite a different affair when hounds are on 
 good terms with their fox, and every prospect of 
 
204 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 catching liina before lie can gain your neighbour's 
 covert. Catch him if you can then, by all means, 
 and as quickly as you can ; and this is one of the 
 occasions upon which a little extra excitement is 
 permissible, if not thought quite orthodox by some 
 old sportsmen of the regular hunting school. 
 
 We remember arousing the ire of an elderly 
 gentleman of this class by an enterprising act akin 
 to the one above related. We had been running 
 and hunting our fox alternately for about an hour 
 and twenty minutes over a variety of ground, 
 parts holding a fair scent, part fallow, with little 
 or none, when he set his head straight for a large 
 covert in our neighbour's country, which, without 
 some change in our favour, he was bound to enter. 
 Being on high ground at this time, an old sports- 
 man cried out, pointing with his whip, " Yonder he 
 goes, my young master, over that common ; see 
 how the crows and magpies are ducking down 
 upon liim! Notwithstanding, he does not appear 
 to be very much in a hurry, and with such a scent 
 you cannot overhaul him to-day.'' 
 
 ^' Then," we answered, " we must endeavour to 
 make the scent a little better." 
 
 " Ha, ha ! " he replied, " sooner said than done ; 
 he'll beat you now, to a dead certainty." 
 
 Our monkey being up, we took the hounds off 
 their noses, setting them down the hill, nearly at 
 the top of their speed, to a green lane, at the end 
 of which we guessed our fox must cross, in a line 
 with the covert, he being at that time rather to the 
 left of it. The ruse succeeded ; the hounds caught 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. -205 
 
 Sight of him as he jumped into the lane, and raced 
 him over three large enclosures, catching him just 
 before he reached the covert. Our elderly friend, 
 in coming up, when we handled the fox, expressed 
 his disapprobation at our summary proceedings, 
 muttering something about "its not being fox- 
 hunting,'' in reply to which we gave him a quota- 
 tion from his favourite Beckford : " a fair foxhunter 
 and a foolish one being synonymous terms."' But 
 the only cliance in unfavourable w^eather is to keep 
 as near as possible to our fox, since the faster he 
 flies the better will be the scent. It is generally 
 believed that rich pasture-land holds a far better 
 scent than a lighter and poorer soil. This, how- 
 ever, is not invariably the case, since it often hap- 
 pens in wet weather, that hounds can run harder 
 over down-land than across fields capable of grazing 
 a bullock. Neither has drainage — Jis might have 
 been supposed — effected any great improvement in 
 this respect, since we can remember fields, partly 
 covered with rushes and coarse grass, holding a 
 capital scent some years ago, which they have 
 failed to do now that they have been thoroughly 
 drained. 
 
206 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 ''Beware ! the ditcli still lurks unseen, 
 Whicli oft the cause of dire mishap has been ; 
 But who can pause the dangerous leap to scan ? 
 Miltonia victa, would'st thou own the man ? 
 No — no — rush on, and ev'ry doubt defy — 
 * Sans peur et sans reproche/ the hunter's cry." 
 
 Men, horses, and hounds adapted to country — The shires and the 
 provinces — Dick "Woodcraft and the Quorn — Comes to grief with 
 Ploughman — His soliloquy — The first check — Hark ! halloa ! — Up 
 and down wind — Dick Woodcraft assists in recovering the line — 
 Things im2)rove — Fire and water — Tom Clearwell hors de combat 
 — Woodcraft takes the horn — Astonishes the field — Finish to the 
 mn of the season — The mystery solved. 
 
 Particular countries require a particular sort of 
 hound suited to them ; and not hounds only, but 
 men and horses also ; for the most talented hunts- 
 man, transferred with his highflier out of Leices- 
 tershire or Northamptonshire, into Hants or Berks, 
 without an acquaintance with the peculiarity of 
 the country and the running of the foxes, would 
 find himself all abroad, and entirely out of his 
 element — and vice versa, take a good woodland 
 huntsman, from flints and follows, and his little 
 spinnies of about two thousand acres each, down 
 into the shires, mounted on his famous hunter 
 Ploughman, everything would be different, and alto- 
 gether a different style of doing things to what lie 
 had been accustomed. Large open pastures, with 
 rasping quickset fences and bullfinches, posts and 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 207 
 
 rails, to diversify the riding, and an occasional 
 brook, although not very wide, deep and nasty to 
 look at, with hollow banks ; patches of gorse, and 
 pretty little spinnies of three or four acres only, in 
 place of interminable woods. Then the turn-out 
 at the meet. Huntsman and whips spruce, smart, 
 good-looking fellows, dressed as in their Sunday's 
 best, mounted on their bang-tailed, showing breed- 
 ing and condition good enough to run for the St. 
 Leger. Then the hounds, long lathy animals, with 
 plenty of bone and symmetry, and coats on their 
 backs soft and silky as moleskins. See how jaun- 
 tily and saucily they step along over the green- 
 sward to the covert, a piece of high gorse lying on 
 the hill-side, followed by a crowd of some two 
 hundred horsemen. 
 
 Dick Woodcraft looks aghast at the cavalcade 
 pressing upon him, and his favourite hunter shows 
 symptoms of fretfulness and impatience. 
 
 " Oh ! '' quoth Dick, " I'm a-thinking there'll be 
 some queerish work presently amongst these gents 
 on their prancing nags, and I'll just keep as near 
 the hounds as may be, where 'tis likely very many 
 of these fierce-looking chaps won't be, if there's a 
 bit of scent." Well, they reach the gorse ; Avith a 
 wave of the huntsman's hand, and a low " Hoic in 
 hoic ! " eighteen couples disappear — a whimper is 
 soon heard — then another note or two — a screech 
 at the fiirther end, a crack of the whip from Jack 
 — and they are away. Dick Woodcraft has not 
 time for thinking now, he is hurried along in the 
 front rank on Ploughman, frantic with excitement 
 
208 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 at the din and clatter in his rear ; but the first- 
 flight men, on their thorough-breds, rapidly draw- 
 away from the cocktail, and ere the hounds have 
 gone two miles, Dick Woodcraft is out of the race, 
 and brought to grief by his own hunter trying to 
 take an upright quickset, with double ditches, as an 
 on and off, more suo, and his master, whilst lying 
 on his back, is gratified by the sight of four bright 
 horseshoes glittering over his head. Dick did not 
 require a second hint of this kind to remind him 
 that he was not then in Hampshire, or amongst 
 Hampshire sportsmen, so he picked himself and 
 Ploughman up as quickly as possible, and jumping 
 into the pigskin, sailed away again. 
 
 " Now, Ploughman,'' quoth Dick, " I think we 
 can show these grand Quornites a trick. It's no 
 use riding in their wake ; at such a pace the hounds 
 are running we can't catch 'em — that's out of the 
 question ; but if they don't kill their fox in ten 
 minutes more, he'll turn down wind to a dead 
 certainty, so here goes for a nick in, our only chance 
 of seeing them again ; besides which Ploughman 
 fancies himself in that vale between Great wood and 
 "Wallop, taking it for granted that there must be a 
 bank between two ditches — so now we have it all 
 to ourselves, I'll just switch him at his fences, and 
 take that conceit out of his head, which, by the 
 way, is a trifle too heavy for this sort of thing — in 
 short, 'tis no use mincing the matter, a half-bred 
 one can't go in this country." 
 
 Thus soliloquized Dick Woodcraft, a clever, intel- 
 ligent huntsman, amidst flint fallows and faggot- 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 209 
 
 sticks, as he turned right away from the line others 
 were following into one of his own choosing, prick- 
 ing Ploughman along and teaching him to take his 
 fences. Dick's conjectures proved correct as to the 
 event of this furious burst up wind ; the fox, finding 
 he could not hold it any longer, turned short away 
 to the right for another point, in the direction Dick 
 was riding, crossing a large open pasture just in 
 view of him. 
 
 *'Ha, ha!'' he chuckled, "just as I thought; that's 
 our friend, and no mistake, although I never see 
 him before. He's in a terrible fluster, but I shan't 
 holler him yet ; let Ploughman get his wind first. 
 But where are the hounds ? — I can't hear one of 
 'em." 
 
 Ah ! where were the hounds ? — Making a 
 swinging cast forward, after having passed across 
 one large field without an atom of scent. Tom 
 Clearvvell, their huntsman, vvtos still holding them 
 on, trying to recover the scent in a semicircle, when 
 Jem, the first whip, whose ears were always open 
 to squalls, rode up to him, saying, " Master, I think 
 I hear a halloa to the right of us, down wind, but 
 'tis very faint." 
 
 " Then be off*, Jem, whilst I make sure of my 
 ground, and if it's all right, give us the office." 
 
 Jem went off" like a shot, and as he neared Dick 
 Woodcraft another view-halloa greeted his ear, 
 about which there could be no mistake, and his 
 own scream came forth in such shrill response, that 
 Tom, catching them up, rode wildly off to the point, 
 Dick still vociferating with might and main. 
 
210 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 "Where's he gone?'' asked Jem, still keeping 
 in advance, as he reached the spot where sat 
 Woodcraft, coolly contemplating this new scene of 
 pastures green. 
 
 " Across this field," was the reply ; " and he 
 jumped the fence- close to that ash-tree yonder." 
 
 "How long ago?" 
 
 "Fifteen minutes, at least." 
 
 "Then it's no go — we can't recover him." 
 
 " I will, if your hounds are worth their pud- 
 ding." 
 
 "Pray, sir," asked Jem, "what may you be 
 pleased to call yourself? Miracles are out of date 
 in this countr3\" 
 
 " One who has hunted hounds before you were 
 born, you fool I" was Dick's indignant rejoinder. 
 
 " Well, uncle," quoth Tom, " I thought we 
 should never see you again." 
 
 " Turned up like a trump, at last," said Dick ; 
 "but now put 'em down at the fence by that old 
 ash-tree, and they'll hit it then at once ; give 'em 
 time, Tom, and let's see if they can hunt as well as 
 run. Any curs can do the last. Up wind, witli 
 a burning scent close to your fox's brush, and 
 down wind a long way behind him, are very 
 . different affairs." 
 
 The flyers did not relish the change, and a few 
 old hounds only felt disposed to work on the line, 
 which they did, rather improving their pace for 
 two or three fields. The fast men were beginning 
 their usual murmurings about " deuced slow," " a 
 good day lost, "&c., when the master said, "Give 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 211 
 
 him up, Tom, and draw for another ; it s no use 
 persevering with this cold scent/' 
 
 ^' He is taking a good line, my lord, pointing 
 for the Belvoir country ; and if we can get on 
 better terms we shall have a capital run/' 
 
 " Never mind, stop the hounds ; he will do for 
 another day/' 
 
 " I would kill him,^' said Dick, *' as sure as he's 
 got a brush, if I had my way with him/' 
 
 " Who's that old gentleman ? " inquired the 
 master, hearing Dick's bold assertion. 
 
 " My uncle, my lord," replied Tom, touching his 
 cap ; " sent down by his master in Hants to see how 
 we do thingrs here." 
 
 '' Then, by Jove ! he shall have his way. 
 What's his name ? " 
 
 " Dick Woodcraft," my lord. 
 
 Riding up to him, the master said, ''So you 
 say you could recover this fox, and kill him, pro- 
 vided you have your own way ? You shall have 
 it ; go on." 
 
 " Thanks, my lord," touching his hat continually 
 all the time he was addressed ; '' but, begging your 
 lordship's pardon, when they begins to run again 
 I can't keep company with them on this old- 
 fashioned hunter." 
 
 " Ah ! I see, — good, no doubt, in the rough 
 country you come from ; but we will set you right 
 in that respect. Tom, let your uncle have your 
 second horse." 
 
 " Yes, my lord ; " and in a minute Dick had 
 deserted Ploughman, and was standing by the 
 
 P 2 
 
212 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 side of his new hunter, looking to the girths, bridle, 
 &e., to see all was right before mounting. 
 
 " He's as tall as a tree ! " .was his first remark. 
 " Here, Will, give us a leg up, or a rope ladder," 
 and he was launched by the second horseman into 
 his saddle. 
 
 " Now, Mr. Woodcraft,'' said Will, " mind, if you 
 tumbles out of the tree, you won't find another 
 chap to help you up again.'' 
 
 " Thank'e, Will, for your lift and advice," and 
 away went Dick to join his nephew and the cry, 
 which had bes^un to swell into somethino; more 
 ike a chorus, than a chop now and then by the 
 old ones. " We are warming up a little, Tom. 
 Well done, old woman ! " he cried, seeing Bounty 
 press forward to the front. " Have at him, my 
 beauties 1 Hoic, together hoic ! " and Dick lent 
 them a cheer wliich seemed to electrify the pack 
 as well as the field. 
 
 "W^ho the deuce is that old fogey on Tom's 
 
 horse, liunting the hounds ? " asked Mr. G of 
 
 Lord'w . 
 
 " Some fellow from the Blue Mountains, come 
 down to give us a lesson. We were going to draw 
 
 for a fresh fox, when S overheard him making 
 
 some remark about giving up a good one for the 
 chance of finding a better, declaring he would kill 
 
 him if he had his own way. So S said he should 
 
 have it. That's all I know of the matter. He 
 seems a lively old bird, but is sure to fail in the 
 fencing department, when hounds run. They are 
 getting on, however, and so must we." 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 213 
 
 " I say, Tom/' cried Dick, as they were nearing 
 a raspei', " does this nag of yours want much 
 looking after ? '' 
 
 " None at all, uncle ; give him his head, and he 
 will skim over everything like a swallow ; but he 
 won't stand pulling up at his fences. We don't 
 do things in that fashion down here — haven't time 
 for it." 
 
 The fox having recovered his wind by running 
 down wind, now turned his head apparently for his 
 first point, and having lingered awhile in a small 
 osier bed, through which he passed, the hounds 
 came out the other side in full chorus, going away 
 at a good rattling pace ; when, hearing the cry, 
 the cavalcade of horsemen began pressing upon 
 them, as is their practice in fast countries, fearing 
 they would give them the slip. 
 
 " One minute, gentlemen, if you please," pleaded 
 Tom for his darlings. " Let 'em settle down once 
 more, and we shall do." 
 
 " Hold hard ! " roared Dick. " Hang it, gentle- 
 men, hold hard ! " as half a dozen fire-eaters were 
 right in amongst the hounds. 
 
 " It's no use rating them, uncle, we can't stop 
 'em ; but there is something t'other side of that 
 fence that will do it for us." 
 
 " Oh ! I see, water 1 Wide, Tom ? " 
 
 " Not very, but deep and muddy ; let him go," 
 and with a cheer to the pack now dashing head- 
 long into it, both were landed on the right side, 
 and on looking back, the fire-eaters were seen 
 cooling themselves in the stream ; but the select 
 
214 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 few had drawn ahead in their places, riding, how- 
 ever, wide of the hounds. On ascending the bill 
 — more like a mole-hill than a mountain — they 
 brushed through a patch of gorse, and thence the 
 race began afresh, with heads up and sterns down, 
 for a couple of miles, when the eagle eye of Dick 
 perceived they had overshot the mark in the 
 middle of a grass-field. 
 
 " Steady, Tom ! '' he exclaimed, " there's no scent 
 afore those young'uns : here it is, to the left. 
 Ah ! old Bounty has it ! '' and with a cheer, to 
 which the pack wheeled round in an instant, they 
 were again scouring away. 
 
 '' Well done, uncle ! " cried Lord S . " That 
 
 eye of yours has saved Tom's head, and ten 
 minutes to boot. Now we shall handle him.''' 
 
 '' I think so too, my lord ; but he ain't beat 
 
 yet." 
 
 A mile farther on another check at a green lane, 
 into which the fox had jumped, going only half 
 way across it, and the leading couples, in hot haste, 
 dashing over the opposite fence, with Tom along- 
 side of them. 
 
 " Here it is, down the lane ! " cried Woodcraft, 
 seeing a couple of old hounds turn short under the 
 hedge. 
 
 " Put 'em along. Jack," cried Tom, with a toot- 
 toot on his horn, and away he rode, full tilt, with 
 the pack at his horse's heels, straight across the 
 field. A cheer told that his ruse had succeeded. 
 He had rightly guessed the fox's line, and gained 
 a hundred yards upon him by this bold stroke. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 215 
 
 " Ay, ay, master Tom ! '' muttered Dick, " that 
 hit or miss sort of thing wouldn't do over our 
 flints and fallows ; but the young dog has got the 
 start of me through that trick," and our hero 
 laboured hard to catch them again, for some little 
 time in vain. Tom, however, was soon in diffi- 
 culties with a large flock of Leicester sheep, which 
 seemed bent on hunting his fox for him, and did 
 so to the fence, before Jem and Jack could divert 
 them from their purpose. Tom was not deterred 
 by this misadventure, but holding them forward, as 
 usual, with a swinging cast, just missed the upper 
 corner of the field, where two fences met, and 
 which the fox had threaded. Dick had time now 
 to recover lost ground, and on coming up he found 
 a hard-riding sporting yeoman, off his horse, 
 standing in that corner of the field. 
 
 "Killed him?'' asked Dick. 
 
 " Oh ! no, he is not half killed yet ; but if I 
 know anything about foxhunting, here is the line 
 of our fox, towards which some of the hounds were 
 inclining, when Clearwell hurried them away ; and 
 here I shall remain until he finds out his mistake.'' 
 
 " Why don't you halloa him back, then ? " 
 
 ** Not I ; he knows too much or too little to 
 suit my ideas of what a huntsman ought to be." 
 
 Woodcraft, feeling impatient, whilst the fox was 
 running in one direction and the hounds trying 
 in another, could not forbear a loud " Yoi-haut ! " 
 (pronounced long as Y-o-i-i-h-a-u-t), signifying, in 
 hunting parlance, hold hard and try back, and 
 Tom, taking the hint, wheeled round towards the 
 
216 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 spot where Dick was posted ; but, in galloping 
 back, his horse put his fore-leg into a rabbit-stop, 
 and a heavy fall was the result, by which he was 
 so shaken that he could scarcely get up again. 
 Seeing he was more hurt than he liked to confess, 
 the master desired Woodcraft and Jem to go on 
 with tlie hounds, leaving Jack to take care of his 
 huntsman. Much time was lost by this unfortu- 
 nate accident, but Tom, declaring he should be all 
 right, and with him again, Dick obeyed orders by 
 recovering the lost ground at a hunting pace, 
 resolved now to keep the hounds' noses down ; 
 and thus he persevered, until they began running 
 pretty briskly into the Belvoir country. They 
 had flocks of sheep and other impediments thrown 
 in their way, yet he held them on through all, 
 without taking them quite off their noses, and the 
 few who now followed the hounds began to wonder 
 how a stranger to their country could do such 
 strange things. 
 
 "Now, mind,'' said Dick to Jem, the first whip, 
 *' we shall be in the Belvoir home- wood directly. 
 Take care you don't halloa a fresh fox ; ours has 
 had nearly enough of it/' 
 
 Dick proved a true prophet ; the fox entered at 
 the east end of the covert, not half a mile before 
 the pack, and they raced him up the long drive at 
 such a rate, that he had no time to turn right or 
 left, and away he went down into the vale, where 
 they ran from scent to view, rolling him over in 
 the open, before he reached the village of Botsford, 
 Dick never having been thrown out of the tree 
 
SCIEXCE OF FOXHUNTING. 217 
 
 until he vacated it of his own accord to handle his 
 fox. 
 
 *' Well done, indeed V* exclaimed the master, in 
 an ecstasy of delight ; *' you have redeemed your 
 pledge gloriously, Woodcraft. The run of the sea- 
 son, or of any season, something like the old Coplow, 
 though not quite so long, and the wind in the same 
 quarter ; but how could you guess so well the line 
 of your fox ? " 
 
 " I was whipper-in to Mr. Goosey, the duke's 
 huntsman, for three seasons,'' w^as his reply. 
 
 " Ah ! the mystery is explained now/' added the 
 master. 
 
218 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 *' At length an old chest that had long lain hid 
 Was brought to light — they rais'd the lid, — 
 A skeleton form lay mould'ring there, 
 In the bridal robes of the lady fair." — Mistletoe Bough, 
 
 Different standards of foxhounds — The Craven and H. H. packs 
 — The late Sir John Cope and his rattlers — Bramshill, and the 
 old oak chest — The multum in parvo — Hounds changing countries 
 — Mr. Osbaldiston and Sebright in Hants — The two celebrated 
 squires and their exploits — "Mors omnia vincit." 
 
 All foxhounds are not equally suited to all coun- 
 tries ; and although a low standard, in comparison 
 with that of former years, is now the fashion, not 
 exceeding twenty-four inches in height, with con- 
 sistent bone and power, yet even that would be 
 considered out of place in many districts. Where 
 large woodlands form the chief feature of any 
 country, with continuous hills, a hound of twenty- 
 one or twenty-two inches will be found to answer 
 the purpose far better than one of larger dimensions, 
 provided he has power and courage for the work, 
 since covert-hunting is the most laborious and 
 trying — far more irksome than running all day in 
 the open. A small, or rather low hound can follow 
 his game through all the meuses and intricacies of 
 the thickest woods without being obliged to exert 
 himself so much as one of greater height ; for, in- 
 stead of breasting the briars and blackthorns, he is 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 219 
 
 enabled to creep under them, and in gorse-coverts 
 he has on this account a decided advantage over 
 larger hounds. In a flinty country also he can 
 travel much more easily, where weight tells against 
 a big one by his feet being sadly bruised against 
 these sharp obstacles lying so thickly over the 
 fields. The late Mr. Ward, it is true, hunted the 
 Craven country for many years with a very large 
 and heavy sort — the largest pack of foxhounds in 
 those days ; but he must have known and seen 
 that they were little adapted to the country from 
 the number of lame hounds always in hospital 
 during the season ; and in dry weather a third of 
 the hunting pack would become invalided, after a 
 hard day, with bruised feet, the only remedy for 
 which used by their huntsman was to let out the 
 blood from the ball of the foot, by means of a sharp 
 incision of his penknife. Through this surgical 
 operation the hound was of course unfitted for 
 work again until the wound healed. There were 
 two reasons for Mr. Ward persevering with this 
 large sort of hound in such a country. The first, 
 that he had, throughout his earlier career as M.F.H., 
 been accustomed to breed hounds of large size, well 
 suited to the grazing districts he had previously 
 hunted, and on changing countries he did not choose 
 to change his style of hound. 
 
 Perhaps there was another, not confessed, although 
 suspected : knowing heavy hounds could not run 
 away from him when more advanced in years, and 
 become slower himself over those flints and fal- 
 lows ; in confirmation of which we remember a 
 
220 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 remark made by him when looking over the hounds 
 of the late Mr. Villebois, who then hunted the 
 H.H. country with a pack the very reverse to his 
 own, pecuharly suited to their country as to height, 
 cleanness of limb, and hunting qualifications — in 
 short, we do not remember any hounds of that 
 day so well calculated to hunt a rough country. 
 The two masters were canvassing the merits of an 
 individual in the lady pack, remarkable for great 
 beauty and symmetry, when Mr. Ward said, " Yes, 
 she is surpassingly handsome ; but eighteen stone '' 
 (meaning himself) " could not see which way that 
 hound went/' It would have been no easy matter, 
 however, even supposing Mr. Ward had the dis- 
 position to breed hounds of a smaller sort, since it 
 has been invariably found that like begets like, 
 and he could not have reduced his standard without 
 great trouble for many years. Although so large, 
 they still would hunt, and did hunt, as low a scent 
 as beagles ; and we believe for a period of eighteen 
 years they fought on this uncongenial soil, kilhng 
 on an average their forty brace of foxes annually 
 — no very easy conquest with an abundance of 
 game and heavy woodlands. 
 
 The most attractive features of that country 
 were, however, the jovial-looking faces at the place 
 of meeting, which were wont to assemble again in 
 the evening at the festive board, the Craven at 
 that time halving obtained the character of being 
 the best six o'clock country in England. Adjoin- 
 ing this, on the eastern side, lay that part of 
 Berkshire then occupied by Sir John Cope, of 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHU^'TING. 221 
 
 Bramshill, who possessed a pack neither resembling 
 Mr. Ward's nor Mr. Yillebois', but between the 
 two. We should not have called them very close 
 hunters, or gifted with very extraordinary nasal 
 qualifications, but they were remarkably quick in 
 their work, and committed havoc amongst the 
 foxes. At Bramshill we were shown a long old- 
 fashioned oak chest, standing in the picture gallery, 
 where it is said the Lady Lovel was suffocated, 
 when playfully hiding from her lord, as related in 
 the song under the title of " Tlie Mistletoe Bough.'' 
 When lifting the lid a shudder crept over us, to 
 think that one so young and fair should have met 
 with such a dreadful fate. 
 
 At that time the Vine hounds, kept by Mr. 
 Chute, were in the zenith of their power, quite the 
 Tnultuni in parvo sort, low on the leg, with plenty 
 of bone and muscle, and so distinguished for their 
 performances in the field, as well as ancient descent 
 from very old blood, that even Mr. Ward did not 
 hesitate occasionally breeding from them ; and later, 
 Mr. Assheton Smith showed us a hound. Radical, 
 which he obtained from the Vine kennel, the most 
 powerful and clever dog we have ever seen for his 
 inches. These hounds, accustomed to a rough 
 country, would, as a matter of course, if taken 
 into a good scenting one, with grass instead of 
 flinty fallows beneath their feet, acquit themselves 
 most creditably, although for the shires a larger 
 kind of hound has been found better able to con- 
 tend with the obstructions of stiff fences and 
 heavier land, where little hounds and little horses 
 
222 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 are geneically in difficulties, from constant strain 
 upon their exertions. When, however, a good pack 
 of hounds is transferred from the grazing districts 
 to flinty hills and large woodlands, the change 
 cannot fail to operate most unfavourably upon 
 them. The late Mr. Osbaldiston tried this experi- 
 ment many years ago, when removing his estab- 
 lishment into the Hambledon country, where he 
 anticipated an easy victory over the Hampshire 
 foxes. A better pack of hounds could not be ; and 
 of the Squire himself, as a huntsman, or Tom 
 Sebright, it . were needless to say more than we 
 have written before. Nothing could be more per- 
 fect than the whole staff: and yet what did they 
 effect ? How many foxes succumbed to this for- 
 midable array of men, horses, and hounds, all the 
 very first class ? The noses were so easily counted, 
 that the cleverest of all huntsmen retired in disgust, 
 and acknowledged his defeat. 
 
 Some years after, his rival brother-master, Asshe- 
 ton Smith, commenced forming his establishment at 
 Tedworth, on the borders of the same county ; and 
 we remember that for two seasons it was a very 
 up-hill game for him to fight, his hounds coming 
 from grass countries. But having resolved to live 
 for the residue of his days at his old family place, 
 he set resolutely and patiently to work, and his 
 usual success attended his efforts. For the first 
 season his chief, and we may add sole dependence 
 rested upon a very large old badger-pied hound, 
 named Solomon, given to him by Mr. Ward, upon 
 his resigning the Craven country. This hound 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 223 
 
 was indeed rightly named, possessing the wisdom 
 of Solomon in all hunting matters ; and without 
 his assistance we have heard his master declare 
 he never should have killed a fox at that time 
 in his newly-adopted country. Having been ac- 
 customed to large hounds, Mr. Assheton Smith 
 showed great reluctance to lower his standard, but 
 experience soon convinced him of this necessity. 
 It was, however, a work of time, since the dog- 
 hound would give evidence of their descent from a 
 large sort ; but the lady pack, after a few years, 
 became exceedingly level, averaging fi'om twenty- 
 two to twenty-three inches in height ; and up to 
 the time of Mr. Smith's decease, no hounds in any 
 rough country have ever shown greater sport, or 
 killed more foxes. When running over those 
 flinty fallows, we have noticed them, as well as 
 other hounds in like localities, keeping to the 
 furrows, if possible, to avoid cutting their feet ; but 
 on reaching a piece of down-land or old clover ley, 
 they would then spread out and carry a good head. 
 Many have been the runs recorded in BelVs Life of 
 this pack forcing their fox through Colliu bourne 
 woods, Thackham, and Dowles — all coverts of im- 
 mense size — and killing him in the open. A very 
 valuable addition to his kennel was also made by 
 the purchase of the late Duke of Grafton's hounds, 
 which were of a hardy, wiry nature, and indefati- 
 gable in their work. Mr. Assheton Smith Hved 
 long enough to see his hopes and expectations fully 
 realized in the formation of a new country, with 
 a splendid pack of hounds exactly fitted for it ; 
 
224 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 and we have often heard him declare, that he never 
 enjoyed better sport, or saw longer runs, when 
 hunting the far-famed Quorn country, than over 
 the much-despised flinty hills of Hants and Wilts. 
 Of Assheton Smith himself, and his rival, Osbal- 
 diston, so lately consigned to the tomb, nothing now 
 remains but the fame of their extraordinary ex- 
 ploits by flood and field, which will be handed down 
 through succeeding generations of sportsmen, until 
 foxhunting shall be no more. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 225 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 ** Hounds stout, and horses healthy, 
 Earths well stopped and foxes plenty. * 
 
 Earth -stoppers and keepers — Barring out for the season — A failure — 
 The earth -stopper and his pony of olden time — Gamekeepers — 
 Their perquisites and tricks — Game preservers and foxes — 
 Turning down cubs — Previous treatment — Mange in foxes — JMaiu 
 earths in sandy soils — Viper buried for ten days — Badgers and 
 their habits. 
 
 Eauth-stoppers are necessary appendages to every 
 foxhunting establishment, without whose assistance 
 huntsmen and hounds would not be able to get on, 
 or show good sport. There are days when foxes 
 prefer basking in the sunshine to lying underground, 
 but rarely do we find such days ; during the depth 
 of winter, and in boisterous or rainy weather, they 
 will, if possible, hide themselves beneath the surface 
 of the soil somewhere, either in the regular head 
 of earths, large rabbit-burrows, or old drains. The 
 experiment has been tried by more than one master 
 to block up the earths entirely throughout the 
 season, directing those whom it ought to concern 
 to keep them thus closed until the end of the 
 campaign, when the doors were again to be thrown 
 open to the lawful tenants of the domicile, or any 
 other visitors. This had a twofold object, first, to 
 ensure the earths being properly stopped, since 
 
 Q 
 
226 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 earth-stoppers are very lotli to turn out of bed in 
 the middle of a cold wintry night, and, unless the 
 earths are stopped between the hoars of ten o'clock 
 at night and two o'clock in the morning, there is 
 no certainty of barring foxes out ; the other object 
 in view was to diminish the expense, by giving 
 so much per annum to the man so employed, in 
 place of the half-crown or dollar for each night's 
 work. This plan failed on both counts. Foxes 
 bred underground will lie underground, and when 
 stopped out of their old haunts will find other 
 places of refuge unknown to earth -stoppers or 
 keepers, and there remain ferdu for the season, or 
 be trapped by poachers ; and the earth-stoppers, 
 deprived of the usual emoluments appertaining to 
 their oflSce, turned restive, and became indifferent 
 about preserving foxes. There can be no doubt as 
 to the bad policy of offending these men, upon 
 whose willing co-operation so much of our sport 
 depends, and for their work, if fairly executed, 
 they are entitled to a fair recompense. 
 
 The earth-stopper of olden times is rarely to be 
 met with now : this man was formerly a servant 
 belonging to the establishment, to whom the super- 
 vision over a large tract of country was confided, 
 a pony being kept for him by the master, and it 
 was his duty to be continually going the rounds of 
 all the coverts in which there were any heads of 
 earths, to see that no poaching or trapping was 
 carried on, in winter and summer alike. During 
 the breeding season he had his time fully occupied 
 in visiting and looking after sundry litters of cubs. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING 227 
 
 for which he was held responsible, and during the 
 winter months stopping the earths. Such a situa- 
 tion could not be considered a sinecure, for it 
 entailed upon him the worst of all work — night 
 work ; as a reward for which, however, he had the 
 privilege of seeing his foxes found occasionally on 
 his rough pony, when not overtired with the 
 previous night's exertions in barring them out, 
 although not able ofttimes to see a run, unless of a 
 very slow character, in which from knowledge of 
 country and the line of foxes, he would sometimes 
 cut a conspicuous figure. 
 
 In cub-hunting lay his chief amusement : first 
 stopping tlie earths and then awaiting the arrival 
 of the hounds at the covert-side about four o'clock 
 in the morning, and after being in at the death 
 of a cub or two, he returned to his breakfast, the 
 remainder of the day being at his own disposal. 
 The picture of this sporting character of bygone 
 days is still present to our mind, accompanied by 
 his rough terrier, with a spade thrown over his 
 right shoulder, and holding in the other hand a 
 lantern, the rein hanging loose on his pony's neck. 
 In this respect things are now greatly changed — 
 
 *' Othello's occupation's gone." 
 
 Gamekeepers claim the right of stopping earths 
 in the coverts over which they are appointed 
 protectors, and in non-preserved localities the 
 woodman has the same privilege ; in others of 
 small extent hedgers and ditchers employed on the 
 farm undertake the business. The latter class of 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 men are more to be depended upon than the 
 gentlemen in velveteen, whose demands, if serving 
 under non-hunting proprietors, or renters, are most 
 extortionate, and beyond this there is little chance, 
 pay as you may, of inducing them to act fairly and 
 honestly. They tell you long stories about foxes 
 devouring their perquisites — rabbits — by wholesale, 
 and taking hen-pheasants off their nests, whereby 
 their complement of that kind of game is so 
 reduced that they are obliged to purchase eggs 
 elsewhere. The master of the hounds has no 
 alternative in such cases but to satisfy, or rather 
 pay these m^en large sums annually for litters of 
 cubs bred in their woods, and a handsome douceur 
 for every fox found afterwards. The cubs are kept 
 until found by the hounds, at least some of them. 
 The keeper boasts of his forbearance in preserving 
 them, but they are found no more. He has got 
 his two guineas, and destroys those that remain 
 immediately after, and the old vixen also, if she is 
 to be caught. His guinea for foxes found during 
 the hunting season he considers tolerably secure, 
 since foxes, when routed from adjoining coverts, are 
 sure to seek shelter in quiet places, and where they 
 have little trouble in providing themselves with 
 food. 
 
 These tricks cannot be played under proprietors 
 honourably disposed towards foxhunting. Under 
 them keepers must have a good show of game as 
 well as foxes — and they have them. Not very 
 long ago we knew a large landed proprietor who, 
 not hunting himself, took very little concern about 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 229 
 
 foxes, although professing to preserve them for his 
 neighbour, who kept foxhounds. Upon his pro- 
 perty there were several good coverts and heads of 
 earths, which had, from time immemorial, produced 
 several litters of cubs ; in short, it was what is 
 called " foxy ground," yet here were no foxes now 
 to be found. The master, on making remon- 
 strances, year after year, was met with this re- 
 joinder — " I give my keepers orders not to kill 
 foxes, and am assured by them they do not. Can 
 you prove the contrary ? " 
 
 " Yes,'' was the reply ; " a fox was brought 
 to me yesterday with a trap on his leg, which has 
 your mark upon it, and this, I presume, is pre- 
 sumptive evidence that your keepers do gin foxes, 
 although it is done, as you say, contrary to your 
 orders. Here is the trap with your initials, and 
 the maker s name. The fox died from mortification 
 last night.'' 
 
 " Well, I will make inquiries about it," was the 
 satisfactory answer to this remonstrance. 
 
 The result was, the head keeper denied having 
 set the trap, saying it must have been stolen from 
 their woods by some poacher, and used by him for 
 this purpose somewhere out of their bounds ; and 
 the master of the hounds, finding the master of 
 the coverts so little disposed to sift the matter 
 farther, gave up the point. Some two years after, 
 this gentleman, tired with preserving, let the 
 shooting over his coverts and lands to a genuine 
 sportsman, fond of hunting as well as shooting, 
 whose first act was to discharge all the old keepers 
 
230 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 given to these malpractices, and put fresh men in 
 their places, telling them, unless they kept plenty 
 of game for himself and friends, with foxes also, 
 for the amusement of his neighbours, they would 
 not continue very long in his service ; and to 
 show his determination about the preservation of 
 the latter, he gave several young cubs at the spring 
 of the year to his head keeper, with directions to 
 put them into the main earths, and there feed them 
 with rabbits until they could provide themselves. 
 We need scarcely mention that the hounds never 
 afterwards drew those coverts blank. 
 
 In turning down cubs, certain precautions are 
 necessary to insure their safety, and before being let 
 loose they ought to be kept, until two months old, in 
 some large airy building, with a few faggots in one 
 corner, or a box — -not one ever used by dogs — to 
 hide themselves under. If taken very young, new 
 milk must be given them night and morning, and 
 a young rabbit or two, skinned, left for their 
 supper at night. If of good size, then water will 
 be better ; but it must be clean and fresh every 
 day, and clean hay or straw for their bedding, to 
 be changed every other day. In their natural 
 state, foxes are of very cleanly habits, and if 
 neglected or confined in too small a place when 
 young, they will become mangy, and certainly die 
 when turned out. The mange in these animals is 
 of a very different character to the disease so 
 common to dogs. It generally affects the back, 
 loins, and brush in the form of large scabs, the hair 
 falls off, and we have rarely known an instance 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 231 
 
 of the strongest old fox recovering from this 
 malady. It has been supposed that the cause of 
 this disease is attributable to a sudden chill after a 
 severe chase. There is some reason in this sup- 
 position ; but, however engendered, it is evidently 
 contagious, since we have known foxes generally 
 affected by it in certain districts ; and cubs, if 
 confined too long in close places, without plenty of 
 air, will assuredly become mangy. Before turning 
 them down in main earths, careful examination 
 should be made that no badgers or old foxes fre- 
 quent these strongholds, or they will kill these 
 strange cubs immediately. All the pipes or out- 
 lets, save one, must then be stopped up with 
 stones or brushwood, and the main entrance left 
 open until the cubs are placed therein, which must 
 then be closed also with rouofh stones, so arransjed 
 that the air is not excluded, with sufficient space 
 for a pan of water and food being placed inside. 
 By keeping the cubs thus shut in for two days and 
 nights, and fed regularly at the same hour — eight 
 o'clock in the evening — they will become accus- 
 tomed to their new home, and there remain ; but if 
 default is made by the man to whose care they 
 are entrusted in supplying them without fail every 
 night with rabbits, they will wander away in 
 quest of food, and most likely be starved to 
 death. 
 
 Sand is the most healthy of all soils for foxes, 
 and the underground labyrinths in an old head 
 of earths of this description are really astonishing. 
 
232 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 Tier upon tier or floor after floor of passages and 
 lodging-rooms, to the depth sometimes of twelve or 
 fourteen feet, when lying against a sandy hill, have 
 been exposed to our view ; and once, in particular, 
 we remember employing three men for a week in 
 digging for a favourite terrier which had gone to 
 ground after a fox. So various were the windings, 
 that we were obliged to give up further excavations 
 in despair ; and at the end of the ninth day, during 
 Avhich time the dog had been buried in the bowels 
 of the earth, he emerged, a perfect skeleton, bones 
 and skin only, but with the greatest possible care 
 he recovered. The cause of his long confinement 
 was that the fox kept throwing up sand in his 
 way as a barrier between them, which the dog in 
 turn had to throw behind him, thus unconsciously 
 burying himself deeper and deeper, until a return 
 became impossible ; but fortunately we had cut 
 across his track, thus giving him an opportunity of 
 escape. Badgers are the chief excavators of these 
 subterranean cavities, for which purpose they are 
 naturally qualified by their long claws, resembling 
 those of a mole ; and it is an old saying ^' that 
 badgers, like fools, make houses for foxes and 
 sensible people to live in." These very beautiful 
 and harmless animals having, however, been put 
 into the keeper's catalogue of vermin, are rarely 
 now, if ever, met with in this fell destroyer's 
 precincts, although everybody knows, who knows 
 anything about natural history, that the badger is 
 supplied with these claws by nature to dig his 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 233 
 
 food out of the earth, as well as dig his hole into 
 it. On passing by hedge-rows or banks in the 
 fields, not very far distant from his home, the 
 claw- work of the badger is manifested by sundry 
 routings after roots, and dumbledore nests, of 
 which they are particularly fond. Keepers give 
 them bad names, that they may be allowed to 
 destroy or catch them for the purpose of that 
 most cruel and barbarous of all amusements, 
 badger-baiting, which, although forbidden by law, 
 under Mr. Martin's act, is nevertheless carried on 
 in what is called " sporting houses.'' The badger, 
 like the fox, prowls about at night in search of 
 food, but he does not, like the fox, ever venture 
 far from the covert-side, and although acquitting 
 him of bloodthirstiness, they will commit depre- 
 dations on the formers' produce of peas and beans 
 during the summer and autunm months ; but when 
 winter sets in they retire, like the dormouse, to 
 some warm shelter under the earth, where they 
 remain in a half-torpid state, seldom venturing 
 from their comfortable nests of reeds and grass 
 collected in the summer, unless forced out by 
 hunger. 
 
 Oliver Goldsmith, in his description of the badger, 
 calls it, '' like the fox, a carnivorous animal, and 
 nothing that has life comes amiss to it. It sleeps 
 the greatest part of its time; and thus, without being 
 a voracious feeder, it still keeps fat, particularly in 
 winter.'* There is also another assertion of his, 
 which carries refutation on the face of it, that 
 
234 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 " when surprised by dogs at some distance from its 
 hole, it falls upon its back to defend itself from its 
 enemies/' thus exposing its most tender and vulner- 
 able part, which, during our long acquaintance with 
 the badger family, we have always seen them most 
 anxious to protect. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 235 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 Stub-bred foxes the stoutest runners — Any port in a storm — Terriers 
 — Our old sort — Pilgrim — Bagmen. 
 
 Foxes have always a preference for that kind of 
 earth in which they have been bred, for there is 
 a great variety of soil throughout the different fox- 
 hunting countries in the British Isles. In some 
 parts of Essex, however, called the Roothings, there 
 are scarcely any earths, the substratum being a 
 hard, impervious clay, into which even badgers have 
 great difficulty to penetrate. Cubs here are what 
 is called stub-bred, that is, laid up in an old hollow 
 stool or under the roots of decayed trees ; some- 
 times, also, on the bare ground, in gorse-brakes. 
 These foxes, never having been accustomed to seek 
 refuge below the surface, make a long flight, depend- 
 ing solely upon their strength and speed to save 
 them from their enemies, and on this account are 
 said to be the stoutest runners in England. Foxes 
 bred in drains are the most difficult to find, since, 
 if barred out of one they find another very easily, 
 not known to either stopper or keeper ; and when 
 lands have been thoroughly drained, with large mains 
 to carry off the water from so many tributaries, it is 
 not a very easy matter to break up one of these, if 
 
236 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 permitted to do so. In former years the principal 
 
 material used for draining was stone, brushwood, 
 
 and turves, under which foxes could easily make 
 
 their way and excavate a cavity at the upper end 
 
 sufficiently large to accommodate themselves and a 
 
 small family of cubs. Since the introduction of 
 
 pipes for this purpose, a dry lodgment is not so 
 
 easily obtained ; still, when pressed by hounds, 
 
 foxes will seek any port in a storm. A few good 
 
 terriers are of great use to a pack of foxhounds, 
 
 and we think no kennel complete without them. 
 
 The white Scotch is the best we have ever known 
 
 for this purpose, a breed of which had been in our 
 
 family more than a century, and they were quite 
 
 perfection in their work ; would help to draw 
 
 covert, and run with the pack, and somehow or 
 
 other, even in quick bursts, they contrived to be 
 
 thereabouts at the finish, to have their small share 
 
 of the spoil ; and, if run to ground, we had not long 
 
 to wait for their assistance in ejecting the fox. 
 
 Perhaps they were a trifle too hard in the mouth, 
 
 although never crossed by bull-dog blood, and if 
 
 they could not bolt they would kill him. Terriers 
 
 belonging to a foxhound kennel ought to be stanch 
 
 to fox, and not given to run any other game, for if 
 
 once permitted to do so, they cannot be depended 
 
 on ; and we have heard of digging to a rabbit, which 
 
 is the reverse of agreeable on a wintry day, not 
 
 to mention the disgust a huntsman must feel when 
 
 making sure of his fox being within reach of his 
 
 whip, he is still showing his heels above ground. 
 
 It must not always be taken as a certain conclusion 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 237 
 
 that when the hounds stop and bay at the mouth 
 of an earth, the fox is within. 
 
 Foxes, when heated in the chase, will sometimes 
 enter an earth, and finding the want of air, quit 
 again immediately, or linger about it for a moment 
 or two, and then resume their course ; the best plan 
 is to hold the hounds round the earth at once, to 
 see if they can hit the scent beyond, and when a 
 check occurs at farm-buildings to make a regular 
 cast round them, before commencing a search into 
 all the nooks and corners generally found in such 
 places. It is almost hopeless work attempting to 
 dig a fox out of a large head of earths, and the loss 
 of time when feasible must be taken into considera- 
 tion ; unless after a long run and some distance from 
 home, with hounds short of blood, it is best to leave 
 him alone in his glory, and draw for another. 
 Hounds flushed with every-day victories do not 
 care to stand about an earth for half an hour or 
 more, waiting for their victim ; they would prefer 
 finding another, and so would the majority of their 
 attendants. Want of blood is not a very common 
 complaint in these days, when foxes come too easily 
 to hand. 
 
 Whilst writing about running to ground, a 
 singular instance of sagacity displayed by an old 
 hound, named Pilgrim, occurs to our recollection. 
 It was our practice never to draft or destroy a 
 favourite hound which had done good service during 
 the best portion of his life ; and when unable to run 
 up with the pack, he was permitted to run about 
 the premises, having a small lodging-house appro- 
 
288 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 priated to himself, under the same roof as the boil- 
 ing-house. We had brought a foK back to our 
 home coverts, where he went to ground, and the 
 old dog hearing the cry of his quondam companions 
 joined them. Not wishing to dig the fox out, we 
 placed some stones at the mouth of the earth to 
 prevent another getting in, should we find again. 
 This not being the case from drawing the coverts 
 only a few days previously, the hounds were taken 
 home and fed. In the evening, when visiting the 
 kennels, the old hound and two terriers were found 
 missing, and after making fruitless search for them, 
 it occurred to us that Pilgrim might have gone to 
 the earth, and the terriers might still be about the 
 premises, as they were not generally confined to 
 kennel. Upon our reaching the earth, there lay 
 the old hound at its mouth, having scratched away 
 all the stones, and kneeling down we heard the 
 terriers at the fox inside. As these terriers had 
 not been out hunting that day, the mysterious part 
 of the business was, how they had been coaxed by 
 the hound to follow him. The place not being a 
 stronghold, we sent for pickaxe and spade imme- 
 diately, knowing the fox would be killed if left to 
 the tender mercies of Viper ; and great was the 
 delight of Pilgrim when he was dug out and taken 
 home in a sack, to be let loose again at night. 
 When arrived at years of discretion, it was not our 
 practice to turn down bagmen before the hounds, 
 for, strange as it may appear to the uninitiated, 
 the scent of a fox, which has been caught and con- 
 fined even for a day or two, is so very difierent to 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 239 
 
 that of the wild animal unkennelled in his native 
 woods, that good old foxhounds will not hunt or 
 own it, although those accustomed to the thing dash 
 furiously at it. The fact is, that the scent of the 
 bagman is much stronger, without the addition of 
 aniseed or other oils, which are supposed to give 
 a more pungent flavour to fox-meat. Beckford, T 
 think, tells a story of an old orthodox master, whose 
 hounds having been hallooed on to a bag-fox, turned 
 down in a covert he was drawing. He suspected, 
 from the manner of his stanch hounds, some trick 
 had been played ; but when the fox was at last 
 run into by the young and wild ones of the pack, 
 not one would attempt to break him up. 
 
 " Well, sir,'' exclaimed the master, addressing 
 the suspected trickster, "you have deceived my 
 huntsman and the whole field, but you cannot 
 deceive my hounds. They know he is a bagman, 
 and won't eat him." 
 
 This is no uncommon trick in the present day, 
 to which keepers have recourse to keep up appear- 
 ances with the master of the hounds. A fox is 
 caught a few days before the advertised fixture 
 for drawing their coverts, and turned down in the 
 morning about an hour previous to the arrival of 
 the pack, so that he gets tolerably clean by brush- 
 ing through the underwood ; yet an experienced 
 master and stanch hounds are never deceived by 
 his artful dodge. 
 
240 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 Forming a pack of foxhounds — Entered and unentered di-afls — Dog 
 shows — Foxhunters' Club — Weak understandings — Saffron — The 
 tape — Length of body or limb — Stud-hounds — A leaf from the 
 genealogical tree. 
 
 The collecting of a pack of foxhounds is a work of 
 time and labour, as well as attended with great 
 expense ; and we believe to purchase au entire 
 pack, when practicable, will prove cheaper in the 
 end. Old drafts are generally composed of faulty 
 hounds, or those unable to run up with the rest ; 
 and these last, the only individuals good for any- 
 thing, are generally good for nothing after one 
 season's work ; in fact, their work is done before 
 they are dismissed from their own kennel. Amongst 
 the lot will be found some, perhaps, lame in the 
 stifle, others mute, others noisy ; so that out of 
 these fifty or sixty couples of castaways, five or six 
 may hold together, but the great majority of 
 greater use in the orchard, under apple-trees, than 
 in the field. 
 
 Whatever huntsmen may say about their entered 
 drafts, their qualifications may be rightly estimated 
 by the price paid for them, as it is not likely a 
 hound wortli from ten to twenty pounds would be 
 sold for thirty shillings, unless there were a screw 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 241 
 
 loose somewhere. The best plan is to get together a 
 large body of young unentered hounds from different 
 kennels. Select some twenty-five or thirty couples 
 of the best blood, in which you will be assisted by 
 the huntsmen from whom they are purchased, and 
 begin working them together as early as possible in 
 the cub-hunting season, so that they may become 
 tolerably steady by Christmas. With such young 
 recruits much cannot be expected for the first two 
 years, in hunting a cold scent ; but with a good 
 one they are likely to give a good account of their 
 foxes. What they do will be done brilliantly, all 
 at head ; but failing the sine qua 7ion, the io 
 triumphe will also be wanting, i.e., scalps easily 
 counted on the kennel door. In their third season 
 these will be a pack of hounds, and their motto. 
 Labor viiicit omnia. 
 
 A brother master and contemporary, some years 
 ago, formed his establishment in this manner, but 
 his country being principally arable with large 
 woods, his sport for the first season was miserable. 
 In the second there was some improvement, and in 
 the third his pack was quite efficient in their work, 
 although not very level or eye-taking. Huntsmen 
 cannot afibrd to draft clever young hounds, unless 
 of doubtful parentage ; and if there is one better 
 looking than others in the whole lot, be sure he is not 
 worth his porridge. It is said that we have reached 
 the height of perfection in breeding foxhounds ; and 
 yet at the late Yorkshire Hound Show, representing 
 twenty odd kennels, and containing over eighty 
 couples, the best looking out of each pack, selected, 
 
242 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 of course, we are told by a competent authority, 
 there were very few of perfect symmetry, combining 
 all the essential points with plenty of bone and 
 straight fore-legs. 
 
 Some twenty years ago we endeavoured, in 
 conjunction with the late Lord Ducie, to establish 
 a show of foxhounds at TattersalFs, during the 
 week of the Epsom or Ascot meeting, and at the 
 same time to form a club of masters and ex- 
 masters, to a committee of whom all disputes as to 
 rights of country should be referred. The diffi- 
 culties and expenses attendant upon the transit of 
 hounds at that time were, however, considered by 
 those living at long distances from London to be 
 grave obstacles, and the proposal fell to the ground. 
 The case is now altered, from railway communica- 
 tion ; but we are still of opinion that London would 
 be the best place for the show, as more central and 
 easier of access to the majority of masters of fox- 
 hounds, and a very large body of sportsmen, who 
 generally pay an annual visit to the mighty 
 Babylon at that season of the year, and would no 
 doubt take great interest in the exhibition of nearly 
 all the finest hounds, selected from the best kennels. 
 Our object also was by means of an admission fee, 
 sufficiently high to exclude the Unwashed, to form 
 a fund which should be applied to the assistance of 
 deserving huntsmen or whippers-in out of place, in 
 reduced circumstances, or disabled by accident or 
 illness. The assembling together of so many 
 masters of foxhounds cannot fail to be beneficial 
 both to themselves and the cause generally. They 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 243 
 
 have an opportunity there of discussing all matters 
 connected with the " noble science/' as well as to 
 discuss the merits of hounds belonging to other 
 kennels. They see before them the cleverest of the 
 entry from numerous packs, and the best stud- 
 hounds, which otherwise they might have no 
 opportunity of seeing ; and although we are all 
 prone to make swans of our geese, brother masters 
 are not deficient in candour when questioned as to 
 the peculiar qualities of any hound put forward as 
 something approaching this pattern of excellence. 
 Then the genealogical tree is referred to, from which 
 such fine fruit has been produced, so that the form 
 is before you, the descent explained, and the cha- 
 racter unfolded. You cannot know more, except 
 by becoming an eye-witness of the hound's per- 
 formance in the hunting-field. The post-prandial 
 hour is the time for all these discussions aperit 
 cum vera precordia Bacchus, Men's hearts are 
 warmed and expanded, as in old Horace's days, by 
 a few glasses of wine, and they then feel not only 
 in a more communicative but more friendly spirit 
 towards their fellow-men. 
 
 The objection to dog shows, where pointers, 
 setters, and other dogs are awarded prizes, chiefly 
 on account of their appearances, without regard to 
 working qualifications, does not apply to foxhounds, 
 except the unentered, inasmuch as faulty ones 
 would not be tolerated in any kennel of high 
 repute, and of course there can be no doubt as to 
 the character and capabilities of a stud-hound 
 which has been used in his own pack. The only 
 
 n 2 
 
244j system of kennel and 
 
 drawback to these exhibitions is that tlie judges 
 must be guided, when several of this class are 
 subjected to tlieir inspection, by symmetrical pro- 
 portions rather than by excellence of character ; and 
 the best hound, by some trifling deficiency in form 
 or substance, may be rejected in favour of one 
 better looking although less meritorious. The 
 fashion of the age is too much in favour of non- 
 essentials, bv which we mean neatness of head and 
 length of neck, with fine shoulders ; but these are 
 not indispensables. The framework of the body, 
 depth and width of chest, strength of loins and 
 muscular hind- quarters, ought first to engage our 
 attention. The muscles behind the shoulders should 
 also be prominent, and the fore-legs straight as 
 gun-barrels, standing on good round feet. 
 
 We remember a few^ years since a clever hound 
 in other respects, but weak in the ankles, made use 
 of as a stallion in the north Warwickshire kennel, 
 and on expressing our disapprobation of continuing 
 such a failing, the huntsman pleaded his many good 
 qualities, saying it would not be seen in his 
 progeny, of which he had several just come into 
 kennel from their walks. Our reply was that we 
 should like to judge for ourselves by having his 
 children paraded before us on the flags, which, 
 being complied with, we pointed out to him in all 
 save one the weak point of their father. This 
 hound, whose name we cannot now call to mind — a 
 pretty sure proof that he did not take a hold upon 
 our fancy — was a nicely-topped, fashionable-looking 
 dog, head and tail well up, with swan neck and fine 
 
SCIE>:CE OF FOXHUNTING, 245 
 
 shoulders, but deficient in his understanding. 
 About the same time we noticed a hound named 
 Saffron, in the old Warwickshire pack, which has 
 held a place in our memory ever since, being one 
 of the most powerful our eyes have rested upon. 
 Saffron, however, was not quite the fashion as to 
 appearances, having a square head, rather short 
 neck, and not very oblique shoulders, capital fore- 
 legs, with plenty of bone, big chest, and muscular 
 loins and hind-quarters. There were also two 
 daughters of his presented to our view, exceedingly 
 handsome, attractive young ladies, with better fore- 
 hands than their sire, to one of which the first 
 prize had been awarded by Jem Hills, a 
 judge ; and several of his descendants are still 
 to be seen in the Badminton and other kennels 
 of repute. 
 
 The tape has been pooh-poohed as rather an 
 unsportsmanlike way of testing the powers 
 of a foxhound ; but in our opinion no satis- 
 factory conclusion can be formed without its 
 assistance, when making comparison one with 
 the other. 
 
 A quick eye will detect at a glance any imper- 
 fection in the shape or make of limbs and body, 
 but tlie tape gives at once the dimensions behind 
 the shoulders, where the chief strength of a hound 
 lies ; and it will be found that, as a general rule, 
 this measurement is just four times as great as that 
 of the arm. If the arm measures seven inches, 
 the body will be twenty-eight. In deciding be- 
 
246 SYSTEIVI OF KENNEL ANB 
 
 tween two or more hounds of apparently equal 
 power, due consideration must be given to the 
 condition of each. Those full of flesh will, of 
 course, measure more than those of less bulky pro- 
 portions. Judges of hounds, horses, and cattle, 
 have very often a difficult task to perform, and 
 generally a very unpleasant one, since it is impos- 
 sible to please all parties. Some must win, others 
 lose, yet everybody expects to win, like the drawers 
 of lottery tickets. Sometimes we have been puz- 
 zled to which the palm of merit ought to be 
 awarded, although looking over in the course of 
 a season hundreds of couples. One hound may 
 possess all the essential points in great perfection, 
 and yet not have sufficient length of body to quite 
 please our fancy. Another may make up for the 
 deficiency by length and strength of loins, and 
 prove not so powerful behind the shoulders, and 
 ■with less bone. As to horses and hounds, we all 
 know they must have length to go the pace, and 
 those with short bodies generally have that length 
 of leg which is not conducive to speed. There is 
 a greater objection, however, to short-bodied ani- 
 mals of the female kind, and their incapacity on that 
 account of producing fine progeny. In judging 
 hounds from various kennels, cceteris paribus, 
 pedigree should be thrown into the scale, and tarn 
 it in favour of high descent ; and at foxhound 
 shows, when stud-hounds are exhibited, they should 
 be accompanied with a leaf from the genealogical 
 tree to prove their parentage. Blood will tell in 
 
SCIENCE OP FOXHUNTING. 247 
 
 the long run, and masters of the old school were 
 very particular in never breeding from hounds 
 which were not stout and good in every other 
 respect, not paying much attention to fashionable 
 appearances. After all that can be said or done, 
 blood is the thin^r and never ouoht to be lost 
 sight of. 
 
248 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 Expenses of foxhunting establishments — Large and small packs — 
 Scratch lot of harriers kept cost free — Farming and foxhunting 
 — Touring with an agriculturist — A dip in blue water — Master 
 growing his stud as well as his corn — Gentlemen huntsmen. 
 
 The expenses of foxhunting establishments will 
 necessarily depend upon the number of men^ horses, 
 and hounds kept to hunt the country, some of 
 which are still so extensive as to admit of six days 
 a week during the season. Different men have 
 different opinions in regard to this matter ; some 
 like to hunt every day, others are content to indulge 
 in that recreation two or three days only out of the 
 seven; and for ourselves, we could never see any 
 great fun in making of pleasure a toil. There is, 
 however, the peculiarity attached to foxhunting more 
 than to any other sport, — it is ever varying, scarcely 
 two days throughout the season being alike as to 
 results, — besides which, man being a sociable animal, 
 the meeting with friends at the covert-side proves 
 a great attraction. To noblemen and masters of 
 great wealth, expenditure is of little consequence, 
 and large establishments are of great benefit to the 
 locality in which they are situated, by giving em- 
 ployment to numerous hands ; but the quiet master 
 with his two-days-per-week pack has equal, if not 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 249 
 
 greater^ enjoyment of the chase, and with experi- 
 ence may manage his establishment pleasantly and 
 economically. For his two days a week, with an 
 occasional bye, twenty-five couples of hounds are 
 sufficient, seventeen, or at most eighteen, being quite 
 enough to bring into the field, thus having a re- 
 serve in kennel of seven couples, for accidents or 
 other contingencies. Every hound ought to work 
 two days at least in the week, to keep him in proper 
 condition and wind, and young ones cannot well 
 have too much. To hunt two days or four is far 
 preferable to the odd numbers of three and ^ve, 
 which throw a pack out of order. Tuesday and 
 Saturday are the most convenieat, so that if sport 
 on the first day is bad, a short bye on Thursday 
 will set them right, and then the pack will be quite 
 ready for Saturday again. If hounds have long 
 distances to travel on foot before reaching their 
 places of meeting, that also must be taken into ac- 
 count, since late hours and long days take nearly 
 as much out of hounds and horses as sharp work, 
 with a quick return to kennel or stable. 
 
 The cost of keeping twenty-five couples of hounds 
 may be easily reckoned, as one pound of dry oat- 
 meal is, on an average, the daily allowance to a 
 middle-sized hound, which, when boiled and mixed 
 with flesh and broth, will be found ample. The 
 price of horse-flesh varies very much with the 
 locality, the highest never exceeding a sovereign, 
 and one horse is sufficient to give a good supply of 
 beef for a week. In the neighbourhood of large 
 
250 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 towns, where horse-flesh is used as cats'-meat^ — and, 
 for all we know to the contrary, converted into 
 sausages, — the demand for this commodity is gene- 
 rally so great that few find their way to the kennel; 
 but near smaller country towns, and in coal districts^ 
 the rejected of the equine race are so numerous, 
 that they are disposed of at almost any price, and 
 those dying from disease, or killed by accidents, are 
 quite unsaleable. We were assured by an owner of 
 a scratch lot of harriers, occupying a few acres of 
 land, who did also a little in the butchering, and 
 other trades besides, that he positively kept his 
 hounds for nil, for feeding them on flesh all the year 
 round. His account was that he gave eight shillings 
 for the horse, selling the skin and bones for this 
 sum ; and at the present time we know of another 
 lot of hounds which, from the number of horses, 
 living and dead, brought to their kennel, are main- 
 tained at a very trifling expense ; and need scarcely 
 mention that the bill for oatmeal does not form a 
 very heavy item in the yearly expenditure of this 
 establishment. 
 
 If, indiff*erent as to appearances and condition, 
 hounds in such favoured districts may be kept at 
 a very moderate cost_, and if the owner is also a 
 cultivator of the soil, the kennel may stand on the 
 creditor side of his ledger. The master who farms 
 has unquestionably a great advantage in this 
 respect, by the manure from kennel and stable, 
 particularly the former. The produce of his land is 
 wonderfully increased, and, of course, this ought to 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 251 
 
 be debited in his establishment in place of guano or 
 other artificial manures now so extensively used. 
 These act rather as stimulants than strengthening 
 to the soil, afford it no permanent improvement, 
 and are chiefly employed in the cultivation of root 
 crops, whereas a proper dressing of kennel manure 
 will leave its mark upon the land for years. 
 
 Having been a farmer as well as foxhunter, we can 
 attest the accuracy of this ; in fact, a few years after 
 the commencement of our career as M. F. H., we 
 were forced into the farming line rather against our 
 inclination, by the tenant of the home farm so 
 mismanaging his land, taking everything out of it 
 and putting very little in, that the necessity was 
 laid upon us of taking it into our own hands, or 
 letting it to another for a mere song. We adopted 
 the former course, upon the recommendation of a 
 first-class agriculturist in the neighbourhood; but 
 having no practical knowledge of the business, we 
 pressed our friend into a farming tour, to see how 
 things were done in other counties. At that time 
 Sussex had obtained great notoriety for its breeders 
 of Southdown sheep, and this sort being considered 
 the best to work poor land into condition, thither 
 we bent our steps, and were gratified with a sight, of 
 the Duke of Richmond's and the late celebrated 
 Ellman's beautiful flocks, from which our stock were 
 subsequently descended, with a cross of the Wilt- 
 shire down, an animal of larger frame, and better 
 adapted to folding than the highest bred South- 
 downs. 
 
252 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 In the course of our travels we had called at 
 various homesteads tenanted by extensive and 
 scientific agriculturists, of whose good cheer we 
 occasionally availed ourselves in furtherance of our 
 object, '' to get understanding/^ as Solomon has it. 
 The style in which these men lived took us rather 
 by surprise at first, imagining in our innocence or 
 ignorance that good strong home-brewed ale for 
 dinner, and a glass of grog afterwards to top up 
 with, might be the uliima Thule of their desires. 
 Great, then, was our surprise at the appearance of 
 champagne and sherry during the dinner hour, 
 succeeded by really good port and claret, which 
 could do violence to no man^s feelings. The table 
 also literally groaned under the viands placed upon it. 
 Being an inland district, fish was unattainable, but 
 soup really good ; and at one hospitable house, we 
 had a round of boiled beef, with tivo couples of 
 roasted fowls on one dish^ placed before half a dozen 
 down-sitters. Not being over particular as to eat- 
 able or drinkables, the pleasing task of ordering 
 dinner at the various inns on the road where we 
 halted for the night was assigned to our companion, 
 who, strange to say, selected the produce of the 
 farmyard in preference to that of the field. Having 
 treated us two days in succession to this dish, we 
 asked, on the third, what he intended should be set 
 before us that evening, ^^ If you have no ob- 
 jection, sir,^^ was his reply, ^^ there is nothing nicer 
 than a pair of fowls and a piece of bacon.^^ 
 
 "Toujours perdrix!^^ we exclaimed in surprise; 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 253 
 
 "why^ we thought you had been tired of eating 
 poultry at home/^ 
 
 '^ Oh, no ! I always prefer it to beef, mutton, or 
 pork." 
 
 "Well, then, you shall have it again tomorrow if 
 you like, but now, being in Brighton, we will order 
 some fish, and a hind-quarter of veritable South- 
 down lamb." 
 
 From Brighton we journeyed down to Bognon 
 where we were treated to the finest prawns for 
 breakfast we ever beheld, and of which my travel- 
 ling companion having freely partaken, yve proposed 
 a walk to some ruins by the seaside. "Well," we 
 cried, after examining them, "the sea-water looks 
 very inviting; a swim out and in will do us a power 
 of good, and here is a nice little nook where our 
 vestments may be deposited in safety while we are 
 out at sea." 
 
 " Thank you," he replied, very demurely, " for the 
 suggestion, but I have always preferred land to 
 water, as I do poultry to butcher's meat; and Vm 
 not at all certain that were I even to venture out 
 to sea, I should ever see land again." 
 
 As no persuasions could induce him to take a dip 
 in the briny deep, we availed ourselves of the op- 
 portunity to have a taste of salt water, our friend 
 sitting down on the ruins to watch our clothes and 
 proceedings. Upon our return to Bognor, the waiter 
 at the hotel informed us that we had chosen the 
 most dangerous place on that line of coast for 
 bathing, which afiforded our agricultural friend 
 
254 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 great cause for rejoicing in his prudent resolve never 
 to entrust himself to the deep blue sea, except at- 
 tended by a bathing machine and a couple of old 
 women. It has been said or sung that, 
 
 *' Men to distant regions roam, 
 To bring politer manners home." 
 
 We don^t remember exactly whether any such im- 
 provement resulted from our visits to sheep-farmers, 
 although of a very superior class, but we returned 
 wiser in regard to the line of business we were 
 compelled to pursue, and, assisted by our hydro- 
 phobic friend, commenced our novitiate as a tiller 
 of the soil under the most unfavourable circum- 
 stances. Being a bit of an economist, however, 
 we thought to grow a sufficient quantity of oats for 
 the hunter^s stable from a field of some twenty acres, 
 which, at a moderate calculation, ought to have 
 produced at least two hundred sacks ; but, to our 
 disgust, two hundred bushels were not forthcoming, 
 so impoverished had the land become; and, seeing 
 it impossible to grow cereals, we resolved to begin 
 with roots and food for sheep only. Now the effect 
 of the kennel and stable manure became very ap- 
 parent, and we compounded also with the feeder 
 for his perquisites — the horse-bones. By means 
 of these fertilizers, the land soon recovered from its 
 forlorn condition, and in a few years the produce 
 was nearly doubled: also the grass-land, hitherto 
 barely yielding a ton per acre, carried two. We 
 have entered into these particulars to show that 
 farming and foxhunting ought to go hand in hand 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 255 
 
 together, where the master has land of his own, or 
 can rent it at a fair price, since by growing his oats 
 and hay, instead of paying for everything in hard 
 cash, he will certainly effect a great saving, and so 
 much ought to be credited to kennel and stable for 
 extra returns. According to usual custom, hay, 
 when consumed on the premises, is valued at three 
 pounds per ton onh'-, sometimes less ; but if forced 
 to the hay-market, the master will have to give 
 five, if not six — often more. For this one item, 
 therefore, there will be a saving of one-half. Oat- 
 meal may also be manufactured at home, although 
 requiring more time and trouble than we thought 
 worth bestowing upon it, and we considered the 
 Irish and Scotch preferable to the English. 
 
 To hunt two days per week, with an occasional 
 bye, three horses to each man are more than suffi- 
 cient, and, barring accidents, two better than three, 
 since one day a week, unless with severe work, 
 would not keep a horse in racing condition. It is 
 of great advantage in all foxhunting establishments, 
 large or small, to have young horses coming in as 
 the old ones are going out, which can be used on 
 bye days and light days, when four or five years 
 old, preparatory to regular work the following 
 seasons ; and if occupying land, a master ought to 
 grow his stud, as well as corn and hay, for the use of 
 his establishments. Having adopted this plan, we 
 were so satisfied with our brood mares, that we re- 
 commend the same course to others. Three or four 
 of these, with good sheds to protect them in cold 
 
256 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 weather^ and running over any rough pastures during 
 the summer, take nothing out of the pocket, and 
 their produce, Avhen past three years, may, not 
 improbably, be worth three figures, provided the 
 mothers are nearly, if not quite thorough bred, 
 with frames suited for hunters. It will, of course, 
 make the difference of one man if the master 
 hunts his own hounds; and our opinion was, that 
 half the fun consisted in handling the horn : 
 then, as to the whippers-in, one, where economy is 
 to be the rule, may suffice ; but he must possess 
 '^ all the talents,^^ and be, like Sambo, here, there, 
 and everywhere. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 257 
 
 CHAPTER XXXT. 
 
 Subdivision of overgrown countries conducive to sport — Leadenhall 
 foxes — Rights of country — "Mos pro lege" — Foxhunting the 
 fashion — The king of sportsmen — The late Sir Wheeler Cuffe and 
 clipping — Neutral coverts. 
 
 The lavish expenditure upon foxhunting establish- 
 ments in the present day has induced us to point 
 out how these may be curtailed, and by so doing 
 we have reason to think that we are doing good 
 service to the noble science. The magnitude of 
 many establishments must deter men of moderate 
 means from embarking in such hazardous enter- 
 prises, and although hitherto rich masters have 
 been found willing to undertake the management, 
 rather from love of notoriety than love of sport, 
 yet when the novelty of the thing wears off they 
 are not sorry to retire from a situation involving 
 more trouble than pleasure. So much is sacrificed 
 now to pomp and parade, everything must be in 
 apple-pie order, and not only so, for of the lucidus 
 ordo we complain not, but in more than apple-pie 
 order in excess of all necessary order — a super- 
 abundance of hounds, whose numbers militate 
 against their performances, and so little worked that 
 their good or bad qualities cannot fairly be tested. 
 Masters and huntsmen, with their second and third 
 horses in the field, serving only as an excuse for 
 
 s 
 
258 SYSTEM! OF KENNEL AND 
 
 keeping a stud of bad ones. It is an established fact 
 that the better the condition by training and exer- 
 cise, the better fitted for hard work are men, horses, 
 and hounds, and less liable to suffer from blows and 
 injuries. A man accustomed to walk or ride so 
 many hours in the day can undergo almost any 
 amount of toil with comparative ease, his muscles 
 and body being in a healthy state, and we know by 
 experience how soon the whole corporeal frame gets 
 out of order by inactivity. There was a remark 
 in the old posting days, ^^ What becomes of post- 
 boys and donkeys ? ^^ from never hearing of the one 
 or the other paying the debt of nature. Huntsmen 
 also and whippers-in generally live to a green old 
 age. The two celebrated masters of hounds, 
 Assheton Smith and Osbaldeston, attained each 
 their eightieth year; and no two men ever worked 
 so hard in the saddle for the greater part of their 
 lives. And we find as no uncommon case, that the 
 larger the country hunted by one master, the less 
 the sport, simply because foxes are not routed about 
 sufficiently, and, being out of condition, fall an easy 
 prey to their pursuers. The subdivision of over- 
 grown countries has always, as far as sport is 
 concerned, been attended with beneficial results; 
 and we can name several which within our re- 
 collection formerly occupied by one pack of hounds, 
 find plenty of room for two now. 
 
 The Warwickshire, divided a few years since into 
 North and South; the Craven, a large slice of which 
 was handed over to the late Squire of Ted worth 
 some thirty years ago; and, more recently, Mr. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 259 
 
 Farqiiliarson^s in Dorsetshire, whicli now affords 
 occasional employment to three establishments. 
 Under the old regime a larger extent of country 
 was monopolized than could be sufficiently hunted 
 during the season. The big woods or forests were 
 resorted to only in the early autumn for cub- 
 hunting, or late in the spring to wind up with a 
 May fox. Now this course is decidedly antagonistic 
 to good sport. The big woods, from being so 
 seldom disturbed, foxes would of course resort to, 
 and there remain secure from molestation the 
 greater part of the year. Then what was the use 
 of them? They might as well be underground 
 for any sport they afforded, and, as ^^ Satan always 
 finds some work for idle hands to do,^^ probably 
 they would, during their long vacation, acquire 
 mischievous habits by purloining farmers^ poultry 
 where rabbits were not in sufficient supply. Bad, 
 lazy, Leadenhall foxes are the very worst of all 
 the vulpine race, and like black sheep in any 
 community, aristocratical, clerical, mercantile, 
 or quocunque nomine gaudent, bring discredit 
 upon the class of society to which they belong. 
 We have always regarded a bad fox in the same 
 light as a mad dog, and although short enough, 
 and too short, of the animal in our own country, 
 our advice to farmers was invariably to " kill 
 every brute of that sort you find prowling about 
 your farmyard/^ Those foxes which rob hen 
 roosts are either half tame, from being housed 
 too long as cubs before turned loose, or mangy. 
 The sooner they are disposed of the better, and 
 
 s 2 
 
260 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 there is no excuse for such depredations when game 
 and rabbits are plentiful. Good wild foxes avoid 
 the haunts of men^ rarely venturing near farm- 
 houses or villages. 
 
 There are certain rights of country, however, 
 which every master is expected to maintain inviolate 
 against incursions from another pack ; and not to 
 suflPer these to be infringed is, whilst he is in office, 
 part of his duty. There is no law for foxhunting ; 
 in fact, the law of the land is against any man 
 trespassing upon others^ property, but the mos pro 
 lege has been found sufficiently obligatory, and, as a 
 general rule, one master rarely interferes with a 
 brother master^s prerogative. Disputes have arisen 
 as to the boundaries, where outlying coverts have 
 been conceded by the master of one hunt to another 
 many years previously, without stipulations of any 
 kind ; but in this case, when those coverts have 
 been hunted for a length of time by hounds be- 
 longing to another hunt, and with the consent of 
 the proprietors of the land, we consider if the original 
 right was not entirely to be abandoned, the coverts 
 would have been occasionally drawn to keep up the 
 title to them. This can only occur in certain 
 families of distinction, who have obtained the 
 privilege of hunting a certain district from time 
 immemorial, supporting their establishments nearly, 
 if not entirely, at their own expense — in short, 
 independent masters ; but as this cannot be con- 
 sidered as entailed property, even in a foxhunting 
 point of view, the heir to his own estate must abide 
 by his father's or grandfather's decision in parting 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 261 
 
 with any portion, and without reservation in writing 
 it cannot be reclaimed. The proprietors of coverts 
 have also an undoubted right, supposing them to be 
 inefficiently and irregularly hunted, to offer such 
 coverts to a neighbouring master. 
 
 In bygone times, in the days of Noel, Meynell, 
 and Corbett, foxhunting establishments were so few 
 and far between, and foxes so scarce from the prices 
 set upon their heads as vermin, that immense tracts 
 of country were occupied by one master of hounds, 
 and at that time barely sufficed to find employment 
 for one pack. But as the love of foxhunting in- 
 creased, and in consequence the preservation of 
 foxes, the extended area of country, then considered 
 only sufficient for the maintenance of one establish- 
 ment, became evidently too large for monopoly, and 
 thus necessarily and fortunately subdivisions have 
 taken place, to suit the temper and requirements of 
 the age we live in. The pressure of pubHc opinion 
 has also exercised a very proper influence in this 
 matter, since 
 
 " Those now hunt who ne'er did hunt before, 
 And those who hunted love to hunt the more." 
 
 The fact is, that foxhunting has become exceedingly 
 fashionable of late years. It tends greatly to the 
 amusement of those who are bound, willingly or 
 unwillingly, to spend certain months of the year — 
 and those the most dreary — in their country quar- 
 ters. Shooting is all very well in its way; battue 
 shooting, the tamest of all ; duck and snipe shooting 
 the wettest of all ; the billiard table, a dernier 
 ressort in bad weather ; but without foxhunting, the 
 
262 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 exhilarating sport of foxhunting, the reunions at 
 the covert side, in place of reunions at certain clubs 
 in London, what would become of half the people 
 who are obliged to winter in the country ? We are 
 now writing of genuine sportsmen, or foxhunters of 
 the old school, who went out hunting for the sake 
 of the hunting ; not of those who adopt this mode 
 of recreation rather from necessity than choice, and 
 some of whom would probably be found administering 
 to themselves certain doses of prussic acid during 
 the dreary month of November, were not the first 
 of that month inaugurated as the commencement of 
 the foxhunting season, when every man is supposed 
 to be in proper trim himself, and to have his stud of 
 hunters in proper condition to meet the hounds in 
 the field. Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis. 
 Foxhunting is the fashion — it is enough, all press 
 into it. 
 
 We are told that when the great Mr. Meynell 
 (and great he certainly was, in more senses than 
 one) first commenced his hunting career in Leices- 
 tershire, without possessing an acre in it, that he 
 was supported by only two subscribers. Lord R. 
 Cavendish and Mr. Boothby. But it is evident 
 from his being called ^^ the king of sportsmen,^^ that 
 he had derived that title as a first-rate master of 
 hounds, and moreover he could not have hunted that 
 country as a stranger, had not his conduct as a 
 gentleman ensured him the support and approbation 
 of the whole country. Two lines of the old Coplow 
 hunt song occur to us here, — 
 
 ** Talk of horses and hounds, and system of kennel, 
 Give me Leicestershire nags, and the hounds of old Meynell.*' 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 263 
 
 "We learnt many particulars relative to Mr. 
 Meynell and his establishment from a very old 
 friend, who had hunted with him in his early days, 
 and who could not say too much in his praise; and, 
 if we remember rightly, notwithstanding the num- 
 ber of hounds in kennel, with such an extent of 
 country, he seldom hunted more than three days in 
 the week, and it was not then the fashion to have 
 second horses in the field. Sir Wheeler Cuflfe also, 
 it appears from his own account, was the first man 
 who introduced clipping, or, as he called it, " shaving 
 horses.^^ His stud being reduced by hard work or 
 accidents, he was told of a good hunter then run- 
 ning loose in a farmyard (having been disabled the 
 previous season), but now quite sound, although 
 with a coat like a bear. A bargain having been 
 struck with his present owner, he was transferred to 
 the baronet^s stable, who, to bring him quickly into 
 hunting trim, hit upon the novel expedient of first 
 cutting oj6f all the long hair, and then sending for 
 the village barber, to lather and shave him all over 
 excepting the head and legs ; and he used to relate 
 with great glee that, although well known before in 
 the hunt, he was not recognized by even his former 
 master after this metamorphosis, his colour having 
 been quite changed. Sir Wheeler had been a first 
 flightman in Leicestershire, and he was not only a 
 genuine foxhunter, but an observer of the working 
 of the hounds, and the lessons taught him early in 
 life by the father of foxhunting were treasured up 
 in his mind with great care, and proved of much 
 service to us when commencing our career as 
 
264 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 M.F.H.^ when he generally paid us an annual visit 
 during the hunting season. Even at that time, 
 having reached the age of man, he could still make 
 a good fight across country. 
 
 Since the time of old Meynell, we need scarcely 
 remark that, to meet the spirit of the age, great 
 changes have taken place in that part of Leicester- 
 shire, which at one time he might almost have 
 claimed as his own ; in fact, the country has been 
 divided and parcelled out by the proprietors to suit 
 their convenience. There are, in some foxhunting 
 countries, also some woods called neutral coverts, a 
 sort of " no man^s land,^^ which two packs claim the 
 right of drawing, and this debatable ground too 
 often gives rise to disputations and disagreements 
 destructive to that harmony which ought to exist 
 between two neighbouring masters of foxhounds. 
 We believe we have already mentioned that no one 
 master has a right to dig a fox out from a stronghold 
 in another^s country, or to send forward a whipper- 
 in to stop the earths there, and the more particular 
 we are in regard to the etiquette observed upon these 
 and other occasions, the more shall we conduce to 
 the interests of the ^^ noble science/^ 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHCTNTING. 265 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 *' In ancient times, when Rome with Athens vied 
 For polish'd luxury and useful arts ; 
 All hot and reeking from the Olympic strife, 
 And warm Palestra, in the tepid bath 
 Th' athletic youth relax'd their wearied limbs. 
 Soft oils bedew' d them, with the grateful powers 
 Of nard and cassia fraught, to soothe and heal 
 The cherish'd nerves. Our less voluptuous clime 
 Not much invites us to such arts as these. 
 Tis not for those whom gelid skies embrace, 
 And chilling fogs, whose perspiration feels 
 Such frequent bars from Eurus and the North — 
 'Tis not for these to cultivate the skin 
 Too soft." — Armstrong. 
 
 Turkish baths — Warm baths for hounds — More bad than good re- 
 sults from their use — System of kennel — Originated with ' ' The 
 Father of the Chase " — The master's eye — The late Lord Ducie 
 and Bondsman. 
 
 Turkish Baths are all the fashion in the present 
 day, and supposed to afiPord a panacea for all the 
 maladies to which humanity is subject. To a 
 certain extent, and under certain circumstances, 
 their beneficial effect cannot be disputed ; but the 
 customs and habits of Eastern countries cannot be 
 adopted in more northern latitudes as a general rule 
 of practice. Turks are as a nation indolent and 
 inactive, and the bath is one of the greatest lux- 
 uries, to which they resort daily, as a refreshing 
 relief from Eastern dust and heat, and those who 
 have tried the experiment in this country ex- 
 
266 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 perience great relief from the softening influence 
 of warm vapour, with the accompanying rubbing 
 and shampooing, which latter claim half the battle. 
 Warm water — not hot — has been used for many- 
 years past as the most effectual means of subduing 
 inflammation from wounds, inflicted upon man, 
 horse, or hound, and if persevered in for a certain 
 time, has been known to efi*ect a cure without the 
 aid of other applications. In rheumatism, gout, 
 and other complaints of a like nature, and in 
 certain cases of fever, it mav be resorted to with 
 good efi'ect ; but as an every-day resource, par- 
 ticularly in a cold climate, such as ours, the Turk- 
 ish bath must be productive of very debilitating 
 efi'ects. Cold water, not warm, is the thing for 
 natives of the British Isles in a state of health, 
 and tends to invigorate the corporeal frame. An 
 occasional warm bath may be used, as the most 
 eff'ectual means of opening and cleansing the pores 
 of the skin, and the sensation derived from it is of 
 a very pleasurable nature. After severe fatigue it 
 has always been found a great restorative. The 
 late Assheton Smith assured us that on his return 
 from a hard day^s hunting, he could not have eaten 
 a morsel of dinner without plunging into his warm 
 bath. Without the rubbing perfectly dry after- 
 wards, however, the efi'ect would be rather pre- 
 judicial than otherwise, and here is the difficulty 
 with regard to bathing hounds after hunting when 
 they come home draggled and dirty, for in fine 
 weather no one would think of washing them. 
 The warm bath was constantly used in many 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 267 
 
 kennels some thirty years ago, but unless great care 
 and attention were bestowed upon the treatment of 
 the hounds whilst undergoing and after the pro- 
 cess, more bad than good results followed. We 
 tried it ourselves for some time, but were at last 
 obliged to give it up, from shortness of hands to do 
 the work eiFectually. The theory is good, but the 
 practice inadequate to carry out the system. When 
 hounds return to their kennel draggled, dirty, and 
 bruised from hard exertions, we know perfectly 
 well that a bath of warm water and broth is the 
 most certain to assuage all irritability from wounds 
 inflicted by briers and thorns, and by removing 
 the dirt adhering to their bodies, the greatest of 
 palliatives to the corporeal frame ; but unless each 
 individual can be rubbed thoroughly dry after this 
 operation, the object we have in view must be 
 frustrated. With human bodies, the case is very 
 different; they are not hirsute animals, and their 
 bodies can be completely cleaned, and made dry 
 and comfortable in a few seconds ; by using a good 
 rough towel, no dampness remains upon the skin, 
 and the pores from friction are opened ; but unless 
 the same process can be adopted with hounds, 
 unless every hair upon their bodies can be separated 
 and worked from dampness into a dry and glowing 
 state, the experiment will not only prove fruitless, 
 but detrimental to health. 
 
 To show its inconsistency, we must refer to the 
 modus operandi, set forth by an eminent writer and 
 clever master of foxhounds, who suggests that the 
 hounds should be plunged into these warm broth 
 
268 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 baths immediately on their return to kennel, and 
 wlien emerging reeking from their bath, they should 
 be immediately fed, then turned out for a short 
 time into their airing-yard, and then into their 
 dormitory for the night. Now this course is mani- 
 festly inconsistent. To subject any animal, biped 
 or quadruped, when reeking-hot from a warm bath, 
 to a cold wintry atmosphere, can be productive 
 only of the worst results, by throwing a sudden 
 chill upon its body, and entirely neutralizing the 
 good effects supposed to accrue from warm water. 
 The wooden boxes in general use for this purpose 
 were of oblong shape, and of sufficient length to 
 admit two hounds back to back, and deep enough 
 to immerse the whole body, except the head, under 
 water. In these baths the hounds were placed for 
 a few seconds, whilst their attendants were rubbing 
 the dirt off with scrubbing-brushes, and then after 
 being fed they were allowed to lick themselves dry, 
 without being dried by hand. This was one of our 
 chief objections to the process, for we could not see 
 any benefit likely to follow from hounds licking off 
 dirty broth from each other, and dirty to a certain 
 extent it always would be, unless they were taken 
 out of one bath and placed into another of cleaner 
 water ; and the time thus occupied in doing the 
 thing properly and efficiently, washing clean eigh- 
 teen couples of hounds, may be imagined as an- 
 tagonistic to the working out of the system, with 
 their huntsman ravenous for his own dinner. Under 
 such circumstances the benefit derived was very 
 questionable. Our plan differed from this. We 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 269 
 
 made use of a more shallow bath, the water only 
 reaching half-way up, and not covering the body ; 
 and when the dirt adhering to their bellies and 
 legs was thoroughly washed off, they were quickly 
 rubbed dry by two pairs of hands, each man having 
 a thick woollen cloth for that purpose, the hunts- 
 man standing by to see if there were any thorns or 
 wounds about their limbs and feet. The hounds 
 were then fed under cover, and not allowed to go 
 out into the yard, but immediately let into their 
 sleeping-room, with a profusion of clean dry wheat- 
 straw, in which they buried themselves, huddhng all 
 together for greater warmth. It is a great advan- 
 tage when the lodging-room can be heated by hot 
 air from the boiling-house copper, since nothing 
 restores animals suffering from fatigue and cold like 
 a moderate degree of heat. 
 
 The system of kennel is said to have originated 
 
 with Mr. Meynell, who, whether returning late 
 
 or early from the hunting-field, superintended the 
 
 feeding of his hounds before preparing to sit down 
 
 to his own dinner, and as according to the old 
 
 adage, " The master's eye maketh the horse fat,^^ no 
 
 doubt the hounds benefited by his attention to their 
 
 proper feeding. It is too much the practice in our 
 
 time to entrust the entire management and care of 
 
 the kennel to the huntsman, and the stable to the 
 
 head groom. But however trustworthy and talented 
 
 such men may be, every master of foxhounds would 
 
 do well to imitate the praiseworthy example set 
 
 them by the " "Father of the chase.'^ Admitting 
 
 the perfect sufficiency of the two first officials, the 
 
270 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 master^s eye cannot fail to produce a good eflfect 
 upon all the subordinates. Servants may give 
 themselves airs^ and be disobedient or inattentive to 
 the orders of higher servants, but they would not 
 dare to question those of their employer, whom 
 they know also to be thoroughly acquainted with 
 the management of horses and hounds. To be 
 respected and served willingly, not merely with eye- 
 service, the master must be a practical man himself, 
 and take a lively interest in everything connected 
 with his establishment. He must be fond of his 
 hounds and horses, deeply interested in their wel- 
 fare and comfort, and resolute in seeing his com- 
 mands and wishes carried out to their fullest extent. 
 He must be a prime minister over all, and 
 although adopting the suaviter in modo course, it 
 must be the fortiter in re also — implicit attention to 
 his directions the rule to all in authority under 
 him. 
 
 The even condition of the pack depends entirely 
 upon judicious careful feeding, and, as we have be- 
 fore remarked, the huntsman being like the hounds, 
 hungry after a long day, they may be fed too quickly, 
 the greedy getting too much, and the delicate appe- 
 tites too little ; in fact, just as we feel ourselves after 
 over hard work, indisposed to eat at all. It is very 
 often the case that the lightest feeders are the 
 heaviest workmen, some half-dozen doing more 
 towards killing their fox than all the rest put to- 
 gether, and from these extra exertions, called forth 
 by the spirit within them, they exhaust themselves 
 more than the gourmands of whom the body of the 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 27 1 
 
 pack is composed, and we have remarked the same 
 thing with horses. 
 
 We remember^ some years ago, sending a very 
 excellent hound to the late Lord Ducie^ a trifle out 
 of the rectangular as to form^ but in all other 
 respects perfect as to work, and his observation 
 after the probation of one season. 
 
 '^ Your dog Bondsman does more for me in two 
 hours, when we are in difficulties, than the whole 
 pack for one day, and therefore I cannot afford to 
 part with him, although, as you told me, he is a 
 three-cornered one." 
 
 What he meant by a three-cornered one is, that 
 he was a little out at elbows, and rather flat-sided, 
 which imperfections are not suggestive of a hound^s 
 capability to endure the silvery rays of the moon, 
 one which would not challenge his enemy the fox, 
 in the words of the old song, — 
 
 ** Oh ! meet me by moonlight alone !" 
 
 We would rather measure work by its merits than 
 by the day. One labourer will do more in six hours 
 than another in twelve. So it is with hounds. 
 There have been two opinions as to the state, warm 
 or cold, of food given to hounds. It is fortunate that 
 both are right in the two seasons of the year — cold 
 may be given during the summer months, when the 
 hounds are lying idle, but in winter, especially after 
 hunting, there can be no doubt that hot broth, 
 mixed with oatmeal and meat, is the most proper 
 and nutritious ; besides which, warm food goes 
 much further than cold. A hungry man will 
 devour almost any quantity of cold boiled beef, of 
 
272 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 which^ when hot^ a very few slices would suffice for 
 his dinner^ and although — 
 
 * 'While winter chills the blood, and binds the veins, 
 No labours are too hard," 
 
 yet the body requires heatings or warmings after 
 them. Light feeders require humouring with the 
 best of the trough, more meat and richer broth 
 than the others ; neither will they eat much when 
 tired, therefore it is wiser to give them a little at 
 first, and about two hours after to offer more, when 
 the stomach has regained its tone for digestion. 
 Although the example set by Mr. Meynell, and 
 other eminent masters of foxhounds since his time, 
 in seeing to the feeding of* their hounds, is worthy 
 of imitation, yet it is not an absolute duty, and if so 
 considered, few would undertake it. To one really 
 fond of his hounds it becomes a pleasure rather 
 than a penance ; and the old masters who adopted 
 this course pursued it more from the gratification it 
 afi*orded them than from actual necessity, when they 
 had trustworthy servants under them. Some have 
 imagined dogs to be more attached to their owners 
 through this means, which may be called " cupboard 
 love,^^ at best, not very gratifying; but dogs will 
 attach themselves from another cause — kind treat- 
 ment ; and they soon discover the difference between 
 their feeder and their master. 
 
 We have known many masters to whom their 
 hounds exhibited every token of afi'ection, who 
 never fed but hunted them only, of whom one was 
 the late Assheton Smith, and the welcome with 
 which they greeted him at the place of meeting, or 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 273 
 
 when paying a visit to tlie kennel, certainly arose from 
 exuberant feelings called forth by his presence amongst 
 them. There is another cause also : dogs like those 
 who assist them in their hunting, and contribute to 
 their amusement ; and hounds, when let loose from 
 the kennel and control of whippers-in feel, we may 
 suppose, like boys rushing out of school on a holi- 
 day, to enjoy their games and relaxations beyond 
 the authority of tutors and ushers. Very much 
 depends upon the motives by which masters of 
 hounds are actuated. Some love hunting for the 
 sake of hunting — others love hunting for the sake 
 of their hounds, — in short, make pets of tliem as 
 ladies do of lap-dogs — attend to their feeding, and 
 see that they are reposing comfortably on their 
 beds before leaving the kennel. Such care is to 
 them no trouble, and we need scarcely add, that 
 masters of this nature enjoy to a greater extent 
 than others more lukewarm the pleasures of the 
 chase. 
 
274 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 Hydrophobia — Length of time the virus lies dormant in the system — 
 
 Our feeder. 
 
 Of all maladies to which dogs are subject^ the most 
 fatal is madness^ for which we believe up to this 
 time no certain cure has been discovered. The 
 origin of this dreadful disease is enveloped in 
 mystery^ although it has existed for many centuries, 
 defying the medical skill of age after age. In this 
 country the most favourable seasons for its appear- 
 ance are during the spring and autumn months ; 
 and we know from experience the virus will remain 
 dormant in the system for weeks, months, and 
 even years, until roused by some exciting cause. 
 This we know to be a fact, but it does not follow, 
 as a matter of course, that hydrophobia must be 
 produced in every case by the bite of a mad dog. 
 It may be now, as it undoubtedly was originally, 
 spontaneous, — caused by ill-treatment, confinement 
 without sufficient air or exercise, want of water, 
 exposure to the heat of the sun without shade, or 
 introduced into the system by some other means 
 with which we are unacquainted. 
 
 Some years ago we had a large yard-dog, a cross 
 between Newfoundland and mastiff, chained to a box 
 in the stable-yard by night, but allowed his freedom 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. , 275 
 
 by day, when he generally accompanied the children 
 and their nurse walking. After the hunting season, 
 we left home for a few days at the end of April, to 
 see the Royal Stag-hounds in the New Forest, 
 having given particular orders to the feeder to see 
 that the dog was supplied with fresh water every 
 day, the weather being sultry. Our horror may be 
 imagined when, on our return home, we were told 
 that the dog had gone mad, and had, it was supposed, 
 bitten several of the hounds and terriers running 
 about the premises. The account given us was, 
 that he had not been let loose to take his usual 
 walk for three or four days following, and that when 
 he was unchained by the boy, he jumped about him 
 as usual, although it was noticed by the nurse that 
 his mouth was covered with foam. Upon the child 
 pushing him away, he ran straight for a pond, dashed 
 into it, and then ran round by the green-yard, 
 where the young hounds were lying about, and was 
 seen by the feeder snapping at them through the 
 palings. These things being reported to our better 
 half, orders were immediately issued to have the dog 
 placed in a secure outhouse, and there kept till our 
 return. The third night, however, he died raving 
 mad, having torn everything to pieces within his 
 reach. Most providentially no injury had been 
 done to the children, and for the coming trial with 
 the hounds we were now fully prepared. 
 
 The immediate cause of this dog^s madness never 
 could be ascertained. Servants will not tell tales of 
 each other, but we received a hint from one, that 
 during two days, very warm and sultry, the feeder 
 
 T 2 
 
276 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 had neglected to give him water, and he had not 
 been let loose. No mad dog had been heard of in 
 the neighbourhood, and therefore we attributed his 
 sudden attack to this cause. We regard it, in short, 
 as spontaneous hydrophobia. On the third day 
 after this dog's death, two of the young hounds 
 — very valuable ones — showing symptoms of the 
 malady, they were immediately taken from the 
 kennel and placed by themselves in a loose-box 
 Avithin the stable, the window being left quite open, 
 to admit the free circulation of air, and these I 
 resolved to watch and wait upon myself, to see if 
 any remedy could be found to ameliorate their 
 deplorable condition. We had then a very clever 
 surgeon and general medical practitioner belonging 
 to our hunt, whose assistance and advice were at once 
 solicited, and as readily accorded ; but previously to 
 his arrival we deemed it prudent to administer a 
 strong dose of laudanum to the afflicted hounds, as 
 the only means of subduing the paroxysms incident 
 to this malady. The laudanum produced the eflfect 
 we expected — the hounds became drowsy and listless 
 — they made no effort to bite each other, and were 
 as quiet and peaceable as if nothing were wrong. 
 They recognized me when approaching, and patting 
 their heads, w^agged their tails, and then again 
 lay down to rest — that rest from which they 
 never more awoke in this world — the slumber of 
 death. The doctor came after these two hounds 
 had breathed their last. I told him what I had 
 done. 
 
 *^ You have done madly enough/' w^as his reply, 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 277 
 
 " how could you think of giving any medicine to 
 mad dogs ? ^^ 
 
 '^ You have heard/^ we said, '^ that there is some 
 method in madness ? ^^ 
 
 '^ True ; but that is a madness quite different to 
 hydrophobia. If one of these hounds had bitten 
 you whilst administering these doses of laudanum, 
 nothing could have saved your life, and no medicine 
 with which I am acquainted can save the life of any 
 other hounds which may be attacked in a similar 
 manner. Many nostrums and quack medicines 
 have been prescribed by enthusiasts as certain 
 remedies in this most melancholy malady, but not 
 one upon which any man of common sense could 
 pin his faith. Physicians and surgeons are all alike 
 in the dark on this incomprehensible visitation. 
 We may subdue the paroxysms but we can do no 
 more ; and the best and only advice I can offer you 
 is to destroy every dog which exhibits signs of hydro- 
 phobia.^^ 
 
 It did not suit our humour then to follow the 
 doctor^s advice. Other hounds were seized, and as 
 we had discovered they never showed any disposition 
 to bite their master, we continued giving them 
 laudanum and prussic acid, in the hope of alleviat- 
 ing their agony, if not of curing the disease. In 
 the former we succeeded — not in the latter. One 
 by one they died away, curled up as if asleep, but 
 without any suffering. We had now lost fourteen 
 hounds, some of our finest young bitches, by this 
 terrible scourge, and as no new cases had appeared 
 for a month, began to congratulate ourselves upon 
 
278 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 the safety of the others. A second month passed, 
 and we then felt secure^ although still feeding them 
 ourselves, and watching them carefully at other 
 times. 
 
 Just nine weeks after the first outbreak we 
 noticed a young hound chop at his food in an un- 
 usual manner, and he was immediately removed to a 
 safe place where he was seized soon after, and died 
 mad on the fourth morning. Neither my whipper- 
 in nor feeder had remarked this dog^s manner when 
 eating, and save for my presence and suspicious 
 supervision, the whole pack would assuredly have 
 been destroyed. 
 
 I had, however, more serious cause of alarm on 
 account of the feeder, who in taking this hound to 
 the hospital, had most rashly caught him by the 
 neck, when the dog, naturally savage, turned round 
 and bit him through his naked arm, since, in defiance 
 of our orders, he would still go about his work as 
 usual, with his arms bare up to the shoulders. The 
 blood flowing freely from the wound, we had his 
 arm immersed in warm water to encourage the 
 bleeding, and when it ceased, made him suck the 
 wound until quite clear of blood, and then applied 
 some lunar caustic. The doctor was of course sent 
 for immediately, who approved our treatment, and 
 said he could do nothing more except cauterizing or 
 cutting out the bitten part, which he thought, after 
 the caustic, would be of little use. To make assur- 
 ance however, doubly sure, the part was cauterized; 
 but the unfortunate feeder felt very much alarmed 
 about himself, though we did and said everything we 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 279 
 
 could to prevent too great excitement, and we verily 
 believed from the course we had so promptly pursued 
 the virus would not have penetrated into his system. 
 He was now in the hands of the surgeon, who 
 gave him the medicines he considered right, and the 
 next day his arm was in a frightful state of inflam- 
 mation, when drawing poultices were resorted to, 
 until all the inflammatory symptoms had subsided. 
 The ominous three days passed away — three weeks 
 — three months — and yet no appearance of hydro- 
 phobia, and he began to think he was tolerably safe. 
 But as some of his friends had been talking to him 
 about sea-dipping, he said, ^' I think, sir, I should 
 now feel quite comfortable in my mind if I had a 
 good washing in sea-water.^' 
 
 ^^ Certainly, George,^' was our reply, '' you shall 
 have that or anything else you iimcy — but my 
 candid opinion is, now, that you cannot go mad, as 
 you call it, if you wished to do so.^^ 
 
 Well, he had sea-dipping. We sent our first 
 whipper-in down with him to Weymouth, to see all 
 fair; but by the advice of the blue-jackets employed 
 on the occasion — who had got certain crotchets into 
 their heads, that a man in his case ought to be 
 thoroughly saturated with the briny fluid — he was 
 very nearly drowned outright by the operation, 
 since they ducked him and ducked him malgre his 
 cries for mercy, until the vital spark had been very 
 nearly drenched out of his body, and unless the 
 whipper-in had taken him from them, he must 
 assuredly have been killed in the curing. Sailors 
 and seafaring men are proverbially superstitious. 
 
280 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 and his dippers insisted that^ to efifect a cure^ he 
 must be all but drowned — if not quite — before the 
 desired change in his blood would take place. 
 
 Poor fellow ! he came home more than satisfied 
 with his dose of salt water^ which left him in a 
 prostrate condition for some days. His mind, how- 
 ever, was set at rest; he dreaded no longer an 
 attack of hydrophobia, and went about his work as 
 usual. Eor four years after, while in our service, he 
 enjoyed his general good health, although at the 
 return of spring we gave him alterative medicines, 
 succeeded by a dose or two of calomel, and at the 
 expiration of the period he was married, and left 
 our service for his native village, where he worked 
 as a farm-labourer for four years longer. Not liking 
 his occupation, he returned again to his old place, 
 but greatly altered in appearance, from severe 
 labour and hard living, to which he had been unac- 
 customed, having, previous to becoming feeder, filled 
 the situation of footman in our family. Although 
 ever a most willing active servant, he was not of a 
 robust constitution, and not of very strong intellect. 
 We noticed the change, and did all in our power to 
 induce him to feel once more at home, for it had 
 ever been our desire to attach those capable of 
 attachment by every kindness to ourselves, and w^e 
 had rarely failed in this respect. 
 
 He was soon, evidently in a rapid consumption, 
 and died just nine years after being bitten by the 
 hound ; and those who attended him in his last 
 moments declared that he was attacked with con- 
 vulsions and barked like a dog ! If the fact were 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 281 
 
 SO, which we had no reason to disbelieve, it is a 
 proof that the virus does remain in the system for 
 a great length of time without showing itself; and 
 there is another singular fact connected with hydro- 
 phobia, which came immediately nnder our own 
 observation — its breaking out in three days, six 
 days, or nine days — and at the same period of weeks 
 — the last hound we lost having been seized just 
 nine weeks after its first appearance in the kennel. 
 
282 SYSTEM OP KENNEL AND 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 Various prescriptions for the cure of liydrophobia — Oliver Goldsmith's 
 opinion — Dogs having fits and distemper often condemned as mad 
 — Our terrier on the moor. 
 
 In the last chapter on this subject we gave the 
 results of our experience and observation when the 
 poison had once entered into the system^ and we 
 believe when that has been the case^ there is no 
 cure that has ever been discovered. We had no 
 means of ascertaining when and where the hounds 
 had been bitten which died from hydrophobia, but 
 as they must have been bitten some days before they 
 exhibited symptoms of the malady, we felt powerless 
 to avert the consequences. We could only palliate 
 the paroxysms. But in regard to our feeder, whose 
 arm was perforated through and through, the op- 
 portunity presented itself of taking active measures 
 immediately, which prevented its breaking out, and 
 then, after nine years, in a very mitigated form. 
 Our opinion is, that if remedies were applied in- 
 stantly, as soon as the bite is inflicted, by means 
 of hot-water fomentations first, and cauterizing the 
 part afterwards, that the power of the venom would 
 be subdued to a very great extent, if not entirely 
 blotted out; and that, at any rate, is something 
 gained. To the bite of a viper we have used sweet 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 283 
 
 oil, with unvarying success, if immediately applied, 
 or before the limbs or body begin to swell immo- 
 derately. We always used this remedy in the cub- 
 hunting season, when the hounds were frequently 
 bitten by these ancient enemies to the human race. 
 For the sting of wasp or bee — of which insects we 
 entertain a well-founded dread, from having been 
 nearly killed by them — oil or ammonia, if applied 
 immediately, will effect a speedy cUre. 
 
 We are told by sporting writers that hydrophobia 
 prevailed to an alarming extent in this country sixty 
 years ago— in the years 1806 and 1807, when the 
 weather was very changeable ; and worming was 
 then greatly in vogue, as a supposed precaution 
 against a mad dog biting. This idea of a worm 
 existing under the tongue of a dog, causing not 
 only a voracious appetite, but creating uneasy^ 
 irritable sensations, is one of the most absurd 
 theories which has ever entered into the head of 
 man to conceive. There is a fibrous or skinny 
 substance under a dog^s tongue — simply a mem- 
 brane connected with it — which medical men of the 
 old school pronounced to be a living worm, and the 
 excision of which was supposed to be sufficient to 
 counteract the evil consequences of rabies canina, 
 by preventing the dog biting another. Prevention 
 in such cases would be far better than cure ; but it 
 appears that the wormed dogs went mad quite as 
 readily as those that were not wormed, and were 
 not incapacitated, by the excision of this ideal 
 worm, from implanting the virus raging in their 
 own system to the bodies of any other animals, 
 
284^ SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 biped or quadruped, with which they unfortunately 
 came in contact. Worming, of course, failed, which 
 any man of common acquaintance with canine 
 nature might have anticipated. To Pliny has been 
 attributed this fanciful crotchet, and upon his 
 authority it has been handed down as an infallible 
 remedy in the prevention, if not cure, of hydro- 
 phobia. Elane says : ^^ In the operation of w^orming, 
 it is common to strip off this froenura or bridle from 
 the tongue, the violence made use of in doing which, 
 puts it on the stretch, so that when removed from 
 the mouth, its recoil is adduced as a proof that it 
 is alive, and proves it a worm in the opinion of 
 credulity.^^ 
 
 That queer old writer, Markham, seems to have 
 fallen into the same error, and, in treating of this 
 worming system, observes : — ^^ When young, a little 
 worm is subject to breed under their tongues, that 
 makes them bark much ; take it out with an awl, 
 and it prevents their growing mad.''^ He then 
 continues, — '^ It is said there are seven sorts of 
 madness in dogs^^ (^^'hy not seventeen, or seventy?) : 
 '^ the dumb madness, the running, the falling, the 
 lank, the lean madness, the sleeping, the shivering, 
 and the hot burning madness ; and in my opinion 
 the best and only cure is to knock them on the head 
 for it.^^ 
 
 Notwithstanding his rational opinion, so far as 
 the last sentence, our old sporting friend, Gervase 
 Markham, prescribes various remedies for the cure 
 of hydrophobia, such as '^ sow-thistle, fat meat, 
 filberts, dry figs, woman^s milk, calomel, wild tare 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 285 
 
 seed, ass^s milk, garlic and rue." After his first 
 suggestion, as to " the only cure by knocking a mad 
 dog on the head,^^ we are surprised at his recom- 
 mending such ridiculous nostrums as those above 
 cited, for the cure of that malady which he had 
 pronounced previously to be incurable ; and as for 
 the seven sorts of madness, these are simply the 
 seven phases, or stages, of the disease. Of j\tarkliam 
 — who could give a very fair account of hounds and 
 Imnting, evidently in this respect a practical man, 
 although not a foxhunter of the present school — we 
 might have expected better things than this loosely- 
 strung list of remedies for rabies ca7iina. The only 
 excuse to be made for him is, that it must have been 
 inter pocula when such crazy notions entered into 
 his head, and we have an idea that '^ ass^s milk " 
 did not form a component part of his breakfast, 
 although it is more than probable that filberts and 
 figs were largely indulged in after dinner, and not 
 disagreeing with his happy digestion, he recommends 
 them to his mad patients. 
 
 To show the medical talent in olden time, we give 
 the opinion of Leonard Mascal, who flourished in 
 the reign of James I., and had the honour of 
 attending that learned monarch : — 
 
 ^* In hounds and dogs which fall mad, the cause 
 is that black choler hath the mastery in his body, 
 which choler once roused in them through vehement 
 heat, it overcometh the body, and maketh him to 
 run mad. For the black choler, which is so strong, 
 infecteth his brain, and so from thence goeth to all 
 the other members, and maketh him venemous.'' 
 
286 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 His list of curatives follows^ showing the excursive 
 imagination of this most learned of doctors : — 
 
 " Also calamint^ seed of wild tares, sea-onions, 
 watercresses, herbgrace, salt, aristolochia, nuts with 
 rue, the roots of asperage, and the seed, balsanum, 
 vinegar, and the milk of an ass, and other un- 
 mentionables ^^ — no doubt equally efficacious, and 
 making more of the ingredients thrown into their 
 cauldron by the witches in Macbeth, the enumeration 
 of which would not prove palatable to tastes polite. 
 In later times we have heard of the Ormskirk 
 medicine — supposed to be infallible — Dr. Mead^s 
 remedy, and the remedies of other learned Thebans, 
 which have proved equally fallacious. Cauterizing 
 the part bitten has also been recommended, and 
 this, in our opinion, if immediately adopted, is the 
 only remedy likely to be of the slightest service, 
 since we believe when once the virus has had 
 sufficient time to enter the system, no medicine with 
 which we are at present acquainted has power to 
 check its progress. 
 
 Oliver Goldsmith makes some very sensible re- 
 marks on the subject, to which we fully subscribe, 
 and transcribe for the benefit of the timid : — 
 
 "A dread of mad dogs is the epidemic terror 
 which now prevails, and the whole nation is at 
 present actually groaning under the malignity of its 
 influence. The people sally from their houses with 
 that circumspection which is prudent in such as 
 expect a mad dog at every turning. The physician 
 publishes his prescription, the beadle prepares his 
 mallet, and a few of unusual bravery arm them- 
 
' SCIENCE OF FOXHgNTING. 287 
 
 selves with boots and gloves, in order to face the 
 enemy if he should offer to attack them. In shorty 
 the whole people stand bravely upon their defence, 
 and seem by their present spirit to show a resolution 
 of being tamely bit by mad dogs no longer. Their 
 manner of knowing whether a dog be mad or not 
 somewhat resembles the ancient Gothic custom of 
 trying witches. The old woman suspected was tied 
 hand and foot and thrown into the water. If she 
 swam, then she was instantly carried off to be burnt 
 for a witch ; if she sunk, then indeed she was 
 acquitted of the charge, but drowned in the ex- 
 periment. In the same manner a crowd gather 
 round a dog suspected of madness, and they begin 
 by teasing the devoted animal on e\ery side. If he 
 attempts to stand on the defensive and bite, then he 
 is unanimously found guilty, ' for a mad dog always 
 snaps at everything/ If, on the contrary, he strives 
 to escape by running away, then he can expect no 
 compassion, for ^mad dogs always run straight for- 
 ward before them.^ Were most stories of this 
 nature well examined, it would be found that of 
 numbers of such as have been actually bitten, not 
 one in a hundred was bit by a mad dog/^ 
 
 As a case in point, confirming Goldsmith^s opinion, 
 we remember the highly-respected master of our 
 school being bitten on the fleshy part of his arm by 
 a young greyhound, which, from being seized with a 
 fit immediately after, and foaming at the mouth, our 
 kind-hearted doctor believed to be mad, and with a 
 resolution few would exhibit, he ran into the kitchen, 
 thrust a knife into the fire until it was red-hot, and 
 
288 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 then cut out the bitten part with his own hand. A 
 fearful wound was the consequence ; but fortunately 
 the dog was not destroyed^ as ordered, and a surgeon 
 being sent for pronounced it to be a bad case of 
 distemper only. Had the dog been killed, our 
 worthy master would have been distracted with 
 apprehension for weeks and months. 
 
 The life of a suspected dog, which has bitten 
 man, woman, or child, or other dogs and animals, 
 ought to be preserved, and his manner carefully 
 watched, to prove whether he is really mad or not; 
 and we are the more convinced of the soundness of 
 this advice from a case Avhich came under our own 
 observation some twenty years ago. We bought a 
 terrier, which was w^arranted as having passed 
 through the ordeal of distemper, and when walking 
 out with him one day in the month of May, with 
 an attendant carrying our rod and fishing-basket, 
 he was seized with a fit, and bit our servant through 
 the arm in his attempts to pacify him. The man 
 immediately let go the dog, which went away at a 
 tremendous pace over the open moor, until lost to 
 sight. 
 
 " That dog is mad, sir,^' exclaimed our companion, 
 " and I shall be mad too within a few hours, or days 
 at furthest.^^ 
 
 '' That dog is not mad," was our reply ; " and to 
 satisfy you on that point we must recover him." 
 
 " I never wish to see him again, sir : let him go ! " 
 
 "And let you fancy yourself going mad, which 
 you will do to a certainty, unless I prove to you the 
 contrary ? " 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 289 
 
 The dog had gone straight across the moor for 
 about two miles, and we searched the ravines lying 
 under it for some hours without finding him. 
 
 '^Eetter go home, sir/' remarked our companion; 
 " we shall never see him again alive.'' 
 
 *'The moon will rise early to-night/^ was our 
 reply; *^you can go home." 
 
 '' No sir, not without you ; and I think, if he 
 must be found, that I can show you where he is 
 likely to be.'' 
 
 " Lead on, then ;^' and on walking down another 
 ravine, covered with heather and gorse, calling his 
 name, the dog's head suddenly appeared out of a 
 patch of brushwood, close to the stream. Our delight 
 may be imagined, on beholding him come forth to 
 meet us. After frisking about and showing his joy 
 at being restored to his master, the dog quietly 
 followed us home, greatly to the surprise of our at- 
 tendant ; and, to make assurance doubly sure, we fed 
 him that night with our own hand, and put the key of 
 the stable in which he had been kept in our own 
 pocket. The next morning, however, on being let 
 loose, he exhibited such symptoms of unusual excite- 
 ment, notwithstanding a calomel pill administered 
 after his supper, that my attendant of the previous 
 day, in conjunction with the landlady of the inn at 
 which I was then sojourning, requested that the 
 dog might be immediately shot, to prevent further 
 mischief, as he was evidently mad ; and soon after 
 some of the village authorities called upon me for 
 the same purpose. 
 
 '^ Nothing you can say or urge," was our reply, 
 
 U 
 
290 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 • 
 
 " shall alter our determination. We have seen 
 numerous cases of hydrophobia ; this is not of that 
 character : and to satisfy you how firm my opinion 
 is^ that terrier shall never again be out of my sight, 
 or out of my bedroom at night, until he is tho- 
 roughly recovered from this attack of distemper." 
 
 We need scarcely add, that all thought us better 
 fitted for a lunatic asylum than to be at large, 
 petting a mad dog. But knowing well what we 
 were about, we persevered in our course of treat- 
 ment, notwithstanding an occasional fit ; and at the 
 end of a fortnight the dog was recovered so far 
 that all his bloodthirsty enemies applauded our 
 firmness in not allowing him to be destroyed, and 
 the bitten man rejoiced in his escape from a fearful 
 death, or at least the constant apprehension of it. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 291 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 The science of foxhunting opposed to harehunting — Chase of the 
 wild stag — Exmoor Forest — Famous runs — Major Byng Hall's 
 work. 
 
 There is a science in all our sports and recreations — 
 in other words, the practical knowledge of being 
 able to do things rightly and at the right time — 
 which distinguishes the accompHshed proficient 
 from the novice or mere professor. There is a 
 science in foxhunting, a science in harehunting, 
 a science in coursing; science in deer-stalking, 
 science in racing, science in riding to hounds, 
 science in shooting and angling; science in 
 boating, cricketing, and other manly recreations; 
 a science in archery and croquet, more particularly 
 appertaining to the fair sex. There are various 
 other games and sports, albeit requiring skill and 
 forethought, we do not place in our category, having 
 at this moment our thoughts more engrossed with 
 field sports. Foxhunting has not very inappropri- 
 ately been designated by the rather presumptuous 
 title of '^The Noble Science ;^^ and how far it is 
 deserving this distinction it will be our endeavour 
 to shadow forth. 
 
 Leaving for further consideration presently the 
 many benefits conferred upon the country generally 
 
 U 2 
 
292 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 by foxhunting, and its tendency to promote good- 
 fellowship and more social intercourse between the 
 higher and lower classes, we will confine our re- 
 marks to the sport itself, and the cause which may 
 be disposed to claim for it this distinction from all 
 other field sports. The most devoted harehunter 
 must admit that, although his game may exhibit 
 great cunning and ingenuity in her various strata- 
 gems to avoid her pursuers, and occasionally imitate 
 the fox by taking a forward course for some miles, 
 yet, as a general rule, her running is confined to the 
 circular rather than the straight line. When first 
 routed from her form, with the currant jelly dogs in 
 full cry, and hard upon her scent, she goes away at 
 full speed, quickly distancing her enemies ; but at 
 the first check the natural instinct of the animal is 
 brought into play. Unfitted for prolonged exertions, 
 she betakes herself to those devious movements 
 which have sometimes gained for her the sobriquet 
 of a witch ; and on this point Beckford very per- 
 tinently remarks, ^' We have heard of hares as 
 witches, but never of foxes as wizards ;^^ in fact, no 
 two animals of venery can be more dissimilar in 
 their tactics. 
 
 The hare is fitted for rapid flight, more rapid than 
 the fox for a certain time, but she possesses not the 
 power of endurance characteristic of the more 
 robustly formed fox. The power of the hare being 
 quickly exhausted, she has recourse to those tricks 
 and devices which now seem to come instinctively to 
 her aid. Without any shelter to seek, or home 
 underground in which to hide her diminished head — 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 293 
 
 for when a hare is running, every old liareliunter 
 knows that her hind quarters are raised higher than 
 the fore — she must beat her pursuers by foils and 
 doubles, in the hope of regaining strength or eluding 
 the vigilance of her enemies. She will run straight 
 up one furrow to the hedge, go through it for five 
 yards, and then retrace her steps, and when half way 
 down it again take two or three wonderful springs at 
 right angles, and then lie unseen in the fallow, 
 whilst the clamorous crew of motley or mottled 
 hounds are pressing to the fore. 
 
 " Patience on a monument '' would not be an 
 inappropriate representation of a huntsman to 
 harriers on his horse, without any excitement 
 working his brain, whilst his hounds are doing 
 their best to work out the scent. Everything is 
 quiet and peaceable around. He has no call upon 
 the energetic action of mind or matter. He may 
 take out his pipe, light and smoke it — and it may be 
 about the most sensible thing he can do — whilst 
 Eellman and Bowler are proclaiming their sagacity 
 by unravelling the labyrinthian windings of their 
 game. We are not thinking now of riding down a 
 hare with a lot of thoroughbred foxhounds ; this is 
 not legitimate harehunting, more than hallooing, 
 screaming, and telegraphing a fox, are foxhunting. 
 Orthodox harehunting consists in allowing hounds 
 to work out the line without lifting them, except on 
 very particular occasions; and it must be a very 
 consolatory reflection in believing that, so far from 
 haste or excitement aiding you in your object, 
 patience and perseverance are the most certain 
 
294 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 means to lead to success ; and herein lies one great 
 and wide difference between foxhunting and hare- 
 hunting. 
 
 To tell a huntsman to the former that his fox had 
 been seen half-an-hour in advance is tantamount 
 to an almost certain annihilation of his hitherto 
 sanguine hopes of getting again on tolerably good 
 terms with him ; but the harehunter receives no 
 discouragement from news so unwelcome to his 
 brother in scarlet, knowing that when beyond the 
 sound of Bow Bells his game is not still showing 
 him a light pair of heels, but cooling her heavy 
 heels in some sedgy swamp, or beneath the shade of 
 a huge turnip. ^^ The more haste the less speed '^ 
 is the characteristic motto of harehunting ; Vestigia 
 nulla retrorsum that of foxhunting. 
 
 The pursuit of the timid is a very agreeable 
 pastime to men of a certain age or certain fixed 
 habits ; and we quite agree with Beckford that 
 " when you make a serious business of it^ you spoil 
 it/^ There is not, and ought not to be, anything 
 serious about it; there is no serious work to be 
 undertaken. A pleasant sociable little group of 
 friends and neighbours meet the master in green at 
 the appointed fixture. They enjoy their little 
 chat ; have time to discuss the current news of the 
 parish; exchange perhaps their opinions on the 
 change of administration — always ticklish ground 
 in the country; and then — exchange lights for 
 cigars. 
 
 ^' Now, gentlemen/^ exclaims the master, disliking 
 tobacco scent, *^ I think we had better move on. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 295 
 
 Where shall we find a hare, Mr. Stubbs V appealing 
 to an old farmer of the old type. 
 
 ^* Sure to be one or two in our swedes, sir, or 
 toother side of the hedge, in that piece of fallow.^^ 
 
 '' Where first, farmer ? '^ 
 
 ^^ Fallows, if you please, sir, being the most likely 
 ground,^^ with a knowing wink of his eye. 
 
 " Ah, yes ! I understand. Lead the way and 
 open the gate for usJ' 
 
 The field show their wish to assist the master by 
 crossing the fallows at certain distances from each 
 other, although probably not half a dozen out of 
 the five-and-twenty horsemen would discover a hare 
 in her form upon ploughed land. No matter — all 
 take their turn about ; and at the third turn up 
 rises the timid at the extreme end of the line of 
 march, and furthest from the huntsman. A hulla- 
 baloo ensues, every man shouting or squeaking 
 according to the powers of his vocal organ. Away 
 scamper the pack, heads up and tails down, in 
 view of their game; dash into a hedgerow, the 
 boundary of the parish road, and over it into the 
 opposite field, where they appear in the middle of it, 
 with heads up and tails up too, looking about them 
 as if they expected another view. 
 
 *^ Hang it,^^ exclaims the huntsman, " this comes 
 of all that confounded hallooing.^^ 
 
 "Why don^t you make your cast, then?^^ cries 
 Tom Headstrong, upon a pulling steeplechaser. 
 
 " Casts be d /' retorts the excited master, " no 
 
 hounds will throw tip at head when there^s a scent 
 before them ; they have been pressed beyond it/^ 
 
296 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 So it proved. An old lady in a scarlet cloak, 
 toddlinp; up the pathway leading across the field, 
 had frightened poor pussy so much, that she turned 
 short, and made again for the road, down which she 
 ran some half mile, and then made good her point 
 for a little brake not a mile distant. The currant 
 jelly dogs had now to bring their noses to the grind- 
 stone, and to pick out the line by slow degrees down 
 the road, scent being ticklish, until they hit the 
 meuse through which their game had passed some 
 fifteen minutes before them. Then arose a Babel of 
 tongues on crossing an Eden of pasture land, and 
 everybody said, who knew nothing of the matter, 
 ^^Now we are in for a run.^^ They were out of 
 their reckoning. 
 
 Ten minutes or a quarter of an hour — we prefer 
 the former — allows a fox time for consideration ; and 
 he makes up his mind accordingly to steer for a 
 certain covert or head of earths some eight, ten, or 
 fifteen miles, short of which he never thinks of 
 loitering by the way, except to recruit his strength 
 by slackening speed. The timid squats as soon as 
 she reaches the first coppice, or perhaps, if an old 
 one, traverses it to elude her pursuers, round and 
 round ; and then emerging from its shelter, throws 
 herself into a hedgerow, patch of gorse or brushwood 
 beyond, where she sits patiently, expecting to have 
 outwitted them. Guider, however, unravels the 
 mystery by perseveringly following her tortuous 
 footsteps, and springing on to the bank, bustles her 
 out into the field below; and away go the merry pack 
 in full chorus back again to the fallows on which 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 297 
 
 she was first found — through the swedes and over 
 the open for a short distance^ and then circHng 
 round to the little coppice, another ring is described 
 inteinore gyro, as her strength fails, and she is pulled 
 down within a field of her starting-point. This is 
 the usual style of running with hares in an enclosed 
 country. Those bred on open downs generally 
 go ahead, and afford chases more resembling 
 those of the fox ; but although possessing superior 
 speed to the wily animal, they lack his power of 
 endurance. 
 
 Wild deer hunting stands nearly if not quite on 
 an equal footing with foxhunting — a noble sport, the 
 sport of royalty from time immemorial in these 
 realms. But where is it to be enjoyed now ? On 
 one spot only of once merry England, that wild 
 tract of land and wood called Exmoor Forest, where, 
 by the generosity of its liberal owner, Mr. Knight, 
 wild deer have been strictly preserved for many 
 years, not for stalking, but for hunting ; and thereby 
 afiPording sport of a superior nature to the gentle- 
 men of Somerset and Devon who have the good 
 fortune to reside in the vicinity of this favoured 
 spot. From the reign of Ehzabeth down to the 
 year 1760, staghunting was supported here at the 
 expense of the Crown, Hugh Pollard, Esq., ranger 
 of the forest in her time, having first established a 
 pack of staghounds at Limmouth Water. To show 
 the length of time a wild stag will run before 
 hounds, and the extent of country he will traverse, 
 we give a description of a run from Major 
 HalFs sporting work, entitled " Exmoor, or the 
 
298 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 Footsteps of St. Hubert in the West/^ wbich we 
 obtained from the journal of the hunt : — 
 
 ^^Oct. 3rd. 1781. — Found a stag in Milieu's 
 Wood, in the parish of Goodleigh. Stopped the 
 tufters, and laid on the pack^ in the road above 
 Chilfum Bridge. From this point he made for 
 Birchwood, and thence on to Bratton Down ; then 
 over Exmoor by Wallaford, Castlehead^ Battlewater, 
 Blackpits^ to Lucat Moor ; thence by Pool Bridge, 
 for Homer, and down to Eastwater Pool, where 
 the hounds run into him, and he was killed after a 
 glorious chase of two hours and a half. 
 
 '^ A respectable farmer, named Ellis, informed the 
 field, previous to the stag being taken, that he had 
 been in his meadows the previous night, inasmuch 
 as he had driven him from a field with his sheep 
 dog, and that he knew him well, from a white spot 
 on his haunch, and therefore could not be mistaken. 
 This intelligence proved to be correct, as on the 
 death of the stag, true enough, the white spot on 
 the haunch was discovered. We have named this 
 fact to show the immense distance of ground these 
 animals will travel over when disturbed, as, from 
 the spot named by Mr. ElUs to that of Milieu's 
 Wood, where he was found, could not have been 
 less than thirty miles.'' 
 
 To those who take an interest in the wild scenery 
 and wild sports of the West, we can recommend 
 this book of Major Hall's, published in 1840, as 
 likely to afford them both pleasure and entertain- 
 ment in the perusal of its pages. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 299 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 The antler'd monarch of the waste 
 
 Sprung from his heathery couch in haste. 
 
 But, ere his fleet career he took, 
 
 The dew-drops from his flanks he shook ; 
 
 Like crested leader proud and high, 
 
 Toss'd his beam'd frontlet to the sky ; 
 
 A moment gazed adown the dale, 
 
 A moment sniff' d the tainted gale, 
 
 A moment li-sten'd to the cry 
 
 That thicken'd as the chase drew nigh." — Scott. 
 
 Something more about staghunting and deer — Scientific huntsmen to 
 foxhounds — An example in Will Headman. 
 
 Admitted that a wild red deer can hold its course 
 equal in extent to that of a thorough good fox, of 
 which from our own experience we entertain no 
 doubt, still the chase of the stag and fox differ very 
 materially in some respects from the find through- 
 out to the finish. In the first place, our ears are 
 not gladdened by the merry cry of hounds, in- 
 creasing from one or two notes until the swelling 
 chorus echoes through the wood and dale, filling 
 every true sportsman^s heart with rapture and 
 delight. There is nothing of this enlivening 
 nature in staghunting. A few old hounds called 
 tufters are thrown into the wood, where a staggart 
 stag, or warrantable stag — his age ascending from 
 four to six years old — has been harboured by the 
 woodman or forester; and these tufters are used 
 
300 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 for the purpose of rousing up the stag from amongst 
 the ladies of his harem, and forcing him apart from 
 them, to show himself outside the wood hedge. 
 When this object has been obtained by the tufters, 
 and the deer breaks clear away, the pack is then let 
 loose from some near barn or shed, and laid on the 
 scent. Thus the first overture to staghunting is 
 decidedly tame, in comparison to finding our fox. 
 Then so sweet and lasting is the scent of the deer 
 that there is no necessity to clap hounds upon him 
 the moment he breaks covert, and little anxiety is 
 experienced as to the result of his capture. Stag- 
 hounds, with a fair start, are almost sure to keep on 
 good terms with their game afterwards, seldom 
 requiring to be lifted or cast, the only critical 
 interruption to the chase being when the deer beats 
 down a stream, which he always will do when blown 
 if water is near, and continue swimming through 
 the pool, and floundering through the shallows in 
 the middle of the river, for a mile or more at a 
 stretch, to shake off his pursuers. If he takes to 
 water up wind, and the stream is not very wide, the 
 pack run the scent on the banks, to which the 
 floating particles are wafted, where 
 
 *' Fuming vapours rise and hang upon the gently purling brook." 
 
 Who has not seen terriers and spaniels following 
 the track of rat or waterfowl across pools of water 
 or rivers wide and deep ? We have often seen our 
 own hounds running as hard, or softly — per- 
 haps the latter term would be more appropriate — 
 yet swiftly over water meadows, with the spray 
 flying above and over their bodies like a cloud of 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 301 
 
 dust ; SO it is very clear that water does not 
 prove a non-conductor of scent. We find water 
 possesses the power of attracting and retaining the 
 effluvia of odours which, save for its magnetic in- 
 fluence, would be dispersed in other directions down 
 the wind and down the stream. The case may be 
 somewhat altered in staghunting ; yet, wherever the 
 deer emerges from the stream, and shakes himself 
 from the water, there the hounds can have no diffi- 
 culty in taking up the running. 
 
 Beckford says : — '^ Could a foxhound distinguish 
 his hunted fox as the deerhound does the deer that 
 is blown, foxhunting would then be perfect.'^ This 
 assertion has been cavilled at by other sporting 
 writers better up, to use a scholastic term, in theory 
 than practice. One ounce of experience is worth 
 two pounds of theory ; and we have witnessed scores 
 of times — hundreds we might safely say — our own 
 deerhounds pursuing a blown deer through and 
 through an entire herd, without deviating right or 
 left, or flushing away upon another scent, until they 
 disengaged him from his comrades, more anxious to 
 evade than befriend him. 
 
 Having both red and fallow deer in our park — not 
 an over extensive one — some of the latter would occa- 
 sionally break bounds, and betake themselves to the 
 adjoining woods, from which we had to dislodge 
 them, not by harriers, or foxhounds turned into 
 staghounds pro liac vice, but by two or three 
 squeaking fast resolute terriers, trained to the 
 purpose, which would not stop short at any other 
 inferior game, such as hares or rabbits. The deer- 
 
302 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 hounds bred by ourselves would run either by nose 
 or view ; but the terriers were so wonderfully rapid 
 in their movements^ and possessed of such extra- 
 ordinarily good scenting qualifications, that in a few 
 moments after been thrown into the largest covert 
 they struck upon the track of a deer^ and rousing 
 him up with tooth and nail from his lair, he was 
 obliged immediately to fly or die, since from their 
 large size — too large to run with the foxhounds, but 
 of the same blood — they would spring at a deer^s 
 throat, and thereby hang on until the deerhounds 
 came to assist them. We had, however, a some- 
 what singular method of capturing our deer without 
 much injury. The dogs were trained to run at the 
 ears and no other part ; so that when a couple of 
 these hounds, lusty and powerful, ran up alongside 
 of their blown deer, one on either side, he was 
 soon pulled down, and held by the ears until we 
 reached the spot. 
 
 Handling even a fallow buck with full honours 
 upon his head is far more ticklish work than hand- 
 ling a live fox ; but grappling with a stag of the red 
 deer species involves a terrific encounter, little short 
 of bearding a lion in his den. Everybody has 
 heard of ^^ taking a bull by the horns,^^ yet we have 
 never seen the man who would do it when the 
 animal was infuriated. We have had numerous 
 encounters with common deer, and many rollings 
 and tumblings in consequence, being often kicked 
 over upon our backs, although from physical power 
 able to overcome them at last; 'but with the red 
 deer in the plenitude of his strength we have found 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 803 
 
 it hopeless to contend head to head^ or hand to 
 hand, totidem verbis, we could not hold him, even 
 when the bracelet had been tightened above his 
 hocks to prevent his escape. Fight and rake with 
 his antlers he would, giving more than a welcome to 
 all comers on, until a lasso was thrown over his 
 head, or a bullet sent through it. 
 
 Our last encounter with a stag of this kind we 
 have good cause to remember. He was brought to 
 bay, after a long chase, in a small brook, by a couple 
 of deerhounds fierce and resolute as tigers, and one 
 of them, our greatest favourite, in endeavouring to 
 pull him down, was struck through and through her 
 body by his spike. Infuriated by this fatal attack 
 upon the truest and best deerhound we ever 
 possessed, we rushed furiously upon her destroyer, 
 and seized him by the horns. Ke hurled us as he 
 would a child from him upon the bank. We knew 
 his strength then, and springing up, resolved to 
 meet it. Once more with renewed vigour and 
 exasperation we returned to the charge, and grappling 
 with him in right earnest, sent the knife through 
 his throat, which quickly settled the combat. 
 
 Ked deer generally — the stags I mean — are fierce 
 and savage, particularly in the rutting season ; the 
 only exception to this rule in our experience being 
 an aged one presented to us with other red calves 
 by the grandfather of the present Duke of Beau- 
 fort, when we were also in our calfhood or boyhood, 
 and by whom, being then Lord-Lieutenant of the 
 county, we had also the honour of being appointed 
 a magistrate at a very early date. This deer, which 
 
oOi SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 had been named " Mumbo Jumbo/^ from the terror 
 inspired by his majestic size and appearance to all 
 women and children_, happened to be the most gentle 
 of his kind. He would come down to the hall-door, 
 and receive bits of bread and other things from the 
 hands of our children, following them also about the 
 park in the most dutiful manner. A friend of ours 
 acquainted somewhat with the nature of red deer, 
 remarked to us one day, " If you don^t kill that 
 stag, he will some day kill one of your children.^^ 
 
 '^ We know him too well,^^ was our reply, ^^ or a 
 bullet would have gone through his head long ago/^ 
 
 Poor old ^^ Mumbo Jumbo ^^ merited our con- 
 fidence in him to the last. When, chilled by the 
 blasts of a very inclement winter in a heavy fall of 
 snow, he was found unable to rise from the ground, 
 w^e had him conveyed upon a hurdle covered with 
 straw into a loose box, where he was attended with 
 assiduous care until his candle was burnt out ; and 
 his grateful acceptance of all our little attentions to 
 his wants proved that he appreciated our kindness. 
 Those who have studied deeply the characteristics of 
 animal nature must have perceived something more 
 than instinct cropping out in their conduct towards 
 those who show them great kindness. " The ox 
 knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib/' 
 and so will every animal or bird in the creation 
 respond in some way to gentle and kind treatment. 
 
 Irrespective of the high scent exuding from a 
 red deer in chase, there is the slot or mark of his hoof 
 left strongly impressed upon soft soil, by which the 
 huntsman may be guided when his hounds are at 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 805 
 
 fault. In Mr. Scrope^s work on Deerstalking (who, 
 by the way, was an old friend of my father^s) we find 
 him so impressed with the idea of deer invariably 
 running up wind, that he was slow to believe the 
 contrary, which will appear from a quotation we give 
 in his own words : — " It is mentioned in a letter 
 printed by the late Lord Graves, who hunted the 
 wild deer in Devonshire, that these animals, when 
 they find themselves pursued by scent, generally run 
 down wind, and the same thing has been asserted by 
 others. This, if true (for I confess I have my 
 doubts), is an extraordinary instance of sagacity, as 
 their natural instinct leads them to the opposite 
 direction ; it being a most difficult thing for men 
 alone to drive them down wind.'^ 
 
 Mr. Scrope clearly doubts the fact of red deer 
 running down wind as their general practice. Foxes, 
 however, almost invariably turn down wind, unless 
 trying to reach some sanctum or place of refuge, and 
 in this respect show the wiliuess of their nature, by 
 keeping their enemies at a longer distance, and in 
 the full knowledge that they cannot come upon 
 them without due notice. 
 
 There is another reason why foxhunting may 
 take precedence of stag — we do not mean calfy but 
 wild deer — hunting. The fox, in comparison with the 
 stag, is a very diminutive creature, leaving generally 
 a very poor scent behind him, except under very 
 pressing circumstances ; and as his physical power is 
 diminished by a long chase, so are the chances of 
 overhauling him lessened by the consequent failure 
 of the si?ie qua non. With a burning scent the 
 
 X 
 
306 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 science of foxhunting is not called forth. There is 
 Tiothing to do or think about but riding ; and there 
 are many^ very many huntsmen to foxhounds good 
 up to the throat — good horsemen, good riders to 
 hounds, and with good voices — yet without heads. 
 Racing a fox to death is not foxhunting. Perhaps 
 we had better attempt to elucidate our meaning by 
 bringing before our readers a slight sketch of a 
 hunting run, to show the working of a scientific 
 huntsman^s brains upon such an occasion. The day 
 or month of the year is not of very great con- 
 sequence, nor the whereabouts. It may suffice to 
 say, that not even an old oak-leaf swung suspended 
 upon its branches when Will Headman, with as fine 
 a lot of hounds as ever stepped over the flags of a 
 kennel, was seen approaching a beautiful fox covert, 
 containing about thirty acres of good fox lying. An 
 individual of rather aristocratic features rides down 
 to meet him. 
 
 ^^ A fine morning, Headman, and I hope a fine 
 scent.-'^ 
 
 " Don^t often go together, my Lord.^^ 
 
 ^^ Well — perhaps not ; but we shall be sure to find 
 a fox here, I suppose, and then you and your hounds 
 must make the best of him.^^ 
 
 " We must find him first, my Lord, and I^m not 
 very sanguine about that in these parts. There are 
 too many keepers to make sure of finding foxes.^^ 
 
 ^^ You think they kill them, then. Headman ? 
 although to my certain knowledge they have orders 
 to preserve them.^^ 
 
 "I know all about it, my Lord, or I have no 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 807 
 
 business to be where I am — huntsman. They kill 
 all they can catch, and no more ; poison ^em they 
 are afraid of doing. But, my Lord, if you like to 
 ride with us ten yards within the wood hedge, Til 
 tell you if there is a fox here or no. The gentlemen, 
 I see, are all crowding to the top of the wood as 
 usual, where you can see everything, and a fox, of 
 course, when he breaks, quicker than I can.^^ 
 
 At the gate opening into the lower drive through 
 the thickest part of the coppice, stands a keeper, 
 
 who, on Lord P 's approach, doflfs his hat very 
 
 obsequiously. 
 
 " I hope we shall find a fox here to-day ,^^ said his 
 Lordship, '^ or I shall report you to the Duke for a 
 fox -killer .^^ 
 
 *^ Sure to find, my Lord ; I heard him barking last 
 night, when I were unroosting the pheasants.'^ 
 
 ^^ Hang the pheasants ! We don't care about 
 that dull pastime ; keep us foxes, sir, or you shall 
 not be kept much longer.^^ 
 
 "A fox, my Lord, by all that's wonderful !'' 
 exclaimed Will Headman, as his hounds dashed 
 eagerly into the stuff; "but he's a stranger; so look 
 out, my Lord, for he won't hang a minute.'' 
 
 Will Headman was not often short in his reckon- 
 ing. A few quick sharp tongues are first heard, then 
 such a crash through the wood ; one turn, and he 
 breaks away at the top of the covert. He is headed 
 by the puff of a cigar from young Coventry, who 
 had pertinaciously taken up a position close to Jem, 
 the first whip, although respectfully solicited not to 
 do so. 
 
 X "> 
 
 ^ 
 
308 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 ^^ Hang that conceited ass !" cries an old sports- 
 man. ^^ T told him he had no business at that point, 
 unless he wished to spoil our run, and he has done 
 it/^ 
 
 The body of the pack came with an impetus out 
 of covert, and in their eagerness flash beyond where 
 the fox had been headed. 
 
 "Hark! back! hark!^^ vociferated Jem, wdth a 
 crack of his ponderous thong, turning them in a 
 moment. " Old Saracen has it ! hoic, to him, hoic \'' 
 and the pack is lost to sight, running sharply back 
 inside the wood hedge, down to the drive, where still 
 sat Will Headman in his saddle, patiently awaiting 
 the expected result. 
 
 ^' Hah ! here he comes ;'^ when he heard the 
 rustling of the fallen leaves ; and in a second the fox 
 sprang across the drive, with a bound like that of a 
 greyhound. Yet no scream issued from Headman^s 
 lips. The hounds were well upon the line, at a pace 
 which could not be improved. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 309 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 **A11 at once the pack 
 With gi'eedy nostrils sniff'd the fuming steam 
 That glads their fliitt'ring hearts ; as winds let loose 
 From the dark caverns of the blust'ring god 
 They burst away, and sweep the dewy lawn." 
 
 Will Headman handling his hounds — Jem the first whip — A wily 
 trickster outwitted — *' Finis coronat opus." 
 
 Will Headman knew when to let well alone. 
 His lips^ however, moved a little as he muttered, 
 " Ah ! you^re a fine one, and I shall know you 
 again ; and now I know also the point where your 
 home lies ; tliat^s enough for me. But, by Jove, he^s 
 away!^^ as his quick eye caught a glimpse of his 
 friend springing into the field from the high wood 
 bank. "Ah! that's the thing! no hallooing now; 
 the gents are all toother side — the right side of the 
 wood for us. We shall have a fair start, and after 
 that no favour.^^ 
 
 No sooner had the fox cleared the second fence 
 over a large pasture field, than the forms of Will 
 Headman and his hunter were seen vaulting over 
 the deep ditch which bounded the coppice, and then 
 — not till then, when his darlings were settled well 
 down upon the scent — did a screech issue from his 
 throat, which cleared the wood of any young hound 
 which might have lingered behind. 
 
 " Cheeringly ho ! merrily, cheeringly en we go,^^ 
 
310 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 cried the enraptured huntsman ; ^^ he^s a tough one, 
 my lads, and a traveller ; but, please the pigs, we^ll 
 handle him before the moon's up/^ 
 
 For three miles Will Headman had it all to 
 himself, the pace being such that no rider, however 
 good, without a good start, could get near them. 
 
 '^ Ha ! we are a trifle too hard upon him,^^ he 
 muttered. " He can't hold his ground up wind to 
 Beacon Hill earths at this pace. He knows it, and 
 so do I. Therefore he'll try to shake us off in 
 Batcombe^^ — a covert of more than a hundred acres 
 which the hounds had just reached — ^^push up a 
 fresh one, too, perhaps, if he can ; but — well — I wish 
 Jem were with us. He has taken his measure as 
 well as I have, no doubt, and will know him again. ^^ 
 
 The pack went streaming up the middle of the 
 drive, their huntsman close in their wake, when they 
 turned about midway into the high wood, bearing 
 to the left, with every tongue let loose as if they 
 were in view of their fox. 
 
 ^^ Capital !" exclaims Will Headman in raptures; 
 ^^ nothing can be better ! '^ and he pressed forward 
 with energy up a blind trackway to be with them. 
 A welcome scream greets his ear as he tears through 
 briars and blackthorns. 
 
 " Jem^s view, halloo ! by all that^s lucky ; but how 
 got he there ? " 
 
 In a few seconds the hounds are outside the wood 
 hedge, and not a hundred yards behind appears the 
 head j of their huntsman, scrambling through the 
 hazel sticks of ten years' growth, his face besmeared 
 with blood. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 311 
 
 " Far afore ^em^ Jem ?^' was his laconic question. 
 
 *' Not above two minutes^ master .^^ 
 
 ^^ Will you know him now ? " 
 
 '' Uight well/' 
 
 " Then mind we don't change for a worse — this is 
 a good un/' 
 
 A trifling check on the ploughed ground. 
 
 " That's the point at which you hallooed, Jem ? " 
 
 " Yes ; and he turned to the left as for Butter- 
 mere " — another big wood. 
 
 " Aye, aye/' muttered Headman, " I see his 
 tactics. He won't try for his point until he has 
 thrown us far deeper into the shade. Away to the 
 far corner of the wood, Jem, as fast as you can go. 
 We can rattle him through it without your help — 
 and as for Jack, we don't want him." 
 
 The traveller having tried the earths, with which 
 he seemed to be well acquainted, by reason probably 
 of his intimacy with some black-eyed Susan who 
 dwelt therein, and finding the door shut, took a 
 circuit round the covert, hoping thereby to keep his 
 pursuers at a more convenient distance, in making 
 his grand coup for Beacon Hill. Will stuck to 
 him like birdUme, through thick and thin — high 
 wood and low — cheering and pressing on his hounds 
 now in right good earnest, until the traveller was 
 obliged to make his escape, although still from 
 pressure unable to venture on the experiment of 
 running up wind for eight miles over the open, 
 with nothing but a hedgerow to shelter him. This 
 crafty old fox and Will Headman were engaged in 
 playing out a game of chess on grass land instead of 
 
312 SYSTEM OF KEXNEL AND 
 
 boards and it seemed doubtful sometimes which 
 would be the winner — biped or quadruped. Charles 
 James feared to commit himself with an opponent 
 quite as w-ide awake as himself, who would have 
 taken advantage of him the moment he caught him 
 making an imprudent move; and Will Headman 
 had resolved that when he did make that move, and 
 faced the open for Beacon Hill earths^ his brush 
 should be in his hand before he could reach them ; 
 therefore Charles James thought to compass his 
 ends by a deviation from the straight line, which a 
 younger vulpine in his ignorance would have at- 
 tempted, and been eaten up before he had gone half 
 way. 
 
 He had felt the pace at which he had been hurried 
 along in the first burst by Will Headman's lurching 
 hounds, superior in speed and quickness to the pack 
 in his own countrv, which for three seasons had 
 been outrun by him and their huntsman outwitted, 
 and wisely endeavoured, by seeking the shelter of 
 the big wood, to put a greater distance between his 
 brush and the noses of these rattlers. A wild 
 scream from Jem proclaimed his flight a second 
 time only two fields ahead of the pack ; and another 
 burst over all grass land brought him in view just 
 as he gained the w^ood hedge of the last large covert, 
 over which the hounds bounded all abreast into the 
 high covert, and through it they pressed him out 
 into the drive, which he held to for three hundred 
 yards or so ; then turned short into the younger 
 coppice. For a second the tongues are silent, the 
 leading hounds in their eagerness having overrun 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 313 
 
 the scent. Quickly, however, they turn to the 
 right and left ; but old Bounty hits it off almost at 
 right angles from the drive up which the fox had 
 been running. 
 
 "With a cheer from Will Headman they are at him 
 again, yet not all together. The foremost couples, 
 in scoring back to the cry of the veterans, crossed 
 the line of a fresh fox, and away they went with him 
 in an opposite direction, throwing their tongues 
 right merrily. An anxious expression might have 
 been seen to dwell for a few moments on the features 
 of Headman. 
 
 '^ Changed at last,^^ he muttered; "but no great 
 misfortune. It might have been worse. I have 
 still a handful of the right sort upon the right line, 
 any two couples of which will stick to him, and taste 
 him too, if above ground. Now, Jem, we shall see 
 if you have taken his right measure." 
 
 Toot, toot, toot ! went the horn. " Have at him 
 again my darlings ; '^ cried AVill Headman with the 
 veterans, cheering them on to victory, and crashing 
 through the underwood as if he had been riding 
 over a stubble field. At the furthest corner of the 
 covert sat Jem, motionless as a statue, under a large 
 whitethorn bush, patiently abiding his time. A 
 fresh fox sprang out from the wood hedge, about a 
 hundred yards below liim. 
 
 " Ah ! well," he said. " vou arn't the animal I 
 wants just now, although a very nice un to look at ; 
 but you'll do for another day;" and jumping the 
 fence into the field below, he met Foreman, the 
 leader of the levanters, with such a thundering 
 
314 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 crack upon his sconce as to astonisli himself and 
 followers. 
 
 " Hey ! hey ! you flashing devils ! what are you 
 arter now ? Get away with you ! Hark back ! 
 hark to cry ! hark^ halloa ! '^ as he heard Will Head- 
 man's cheer ; and he swept them off the line of the 
 fresh fox with his stinging whip as a housemaid 
 would cobwebs from a ceiling. " Here — here — here ! ^^ 
 he cried^ hearing his huntsman^s horn now outside 
 the covert, and capping them down under the wood 
 hedge at a rattling pace. 
 
 '^ Forward, my lads — forward, away f and in less 
 time than it takes us to describe it, Jem had joined 
 Will Headman with the delinquents, and once more 
 the pack was complete, still going at a tremendous 
 pace over some fine meadows, holding a capital 
 scent. 
 
 " All right again, Jim ! " exclaimed the huntsman ; 
 ^' he did^nt take much by that move. But where is 
 he going now?^' 
 
 " A long way round, master, to get home, and ^tis 
 a long lane that^s no turning ; he will turn when he 
 has got the chance, but he ^aint half done yet, and 
 to my mind, will take another hour before he is 
 dished up.^' 
 
 " Where's the gents, Jem ? ^' 
 
 " Just where I hope they'll be till we have him 
 in hand — nowhere, throw'd out at first starting; 
 they never could make up lecAvay at the pace, and 
 that's something in our favour, no over-riding them 
 to-day." 
 
 A slight check at a troublesome brook ; the wily 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 315 
 
 showing his craft by stopping short on the bank, 
 and then running down the same side some little 
 distance before crossing. In plunge the leaders, 
 and out the other side, but there is no scent beyond 
 them. Old Saracen, however, turns short down upon 
 his line along the bank, and the youngsters catching 
 it up again where he really had crossed flash away 
 like lightning. A large flock of Leicester sheep are 
 huddled up together in a corner of the next field. 
 
 " Hang them ! ^' said Headman, ^^ they ought to 
 be in the fold eating turnips, instead of grass in the 
 field, at this time o^ year. They have followed him, 
 Jem, the fools, as they always do ; and I believe he 
 got in amongst ^em on purpose." 
 
 *' Most likely, master.'^ 
 
 " Turn ^em away then, Jem, whilst I make it good 
 the other side of the fence. I hates sheep as poison 
 in the wool, but a boiled leg of mutton with trim- 
 mings isn^t a bad thing on the table, when one 
 comes home hungry after hunting." " Steadily, ho ! 
 my lads," was Will Headman^s note, as he held them 
 forward over the stained ground, not quite lifting 
 them off their noses. ^^ Hold to the line, my old 
 darlings, and teach the young ones how to work 
 through difficulties. We can aff'ord him now a few 
 minutes^ longitude, and for all that, I feel pretty sure 
 of overhauling him at last. This side wind tacking 
 has brought him further away from his point than 
 he intended, and eight miles goes for something at 
 the pace we have been travelling." 
 
 By a judicious cast the line is quickly recovered, 
 and the pack again clustering together go away at 
 
316 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 a spfinking rate over some rough old pasture fields. 
 For four miles no interruption occurs, Will Head- 
 man and Jem having nothing to do but to ride, 
 until they reach Calcot Plantation, in the middle of 
 '^vhich there is a large pool, with a grass drive all 
 round it. The hounds dash eagerly into the water, 
 crossing over to the opposite bank ; they feather out 
 amongst the rough brushwood, trying right and left 
 of themselves, but no tongue is going. Will Head- 
 man now comes to their assistance, but his ma- 
 noeuvring fails to recover the scent. 
 
 " What^s become of him, master V^ exclaims Jem ; 
 ^' drowned himself to outwit us ? ^^ 
 
 "No, not that; I have it now. He has doubled 
 back into the water from the same spot he landed, 
 and swam down midway to the tail of the pool. Here 
 here, my lads ! ^^ and he galloped to the point he 
 expected the fox would make for. '^ Hah ! we have 
 him again. ^^ The old hounds take up the hunting — 
 noses are down instead of heads up. They do not 
 dash and fly as heretofore, neither is there a clamor- 
 ous cry, yet they press steadily forward. A patch 
 of stunted gorse lies in the fox's way, through 
 Avhich he brushes, lingering for a short while to 
 recruit his failing strength, and thence boldly sets 
 his head straight up wind for home. Once more 
 their heads are up and sterns lowered, and away 
 they go, running as if they viewed him. 
 
 " That move settles him,^^ cried Will Headman in 
 delight. " The Beacon Hills are looming in the far 
 distance, but he can^t reach them.'^ For fiwe miles 
 more — the longest five yet accomplished — they still 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 317 
 
 press on at a galling pace, the power and condition 
 of the foxhounds gaining rapid advantage over the 
 less robust frame of the fox. Still on he toils with 
 slackening speed, but not beaten yet. 
 
 " Yonder he goes, master/^ cried Jem, " over the 
 brow of that second field to your left. Shall I get 
 forward, and cut him off from the hill.'' 
 
 " Your horse could'nt do it if you were to try, Jem ; 
 but there^s no occasion. He finds he cannot reach 
 them, and now turns down wind again. Ten minutes 
 more, and his race is run. The hounds shall kill 
 him fairly by themselves, and how can they be 
 doing better? Scoring and screaming at such a 
 time won't mend matters, but make them worse.'' 
 
 When reaching the rising ground where Jem had 
 viewed the fox, a few fields below them lay Oakwood, 
 containing about fifty acres. 
 
 " Ah ! that covert shelters him for a minute or 
 two," exclaimed Headman. *^ Now, Jem, to the 
 further corner, if your horse can do it ; and mind we 
 don't change, although I don't think it likely, as our 
 neighbours were here yesterday, and of course the 
 earths arn't unstopped yet." 
 
 Jem cuts corners to his position, taking advantage 
 of every open gate ; and to tell the truth his horse, 
 Hardcastle, had, like the old fox they were pur- 
 suing, very litUe galloping power left in him. 
 
 "Well, old fellow," said Jem, jumping off the 
 saddle when he reached the appointed place, "just 
 you take a nibble at the grass while I mount this 
 tree. I knows you won't run away, and if you do, 
 I can run into that old varmint on my ten toes. 
 
318 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 Charming ! oh^ charming music they makes ! '^ 
 chuckled Jem ; " and coming my way too. He aiii^t 
 far afore ^em, however, Til swear; but as four legs 
 is better than two, I'll just drop into the saddle 
 again/^ 
 
 He had scarcely done so, when the fox, with mea- 
 sured gait and slow, emerged from the wood hedge, 
 running alongside it for a hundred yards or so, then 
 turned short back into it again. The hounds came 
 out almost in view, the old ones with their bristles 
 up now leading, and following his track with unde- 
 viating tenacity. 
 
 "Tally-ho ! back,^' cried Jem. "Look out, master. 
 Ah ! they are a-physicking of him, and he has no 
 more chance with them old uns at head than I 
 should with a couple of lions. Hark ! master has 
 got a view on him. That screech of his is enough 
 to frighten any fox to death. Yes, by jingo ! theyVe 
 out at the bottom of the wood, running like blazes 
 up that hedgerow. Ah! what now? heads up and 
 starns too ? He's in the ditch — they are over it — old 
 Bounty jumps in upon him. Out he comes, and 
 exerts his last effort to regain the wood. But 
 Barrister^s on the right side — runs into him ere 
 he has got half away across the field ; and when the 
 lawyer once gets hold of him ^tis whoo-hoop V^ 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 319 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 The New Year's gift of '61 — "Keep moving," the cry of the day — 
 Galloping down a fox not foxhunting — Spirit of hounds — 
 Variety of foxes — Will Headman has a difficult game to play. 
 
 In our last chapter we attempted a delineation of a 
 fox chase over a good country, and under favourable 
 circumstances, the scent being sufficiently good 
 to keep the majority of the field at a respectful 
 distance ; in fact, the pace throughout continued so 
 fast, that the best riders — and there were some good 
 ones out — were unable to get near the hounds. 
 Had the run taken place over the open, the first 
 flight men would have been there or thereabouts ; 
 but when a fox pursues his course through large 
 coverts with blind drives, and those few and far 
 between, spick and span foxhunters show a decided 
 disinclination to have their pinks nearly torn off 
 their backs by encounters with blackthorns and 
 brambles, besides the disfigurement to the os frontis 
 likely to result therefrom. It is imperative on a 
 huntsman to foxhounds always to be with them ; 
 and he has more work to do with head and hand 
 than the first whipper-in, whose position, compara- 
 tively speaking, is a very easy one. Jem might 
 smoke his pipe, if he dare, on the outside of the big 
 
320 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 wood whilst the master is tearing himself into tatters 
 within it. 
 
 We have no wish to divest foxhunting of that 
 spirit and energy which form its chief characteristics, 
 in opposition to other hunting; but we have endea- 
 voured to show by the conduct of Will Headman 
 that there are occasions when it is well to '^ let well 
 alone/^ So long as hounds continue to do their 
 work well by themselves, any interference with them 
 cannot fail to be prejudicial to sport. The eternal 
 ^^toot — toot^^ of the horn, and perpetual cry of 
 " Forward, forward ! " when hounds are on good 
 terms with their fox, is sure to produce mischief; 
 what must they occasion then on bad scenting days? 
 What is the use of hounds if huntsmen are resolved 
 to do their work for them ? The great secret of 
 foxhunting is to know when to let hounds alone. 
 Hallooing and screeching a fox too soon when first 
 found is pretty sure to spoil your run, and the 
 same thing repeated when he is sinking is generally 
 productive of spoiling a good finish. 
 
 In the January number of ^^Baily,^^ 1861, appeared 
 a paper entitled " A New Year's Gift — One Word 
 more on Foxhunting ; '' and although without any 
 signature attached thereto, we have no hesitation in 
 ascribing this excellent article to the author of 
 "The Noble Science,'^ whose opinions as a prac- 
 tical master also are deserving every considera- 
 tion : — 
 
 *^ Let us not be mistaken. We deny not the 
 needful energy, the brilliant cast, the firm and 
 resolute effort to retrieve a check bv what our 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 321 
 
 neighbours over the water term a coup de main, 
 which cannot be Anglicised otherwise than as taking 
 hold of hounds — nay, lifting them on occasion. We 
 plead guilty to a love of mud-sucking, of beagling 
 without pattering, convinced that it leads to an 
 ultimate increase of pace — the pace that kills ; that 
 most haste is least speed ; and that hounds of the 
 present day, though bred faster, generally perform 
 a run slower than formerly, because their own 
 impetus, or that which barely follows or accompanies 
 them, drives them beyond scent. But we seek not 
 to effect revolution. The majority of the field are 
 satisfied, without further inquiry into causes. 
 ^ There is no scent, and till something changes 
 there can be no sport ; and as to talking of too 
 much haste — bosh!' On the very first day, when 
 by chance the pell-mell, harum-scarum, go-ahead 
 system succeeds, and a fox is galloped down, with 
 perhaps two or three couples on scent, finis coronat 
 opus, ' Bravo ! ^ they cry ; ^ that's the time of day ! 
 Where should we have been with a huntsman a 
 turn slower than greased lightning ? ' ^ Ah ! where ? ' 
 we would answer ^ where ? ' and where hounds would 
 eventually get to, if they could not sometimes hunt. 
 But the ruling motto is, 'Keep moving!^ Aye, 
 keep moving ! and so long as we do keep moving, 
 there may not possibly be a dozen of the field who 
 know or care what hounds are about. We repeat 
 that this paper is not penned with the slightest 
 hope of attracting the attention or efi*ecting any 
 improvement in an uneducated class, who, with 
 the best intentions, and gifted with true love of the 
 
 Y 
 
322 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 sport, cannot bring with them into the field the 
 portion of intellect wherewithal they may have been 
 endowed. ■'^ 
 
 With one exception we fully endorse every sen- 
 tence of this quotation from a brother master, and 
 that exception is — '^ that hounds of the present day 
 are bred faster/^ The system of the present era is 
 faster — not the hound. The speed of thorough- 
 bred foxhounds cannot be greater now than it was 
 seventy years ago. We may provoke a con- 
 temptuous smile from the fast man by such an 
 assertion ; yet such is the fact — the irrefragable fact. 
 We do not say indisputable, because men will 
 dispute and split straws about anything ; but if 
 watches go faster now than they did seventy years 
 ago, then may you claim greater speed for your 
 hounds than that exhibited by Colonel Thornton^s 
 Merkin. ^^ Then why or how comes it,^^ demands 
 the pace man, ^^ that we can run into and eat up in 
 fifteen or twenty minutes a fox that would have 
 taken a pack of the past century a day to kill?^^ 
 
 Gently, my fast friends. Your foxes are slower by 
 reason of over-feeding: and we suppose you wdll 
 admit that an alderman, after a civic feast, would 
 cut a poor figure in a foot-race of a mile the ensuing 
 morning. Then there are two more points for your 
 consideration. There is more than one distinct 
 species of fox in this country at the present time 
 which did not exist here seventy years ago — 
 although only one species of foxhound. Before 
 the introduction of French foxes some thirty or 
 forty years since, there were only two in the British 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 323 
 
 Isles, two varieties of the vulpine genus, called the 
 greyhound and bulldog. The first a large long 
 animal, with lioht-coloured fur; the other possess- 
 ing a wider head, and a much darker skin. These 
 two original breeds have been nearly stamped out 
 (except in certain wild mountainous districts), and a 
 bad cross stamped in, by the importation of French 
 foxes — a little red species, worth little save for their 
 skins ; and even in some parts of Wales, from 
 which years ago we obtained some veritable grey- 
 hound foxes, there is nothing of the kind to be 
 found. 
 
 These little red '^ varmints '' have no chance with 
 a pack of thoroughbred foxhounds when they can 
 be prevailed upon to run straight, which is rarely 
 the case. They cannot if they would, and would 
 not if they could — it is not in their nature; but 
 they often beat hounds by short running dodges. 
 NHmporte whether foxes be good or bad. The 
 practice of trying to race them to death as soon as 
 they are on foot is radically bad — destruction to 
 sport and ruinous to hounds ; and the men who 
 advocate this rash system are either totally ignorant 
 of ^^ The Science of Foxhunting,^^ or wholly indiffe- 
 rent to it. There is a restless impatience in pseudo- 
 foxhunters of these latter davs wliich thwarts the 
 very object they have in view. 
 
 Beckford's observation is correct enough to a 
 certain point — '^ Hounds which will not bear lifting 
 are not worth keeping ; '' but it is equally certain 
 that hounds which are continually lifted are worth 
 nothing at all. On a good scenting day they may 
 
 Y 2 
 
324 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 run into their fox, if he goes straight ; but tempora 
 si forent nuhila, on bad scenting days he escapes. 
 Exempli gratia, we now relate how Will Headman 
 succeeded a few days after in bringing another good 
 fox to book, in a country wholly arable, under the 
 most adverse and most unpropitious circumstances. 
 The wind was in the west, with a cold-looking leaden 
 sky, and the air was the reverse of soft and balmy ; 
 in short, those weather-wise collected at the place 
 of meeting proclaimed it at once as a scentless 
 morning. The covert to be drawn first was a 
 large one, over a hundred acres, like the majority 
 of woods in that country. Little spinnies and 
 patches of gorse were very few and very far 
 between. 
 
 ''Well, Will," asked John Staveley, a genuine 
 orthodox foxhunter, " what think you of the morn- 
 
 ing?" 
 
 " Queerish, sir. Nothing to be done without 
 patience and perseverance, and — yes — a bit of luck 
 also." 
 
 (^ Very true, Will, that's my opinion ; but if you 
 lose one fox you are pretty certain of finding 
 another without much trouble." 
 
 " That's not our way of doing business, sir. 
 When I fi-nd a fox worth attending to, 1 make a 
 point of sticking to him as long as we can ; and in 
 the main I generally find this sort of thing pays 
 best." 
 
 '' Right, Will— quite right. That's the way to 
 make good hounds for every day iu the week. 
 Never mind the weather." 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 325 
 
 ^^ They will ride over un to-day, sir/' Will 
 Headman remarked, as he quietly slipped his 
 hounds into covert. There was no noise, no 
 " Yoicks in ! hoics ! " no cracking of whip by Jem to 
 rouse a fox up from his kennel before found by 
 hounds. The pack dashed away, thoroughly intent 
 upon their own business, and requiring no encou- 
 ragement to do it. They fly rapidly through the 
 high wood, spread widely and eagerly over the 
 thicker underwood, turn back at a signal from the 
 horn when they reached the boundary of the hedge, 
 and are now searching the lower section of the 
 covert with an impetuosity which seems significant 
 of a find. Their huntsman is with them, an 
 occasional word of encouragement proceeding some- 
 times from his lips ; yet they want no such incentive 
 to do their work effectively. Every yard of the 
 covert is drawn thoroughly and completely, yet? 
 there is not a whimper heard. 
 
 '^ I verily thought we should have found him here. 
 Will," said John Staveley, who had followed the 
 hounds through every part. 
 
 '' So did I, sir ; but here he is not, that's clear, 
 although he has been here not long ago." 
 
 "Wherenow, Will, then?" 
 
 '^ I've been thinking, sir, that there's a little bit 
 of a brake about two fields off, lying very snug and 
 quiet under the wind, with a thick sedgy bottom to 
 it, which it's more than likely a fox would fancy 
 after such a night as last. There I think we shall 
 find him, sir." 
 
 " Here ! here ! here ! come away," cried Will 
 
32 6 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 Headman; and with a few notes from his horn, the 
 pack were quickly at his horse^s heels. ^^ Ah ! there 
 he is, sir, and no mistake/^ as the hounds dashed 
 eagerly into the brake. " They'll have him up and 
 out in a minute ;^^ and so they did; but being 
 headed on all sides save one, that nearest the river, 
 he broke away at the bottom of the brake into the 
 big wood first drawn, where he tried the earths, and 
 then essayed an escapade at the top of the covert 
 for another wood about two miles distant. The 
 gentlemen, however, having by cutting corners got 
 to this point before hira, he was, of course, headed 
 back, and another circuit under hazel and oak trees 
 the result ; but there was no pressure upon him, 
 hounds hunting, and sometimes barely owning the 
 scent. 
 
 '^ Ah, Will," exclaimed John Staveley, ^^just as I 
 thought. No prospect of doing anything on such a 
 day as this. I think I shall go home and do a bit 
 of farming." 
 
 "Stop awhile longer, sir; there's no saying how 
 things may alter ; and then perhaps we may have a 
 bit of luck at last, when nobody expects it." 
 
 " You could not handle a bad fox with everything 
 against you, much less a good one." 
 
 ^' The good one for choice, sir ; and if the 
 hounds cannot hold to the line, I suppose I 
 must." 
 
 *^ Then you really believe that this fox, evidently 
 bent on travelling, is to be handled with a scent like 
 this?" 
 
 ^^ We shall do our best, sir, to accomplish that end.^^ 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 327 
 
 " Then, by Jupiter Ammon ! Til stick to you/^ 
 
 " Thank ye, sir ; that's more than many will do. 
 Yet — hark ! he^s away ! Jem^s holloa at the bottom 
 of the wood. Ah ! he^s some way before them, but 
 holloaing and screaming won't answer the purpose. 
 It must be all beagling to-day. Squire Staveley, up 
 to a certain time; and after that I reckon upon a 
 good finish.^^ 
 
 Headman was not dilatory in reaching the spot 
 where Jem had sounded his tocsin, and the pack 
 settled down on the scent over a piece of early sown 
 wheat on rather better terms than he expected ; and 
 the wind blowing also in their teeth, they scored 
 away at a respectable pace for a couple of miles, up 
 to the Holt, where their fox again tried the earths 
 without benefit. Here, however, there being no 
 horsemen in advance to head him, he dwelt not a 
 moment longer than necessary to ascertain the fact 
 that the door was closed, and he was off again 
 towards the east ere Will Headman and his darlings 
 had entered the western side of the covert. Jem 
 was not quick enough this time to holloa him away, 
 but a yokel did the office for him. 
 
 "Where's he gone, Bill?^' asked Jem, riding up 
 in hot haste. 
 
 " Over the plough — and a whopper he be.'' 
 
 " How long agone?'' 
 
 *^ Handy half-an-hour, Jem." 
 
 " By your watch, eh ? " 
 
 " Noa, dang it, I ha'ant got one." 
 
 " Why we hav'nt found him half-an-hour agone y 
 in Cold Harbour Wood, so he must have come here 
 
328 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 pretty quickly. Were liis tongue out or in his 
 mouth?'' 
 
 *^ Out, sir, and he stopped to lap up a drop of 
 water from the furrow; and then when I hollaed he 
 just trotted on, as if there warn't nothing the 
 matter, and nobody looking arter him." 
 
 " Cool ! deuced cool ! '' muttered Jem. '' This 'ill 
 be a moonlight job, I expect ; but master won't be 
 denied as long as he's above ground; and here he 
 comes, cheering 'em along, as if he were sartain of 
 handling him in twenty minutes. Well, I'll tip him 
 the office, and he can do as he likes about clapping 
 on or no. Gone away," cried Jem, ^^ for'ard away ! 
 aye, aye, that will do " — and Will Headman is seen 
 crashing through the covert, cheering on his hounds, 
 which are doing as well as can be expected. 
 
 "Viewed him, Jem?" he asked. 
 
 "No, master, gone a longsome time afore I got 
 here. That chap sitting on the gate says half-an- 
 hour." 
 
 " Then there is a precious deal better scent than I 
 thought ; but no, that's all gammon, he can't be two 
 miles ahead of us." 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 329 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 ** But reynard at last feels his strength giving way ; 
 The hounds too, he hears, are close at his heels ; 
 His eyesight grows dim. 
 There's a sinking within, 
 Which tells him too plainly, he's ate his last meal." 
 
 The Fox Chase. 
 
 Hunting run — A pulling horse — The bit of luck — Jem to the fore — 
 Exchange no robbery — A new way of stopping earths — Fast and 
 furious — Pounding in a ditch — Slow and sure — Jem has it all to 
 himself. 
 
 It is not very agreeable intelligence on a good 
 scenting day to be told that your fox is a couple of 
 miles ahead of you. What must it be, then, on a 
 bad one ? With the present system further pursuit 
 of him under such circumstances must be aban- 
 doned, and the order at once given to draw for a 
 fresh one, in the hope of No. 2 proving more 
 odoriferous than No, 1 ; and the majority of hunt- 
 ing men — rather we should say riding men — in these 
 fast days, prefer ten minutes' burst, best pace, to a 
 good hunting run of an hour and forty. We are 
 old-fashioned enough to delight in seeing the instinct 
 and sagacity of the hound displayed, rather than his 
 speed only ; and, therefore, to follow Will Headman 
 and his pack, now committed to the arduous task of 
 trying to catch a good fox with a forbidding scent. 
 The big woods are left behind, and the fox, having 
 got a start, stretches boldly away over the open 
 country. There is no merry cry of hounds, 
 
330 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 althougli all cluster together, and press on in close 
 column, the lead being conceded to the veterans, 
 whom experience has taught how to make the best 
 of a bad scent. Still they are moving — the blade of 
 grass does not grow under their feet, when they 
 meet with it in old ley or this yearns seeds. O^er 
 fallows — no tongue is heard ; and yet, with old 
 Saracen at head, the pace, such as it is, does not 
 slacken. He knows and feels the line of the fox, 
 and without saying a word about it presses resolutely 
 forward, until he strikes the meuse in the hedgerow 
 through which his game had passed ; then, with one 
 note only, gathering all to the front, he springs the 
 fence, and through the next field of turnips the 
 chorus swells and the pace increases. 
 
 ^^ Ah ! fallows again/^ exclaimed Will Headman, 
 in disgust. '^Summer fallowing is of some use; 
 winter fallowing is of none, that I can see, except to 
 stop hounds. At this rate he'll beat us blind ; yet 
 there^s no saying — a bit of luck, perhaps; and here 
 it is, out of fallow into the road, which means out 
 of the frying-pan into the fire. Confound him ! 
 he^s an artful dodger ; but Fve taken his measure 
 once, if not twice, before this morning. There — 
 they must work it out as long as they can, and 
 when they can^t I must help ^em.^^ 
 
 Headman was holding his hounds quietly forward 
 down the road, when overtaken by Mr. Staveley, who 
 asked abruptly, ^^ Where now, Will? He seems 
 bent on mischief, but I don^t quite understand the 
 point he is making for." 
 
 " There is an old stone quarry, Squire, some ten 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 331 
 
 miles in advance^ where I runned this gentleman 
 last year, early in the season, and as the earth were 
 not stopped, in course he beat us.'^ 
 " Is the earth stopped now?^^ 
 ^^ No, sir, not that I know of ; we must not stop 
 earths in our neighbour's country, and that old hole 
 don^t belong to us. However, he is running very 
 straight for it as yet, and we may get a turn in our 
 favour. Ah ! there he has it ; Jailor marks him 
 down the middle of the road. Have at him, old 
 fellow ! we are safe to hit him any side when he 
 crosses." 
 
 For half a mile down the road into a valley below, 
 Jailor with old Saracen pertinaciously marked his 
 pad, and then over the fence into a bit of veritable 
 meadow the body of the pack dashed, running the 
 whole length of the enclosure at more than half 
 speed. 
 
 "We are warming up a little," remarked John 
 Staveley ; " but where's Jem ? he has slipped us 
 coming down the road, where the two lanes meet at 
 the top of the village." 
 
 " Gone to get a stopping of baccy for his pipe. 
 Squire, perhaps, or a glass of beer; but we don't 
 want him just now, Jack will do all we requires." 
 
 "I did not think Jem was given to those mal- 
 practices, smoking and drinking," continued Mr. 
 Staveley. 
 
 " Nor I, sir ; but Fm a-thinking he has smoked 
 something to more purpose than a baccy pipe. 
 They're a-running now, by Jingo, Squire, up that 
 side of the hill, and there's a pretty little bit of 
 
332 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 covert just above it. He may have stopped there 
 a minute or two to look down on the pretty scenery 
 below, seeing no cause to be in a hurry, as gentle- 
 men tourists doj when time's no object.^^ 
 
 '^ He is too far in advance, Will Headman, to be 
 handled by you, notwithstanding your jokes/^ 
 
 " Then, joking apart. Squire, I intend to mask 
 him before sun-down/^ 
 
 The fox had waited a few minutes in the covert, 
 and when he poked his nose out the other side into 
 a fallow field, where a plough-team was at work, a 
 shrill scream from a cart-boy caused him to poke it 
 in again, and hearing shooters along a hedgerow the 
 other side of the fence, he deemed it prudent not to 
 risk exposure to fire in that direction. Up wind he 
 did not wish to go ; so perforce he was obliged to 
 consider awhile what course to pursue, and then tack 
 round again for his point. Will Headman's rattlers 
 improved their pace considerably by this movement, 
 and the fast men began to press them. 
 
 " Steady, gentlemen, if you please," cried their 
 huntsman, ^^ they arn't going to run away from us 
 
 yet/' 
 
 '' And ril take good care they don^t," muttered 
 Sam Coventry, riding in atop of old Jasper, as he 
 was jumping the fence, 
 
 "Hold hard, sir!" vociferated the master. "I 
 won^t allow my hounds to be knocked over in that 
 fashion by you, sir, or anybody." 
 
 " Beg pardon, sir, but my horse pulled so, I could 
 not hold him." 
 
 "Then ride wider of them, Mr. Coventry; the 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 333 
 
 fields are large enough for you to take a liue of your 
 own, if you could do such a thing, without maiming 
 one of the best hounds in my kennel/^ 
 
 '^ I would hang every one of them/^ muttered 
 Coventry; '^ a set of bow-wowing loitering brutes, 
 always getting in a fellow^s way, and Bill Headman 
 to boot. I say, George,^^ addressing his friend, ^^ I 
 wont stand any more bull-ragging from that old 
 chap in buckskin and mahogany tops, and shall for 
 the future turn thistle-whipper; they can't do things 
 slower than Will Headman and his clod-crushers/^ 
 
 ''Well, Sam, you can do as you please; but 
 hounds can't run without a scent." 
 
 '^ Yes they can, Tracy, and I have seen them do 
 it. Tom Harkaway makes them do it. Sure of a 
 run with him ; for if there's no scent at all, he takes 
 them up at half speed for three or four miles to the 
 next sure find, and there we are all right for another 
 spree."" 
 
 " Very well, Sam, then you had better smoke 
 
 'your weed comfortably on your road home. I shall 
 
 stay to see the game played out, for, in my opinion, 
 
 we shall have something to do presently, which will 
 
 take the shine out of your highflyer.'' 
 
 *' Then if you'll hand me a couple of cigars — 
 mine were exhausted long ago at Cold Harbour 
 Wood, where we sat shivering in the cold for an 
 hour and a half, before this confounded old fox chose 
 to break covert — I don't mind stopping a bit 
 longer." 
 
 This conversation took place when the hounds had 
 been brought to a check half way across the second 
 
334 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 field from the brake, where Sam Coventrv had 
 knocked over old Jasper into the ditch^ outside of 
 whichj when getting again upon his legs, without 
 sustaining much damage, he was busily making a 
 short line of his own, whilst the pack were being 
 forced forward by horsemen over the scent. 
 
 '^ Here it is/^ cried the master ; " hark to Jasper, 
 
 "The old dog has it, sure enough ;^^ and a toot 
 from his horn brought the pack round in a minute. 
 *^ Down wind again/^ muttered Will Headman ; 
 " that^s his point, as I judged before.^^ 
 
 " Then why not steal a march upon him ? ^^ asked 
 John Staveley; "your hounds will bear lifting once 
 in a way/^ 
 
 " Very true, sir; but I don^t think we should mend 
 matters much by lifting with a scent like this, and 
 there is no covert big enough to hold him for any 
 length of time between this and the old quarry hole 
 he is making for. The hounds are working away 
 well upon the line, and if we got their heads up, 
 they wouldn^t feel disposed to put them down again 
 in the same persevering manner as now. •'Tisn^t a 
 day to take liberties, sir/^ 
 
 With patience and perseverance, the pack held to 
 the line of their fox, occasionally assisted by their 
 huntsman, for some seven miles over a heavy arable 
 country, and the horses were beginning to feel the 
 effects of going fetlock deep the greater part of the 
 distance, not to mention the constant strain upon 
 their sinews from the strong fencing, when Will 
 Headman^s ear caught the chattering of a magpie, 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 335 
 
 sitting upon a tall tree, at the end of a plantation 
 just in sight. 
 
 " Ah ! you are thought to bring bad luck to most 
 folk/^ chuckled our huntsman; ''but a good friend 
 to hounds — quite as good as a whipper-in sometimes/^ 
 and as they reached the middle of the plantation, 
 tongues began to be let loose right merrily, and 
 away they went at the farthest end, with heads up 
 and sterns down. "Now for the bit of luck, Mr. 
 Staveley,^^ cried Will Headman joyously, " if Jem is 
 there before him, it's all right enough, and the 
 cream of the thing is to come.'' 
 
 "Aye, aye, Will, I see now all about Jem's 
 smoking his pipe." 
 
 " He'B a wide-awake fellow, sir, and quick to take 
 a hint ; but this old fox, has got a deal of running 
 in him yet, and to my thinking, there won't be any 
 more riding over hounds. The wind has shifted a 
 little, and the air feels warmer than it was an hour 
 agone." 
 
 " We have become warmer Will from increased 
 pace, and the fur on that old fox's back has been 
 warmed also. The faster he flies, the better the 
 scent. Up to this point, we have been almost 
 walking after him." 
 
 " Yes, sir, that's true enough ; but the wind has 
 shifted, notwithstanding, and we are now nearly 
 running up wind instead of down, which makes all 
 the difference." 
 
 For a couple of miles, the hounds pressed forward 
 with extended column, at three-parts speed ; nearer 
 and nearer they approach the earth in the old 
 
336 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 quarry, and quicker beats the pulse in Will Head- 
 man^s heart, as the distance becomes shortened. 
 Jem he thought had not sufficient start to get there 
 before him^ and running to ground seemed poor 
 consolation after such toilsome work to hounds and 
 horses. ^^ They deserve him, any way, he was thinking, 
 when a shrill scream burst upon his ear, to which 
 the hounds sped like lightning. Another and ano- 
 other, succeeded by a *' Tally ho ! forward ; '^ and as 
 they near the bottom of the brake in which stood 
 the old quarry hole, a white figure on horseback was 
 discerned winding round the hill side, with the 
 leading couples. 
 
 " What the deuce is that ?" asked Staveley, ^^ along 
 with the hounds now ? By gad, it looks like a 
 witch!'' 
 
 '^ Not unlikely. Squire ; the damsels in these parts 
 are a lively lot ; and I should not be surprised at a 
 dairymaid's hunting hounds, if they came in her 
 way. Well, they've got it all to themselves now, for 
 I shan't be able to make a trot of it much farther. 
 However, it don't much signify, Jem will be there or 
 thereabouts, and he is pretty sure to finish him off 
 in good style, though he don't much fancy slow 
 work." 
 
 " Awfully slow, Sam," exclaimed George Tracy, 
 as they were pounding away together. " Pluck up 
 your spirits now, for the finishing burst. Jem has 
 got hold of them, and twenty minutes, best pace will 
 about finish him." 
 
 " Ten w ill finish my brute ; there's no go left in 
 him." 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 337 
 
 '^Ah! that comes of larking when hounds are 
 not running; I thought how it would be. Well, 
 harden your heart, for here's a nasty murky-looking 
 piece of water before us, and have it we must.'' 
 
 " I shall have some of it, Tracy, and no mistake, 
 for my confounded brute never will jump water ; but 
 now he's sure to go into it for a guzzle." 
 
 " Well, hang it, Coventry ! I can't stop till he has 
 done drinking; but if you're under, old chap, I'll 
 pull you out on terra firma — that's all that can be 
 expected of a friend under such pressing circum- 
 stances." 
 
 Sam's horse dived as expected like a duck under 
 water; but his rider had taken the precaution of 
 throwing the stirrup leathers over his shoulders, and 
 being a light weight, sprang clear of him to the 
 opposite bank. 
 
 " Well done, Sam," cried George, whose horse 
 had cleared the bank cleverly ; " by gad ! you ought 
 to be at Astley's. Ta-ta, old fellow ! Lots of chaps 
 behind to drag him out, if he's worth the trouble." 
 
 George Tracy spurred away over the field to the 
 next fence, which proved a yawner ; and as he got 
 over, loud cries for help assailed his ear, a little 
 higher up, but no object raet his view. " By gad ! " 
 he thought, " there must be some poor fellow come 
 to grief in that dyke, and his horse, perhaps, atop 
 of him. Well, he must get out as he can, the pace 
 is too good." Another loud cry, smote his ear, and 
 this time his heart also. '^ Confound it ! I can't 
 leave him in such a plight ;" and riding up quickly, 
 he said, " Holloa, old fellow, what's the row ?" 
 
 z 
 
338 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 ^^ Knock my horse's brains out/will you|?'^ the voice 
 replied, " he is following me up the ditch, and tramp- 
 ling my legs to pieces — I can^t get out of his way/^ 
 
 George saw at a glance how matters stood; and 
 springing from his saddle, seized the reins of the 
 floundering horse, and pulled him back upon his 
 haunches, with his head against the bank. 
 
 ^^Now, sir, quick if you please ;^^ and out crawled 
 an elderly gentleman, with snow-white hair. 
 
 ^^ Hurt ? " asked George. 
 
 " Not much, thanks to Heaven and your assist- 
 ance. This comes of riding thoroughbreds in a 
 cramp country. I can never repay you, Captain 
 Tracy, for your timely help ; but I shan^t forget it. 
 Now, go on, never mind that brute.^^ 
 
 ^^ No, no, sir, Fll get him out for you, now I am 
 about it. We are out of the race, but a brush 
 more or less is not of much consequence ; for good 
 luck, however, we have a long green lane before us, 
 beyond which I hear the hounds running, and Jem 
 cheering them. Come on, sir, we shan't be the last, 
 if we can't be the first." 
 
 Meanwhile, Will Headman with Squire Staveley 
 were taking things quietly — far more quietly than 
 they desired ; yet there was no choice left to them, 
 without second horses, of doing more, when three 
 fire-eaters passed them, spurring their jaded horses 
 to their last exertions. 
 
 ^^ Good night, Mr. Headman," laughed the fore- 
 most ; ^' slow and sure — eh ? " 
 
 Will made no reply^ but his look spoke unutter- 
 ables. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 339 
 
 " I hope we shall get there before those snobs/^ 
 exclaimed Staveley. 
 
 ^' Breath is lost upon such as they be, squire. We 
 shall see ^em again long before they sees the old fox 
 in Jem^s hand. The ground goes better now^ sir ; 
 we have got upon dairy land, and in course the 
 hounds, too, feel the difference.^^ 
 
 For somewhat less than a mile, the trio kept 
 a-head of the huntsman and Mr. Staveley, when, on 
 doing a stiff in-and-out cleverly, although slowly. 
 No. 1 was found standing over the prostrate form of 
 his horse, with his glass to his eye, exclaiming, 
 " Eh, demmit, what^s the matter with him ? Mr. 
 Headman, what^s your opinion ?^^ as that individual 
 pushed through the fence. 
 
 " Slow and sure, sir ! good night ! You must 
 carry your own saddle home, that^s all about it.^^ 
 
 '^ Dem that old raven ! but his croaking is true 
 enough. The puff is out of him, and no mistake." 
 
 ^' On ! on ! on ! still forward ! " is the cry ; and gal- 
 lantly does the old fox now put forth his utmost speed 
 to distance his pursuers. Hitherto he had not been 
 pressed, but now came that pressure when he felt it 
 most oppressive. There was life in the old fox yet. 
 Foiled by Jem in his purpose of taking refuge in the 
 quarry hole, he now set his head straight for another 
 stronghold four miles distant ; but having reckoned 
 on a bad scent, as before, he was mistaken, or rather 
 overtaken, before he could accomplish his purpose. 
 Jem and the rattlers were close in his wake; and the 
 former, now having it all his own way, capped and 
 cheered them on at such a terrific pace, that he- got 
 
 z 2 
 
340 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 their heads up to a view over a large pasture field, 
 and they ran into their fox before he could reach 
 the fence. Jem^s '' Whoo-hoop ! ^^ was heard for 
 miles down wind, and glad enough were the few 
 select still struggling on to hear it. 
 
 ^' He^s got him in hand now/^ cried "Will Head- 
 man ; " but how his mare could have lived with ^em, 
 that^s the wonder .^^ 
 
 Some half-a-dozen men staggered into the field 
 with beaten horses, where stood Jem under an old 
 oak tree, the fox suspended on one of its lower 
 branches, and the hounds baying around him. 
 
 " Holloa, Jem,^^ said Headman, ^^ what have you 
 been doing ? Your chestnut mare is turned into a 
 grey horse, and there^s no coat on your back.^^ 
 
 " The story^s soon told, master. Finding the mare 
 could not do it in time, I spied doctor's old grey, 
 which I knowed to be a good one, tied up to a green 
 door at the end of the village ; so I thinks exchange 
 ain't no robbery, and I slips off the mare, and into 
 doctor^s saddle, leaving her in the grey^s place.^^ 
 
 " Hah ! hah ! hah ! '' laughed John Staveley, '' a 
 capital trick, by Jove ! but where's your coat Jem?^^ 
 
 ^' Well, sir, ^twere a very near thing. I got to the 
 mouth of the earth just about a second before the 
 old fox, having hitched up doctor^s horse to a thorn 
 bush, and were standing there, when down he 
 rushes at me like a lion, and, you wouldn^t believe 
 it, tried to run between my legs ; so I were obliged 
 to knock him off his by shying my cap at him, 
 and then it was, sir, I first holloaM him, as he turned 
 away; but thinking he might try it again, and 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 341 
 
 knowing master^s objection to stop a neighbour's 
 earths, I stripped the bit o^ pink off my back, and 
 laying it over the hole, jumped into the saddle, and 
 were with 'em as soon as they com'd up : and you 
 knows the rest, sir/' 
 
 ^' No, I don't, Jem, but can guess it ; and here's a 
 sovereign for that fox's brush, which you have out- 
 manoeuvred so cleverlv." 
 
842 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 Riding a willing horse to death — Greneral bad treatment of the equine 
 race — Meeting of the four winds — George Tracy gets a quid pro 
 quo — Will Headman on turf — Jem and his thoroughbred — The 
 old squire, John Staveley — Scurry from a gorse-brake over the 
 open downs. 
 
 Will Headman's prognostications became facts on 
 the following morning, when three dead horses were 
 brought to the kennel, victims to the ignorance and 
 merciless conduct of their riders on the previous 
 day. Accidents, we know, will befall the best horse- 
 men and hunters, and we know also that horses 
 will do their utmost to live with hounds as long as 
 they are able to do so ; but to whip and spur a 
 beaten horse to death is a decided act of cruelty, 
 which no man possessing a particle of pity would 
 perpetrate. The majority of mankind, we are obliged 
 to confess — and, we are grieved to add, the majority 
 of womankind also — regard horses more in the light 
 of steam-engines than animals composed of flesh 
 and blood, heart and lungs, like ourselves. We have 
 known ladies — many very kind, affectionate, com- 
 passionate beings in social life; philanthropic, saint- 
 like in their intercourse with the fallen, or miserable, 
 or poor, or destitute — Sisters of Mercy, in fine — but 
 Proserpinish in regard to unfortunate horses when 
 linked to their carriage. Why is it ? How is it that 
 such inconsistencies are daily, hourly seen in the 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 343 
 
 conduct of those, who, save for these glaring cruel- 
 ties, might justly claim the title of ministering 
 angels ? Must we assign it to ignorance or in- 
 difference ? Charity would suggest the first as a 
 palliative excuse. We are loth to attribute it to 
 the latter. It has been said, ^^ Where ignorance is 
 bliss, ^tis folly to be wise 3" but we say, when the 
 Bible and the laws of our country punish cruelty to 
 all animals with severity, the most ignorant can 
 scarcely be unacquainted with the divine, as well as 
 human, injunction, " to be merciful to their beasts.^* 
 No excuse can be made for ^' riding a willing horse 
 to death.'' 
 
 Will Headman's next appearance in public was 
 in a district wholly unlike that from which he ob- 
 tained the hunting run above recorded. There lay 
 a small patch of gorse, surrounded on all sides by 
 down land, and in one direction extending for 
 several miles, without a twig to shelter a fox from 
 his pursuers; and thither were seen flocking from 
 north, east, south, and west equestrians of all 
 denominations, from four different hunts, to witness 
 the performance of Will Headman's rattlers over 
 the open, the news of his late exploits having spread 
 in all directions. It was a gala meet for the fast 
 men, and Sam Coventry had selected a thorough- 
 bred for the occasion. George Tracy, also, was 
 conspicuous for the neatness of his attire, and that 
 quiet and unassuming manner which distinguishes 
 the well-bred gentleman from the snob. Whilst 
 talking with Coventry, the elderly gentleman with 
 white hair, to whom he had rendered assistance a 
 
344 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 few days previously, approached him and offered his 
 hand, saying, " Good morning, Captain Tracy/^ 
 
 The salutation was returned most courteously, 
 yet deferentially, with uplifted hat, displaying a fine 
 forehead, encircled by dark-brown wavy hair. 
 
 '^I hold only a commission as lieutenant, sir, 
 although my friends are pleased to assign me a 
 higher rank,^^ he answered, smiling. 
 
 " I have a few words for your ear only. Captain 
 Tracy, if you will ride with me a little way out of 
 the crowd ;'^ and when apart from observation, the 
 elderly gentleman presented him with a small packet, 
 saying, " If you will read the enclosed, not now, but 
 when you return home, you will find that I have not 
 addressed you impertinently as Captain Tracy.^^ 
 
 George felt so taken aback, that he really did not 
 know what to say or do, but sat as one bewildered 
 in the saddle, holding the paper in his hand. 
 
 "Put that in the breast pocket of your coat, 
 Captain Tracy," said the elderly gentleman impa- 
 tiently, "and come along, the hounds are moving 
 off/^ 
 
 George mechanically obeyed the order, and on 
 meeting with Coventry again, the latter asked, 
 "Who's your friend, George?^' 
 
 " I cannot exactly tell, although his features seem 
 familiar. We have met before, but where I cannot 
 remember.^' 
 
 " Well, that is Colonel Hamilton, one of our 
 county members, a man of considerable influence, 
 both in town and country ; lots of tin, and people 
 say a great favourite at the Horse Guards. Worth 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 345 
 
 knowing, old fellow, as lie might give you a lift up 
 another step in the ladder ; but now we have other 
 fish to fry, and my impression is, there won^t be 
 much slow work this morning, if that bit of gorse 
 holds the animal. What a lot of swells ! and such 
 a gathering of all nations and languages from the 
 four winds {i.e., four adjoining hunts) I have never 
 seen drawn together : over three hundred, and most of 
 them prepared to do their worst for Will and the pack, 
 and the best for themselves. The old master is 
 blithesome and gay/^ continued Sam, ^^ flattered, no 
 doubt, by the compliments thus paid to him by so 
 large an assemblage of sporting men to meet his 
 hounds. Mr. Headman, as he is generally called, 
 looks as if he had got out on the wrong side of his 
 bed this morning ; but there is a cynical mischievous 
 expression in Jem^s eye, mounted on his Newmarket 
 second — how the old Squire got hold of him, I 
 cannot imagine — which tells us plainly enough that 
 he won^t be distanced in the race bv anvbody out. 
 By Jove, George ! what a huntsman that fellow 
 w^ould make ! All alive O ! though looking as 
 demure — well, we won^t be vituperative — as a certain 
 sort of lady at a christening.^^ 
 
 ^^Jem^s a capital fellow in his place, Sam, and 
 knows all about it, but is no more suited to hunt 
 hounds now than you are. A man may be a first- 
 rate captain, who has not had sufficient experience 
 to shine as a general in the army. Jem is too fast 
 for everyday work, and would miss his headpiece 
 sadly if thrown upon his own resources. He will 
 grow older and wiser in a few years more, and then 
 
346 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 perhaps turn out a good huntsman, though not as a 
 certain sequence." Well, we are on the move now, 
 after the learned in such matters have expressed 
 their opinion on the merits and condition of the 
 pack ; and I heard one jealous chap, who has gained 
 a high reputation in the shires, remark, '^ Ah ! the 
 vale is their province ; they can^t go over the open/^ 
 ^^ Can'^t they ?" sneered old Fowler of ours, who heard 
 the observation. " You^ll soon be satisfied on 
 that point.^^ Another fellow said, ^' If there is a fox 
 in that patch of short gorse, they can^t get into it 
 to get him out of it." 
 
 ^^ Now, Will," cried the old Squire, '' let them go ; 
 and you will oblige me, gentlemen," he said cour- 
 teously, addressing the cavalcade of horsemen already 
 pressing forward, '^ if you will keep on this side the 
 covert, and leave the other open for the fox to have 
 a start. Don^t be nervous, gentlemen, my hounds 
 are so heavy and slow that they can^t run away from 
 you — can they, Mr. Staveley?^^ appealing to that 
 first-rate sportsman. 
 
 Staveley appeared to be rather dull of hearing that 
 morning, as he made no reply ; but he was gathering 
 up his reins, and close to Will Headman, when his 
 hounds sprang into and buried themselves beneath 
 the dark green covert. In a few seconds the surface 
 of the gorse began to wave to and fro, like a field 
 of standing corn bending before the wind, then 
 heads appeared here and there above it, and ever 
 and anon the forms of Will Headman^s favourites 
 were observed springing clean out of it, with a 
 short sharp note. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 347 
 
 "Aye, have at him, my lads, push him out;'^ and 
 push him out they did, as the fox, finding himself 
 surrounded by his enemies, leaped out from among 
 them, and actually ran along upon the top of the 
 thick gorse for some few yards. 
 
 "Now, gentlemen/^ cried the master, riding up 
 to the dense column drawn together at the very 
 point he wished the fox to break, " let me entreat 
 you to wheel to the right or left, and leave this space 
 open. It is your concern more than mine, if you 
 wish to see a run, for I don^t care much about it ; 
 spoil your own sport, if you like, my riding days are 
 past ; and if he is chopped in covert so much the 
 pleasanter for me.^^ 
 
 The old squire^s reproof produced a certain effect. 
 The ground was vacated immediately, and no sooner 
 left open than the fox broke away over it. Then 
 arose a Babel of tongues, screeching and screaming, 
 and the column of horsemen rushed rapidly to the 
 fore, in pursuit of the flying animal and a single 
 hound, ere the pack had left the covert. 
 
 " Hold hard, gentlemen V cried the excited master ; 
 "for goodness sake, hold hard one minute !^^ On 
 they go still. " Then go, and be d — d !" he mut- 
 tered ; " they shall beat you yet.^' And with a shrill 
 scream from the old squire, the hounds were hustled 
 off by Jem from the line of another fox they were 
 hunting in a contrary direction. 
 
 "Now, Will,^^ as they caught the scent, and 
 flashed rapidly away upon it, " these pacemen shall 
 soon see the difference between ploughed land and 
 turf. Away, away ! and mind, Jem," as the second 
 
348 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 in command passed his master, "youVe got a 
 thoroughbred under you as well as Will Head- 
 man/^ 
 
 ^^ T shan^t forget it, sir ;^^ touching his cap. 
 
 The master would have been perfectly justified, 
 under such audacious behaviour from his field, in 
 sending Jem to stop the single hound, and go direct 
 away with the body of the pack after the fox they 
 were hunting, and which had just broken covert in 
 the opposite direction— in fact, such is the rule to 
 be followed in such cases. The old master knew all 
 about that, and might have had a good run to him- 
 self; but, to use a vulgar expression, "his monkey 
 was up,^^ and he resolved to beat the fast men with 
 their own weapons just for once, and to prove to 
 them that hounds could beat horses. 
 
 '^Come along, Jem,^' said Headman, "put them 
 on : the squire wills it. What^s missing V 
 
 " Hecuba and Hotspur, master ; and those two 
 young devils won^t lose sight of the brush till they 
 get hold on it.^^ 
 
 "They can^t hunt, Jem, and shouldn^t if they 
 would ; so there is nothing for it but to get ^em clear 
 out of the crowd, and then we shall see who can 
 catch ^em again. ^' 
 
 It was contrary to Will Headman^s principle and 
 practice to act as he was obliged to upon such an 
 emergency ; but he was too good a soldier to disobey 
 orders from his commander-in-chief, knowing well 
 what his intention was. Mounted on two thorough- 
 bred horses, more notorious for their staying than 
 fleeting properties, Will Headman and Jem drew 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 349 
 
 steadily through the host of horsemen, and in less 
 than two miles the hounds were running at the top 
 of their speed, and not a soul within a hundred yards 
 of them. 
 
 " Aye, aye, master, this will do V^ cried Jem, in 
 ecstacies; ''this scampering over downs ain^t un- 
 pleasant after that heavy work in the vale : my nag 
 can go like lightning/^ 
 
 '' Then hold him together, Jem, for the race is 
 only begun. This is a straight running old gentle- 
 man afore us, or he wouldn^t have faced the wind in 
 this manner, and you knows he saved his brush last 
 year by getting to ground in sight of the pack over 
 yonder hill.^^ 
 
 "Yes, master, I recollects all about it; but he 
 ain't going to serve us that trick to-day. You don't 
 want me now, I suppose ?" 
 
 '^ No, Jem ; but you canH do it at this pace ; and 
 there's no doctor's horse to be found hitched up at 
 a green door if yours fails you." 
 
 Jem drew ahead, notwithstanding ; and as he sped 
 along his thoughts escaped him, or, in other words, 
 he was thinking aloud. 
 
 *' Master's a deal heavier in the saddle than I am, 
 and in course I couldn't leave him without some 
 excuse ; but I know the old squire's notions about 
 this spree, and if I don't handle him long before any 
 of them chaps get up, my name ain't James." 
 
 The race now commenced in earnest. George 
 Tracy, Sam Coventry, and half-a-dozen light weights 
 on thoroughbred horses, strove fiercely to cut down 
 Jem and take the lead from him ; but our first whip 
 
350 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 proved too good a jockey for them all. Pass him 
 they could not ; and the further they went, the fur- 
 ther went the hounds before them. 
 
 "Now^ Coventry/^ cried George Tracy^ as they rode 
 neck and neck together, '^ now is your time to ride 
 over some of these slow bow-wowing brutes, as you 
 called them the other day. The old squire is not 
 here to rate you.^^ 
 
 '^Who would have thought it, George — not I, 
 certainly — that they could go such a trimming pace 
 over the turf? By gad, I can^t catch them.^^ 
 
 " They have nothing to carry, and your horse and 
 mine have, that makes some difference ; and then, 
 you see, the fox is close before them.^^ 
 
 ^^ I can^t see him if you can.^^ 
 
 " Then cast your eye forward, and you will discern 
 something like a rook skimming along, straight 
 ahead of them." 
 
 " If that's the fox, he^s a precious little one, and I 
 wonder how he can go such a pace." 
 
 "The distance makes him look small; but he is as 
 big and stout an old warrior as I have seen for many 
 a day, although the hounds are now getting nearer 
 and nearer to his brush at every stride ; and have 
 him they will in less than another mile." 
 
 " Oh, me ! what a purl that chap has got to the 
 right," exclaimed Sam; ^^ that comes of riding over 
 old cartways covered with grass, which none but a 
 wide-awake fellow knows how to take. By Jove ! it 
 must have been a stunner, for, although up in the 
 saddle, he is riding away from the hounds." 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 351 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 The four-mile race — Danger of crossing old trackways — George Tracy 
 disabled — A lucky fall — The pace that kills — Ups and downs — 
 The squire's joy on seeing his hounds beat the field — Who-hoop ! 
 
 In the good old times, long before the birth of 
 MacAdam, packhorses and carts of rude construc- 
 tion were generally used to convey goods from one 
 town to another, across moors and down lands ; and 
 even to this day some of these trackways still remain 
 to give evidence of the use to which they were for- 
 merly assigned. These ancient highways were not 
 restricted, as in later times, to so many feet or yards 
 for their lawful boundary, beyond which no man 
 might venture to trespass by hoof or wheel without 
 subjecting himself to a casus belliy or law process. 
 It was not the fashion then to fill up ruts with 
 broken stones; and, in consequence, when the 
 ground became miry in riding over, deviations were 
 made right or left to go upon firmer turf. Since the 
 increasing ardour for cultivation, there are few of 
 these ancient landmarks remaining in the present 
 day, except in very isolated districts ; but where they 
 are yet to be met with and encountered, the stiff'est 
 country is not more prolific of falls than crossing 
 these blind horse-traps. Were the width of only one 
 or two cart tracks to be covered, a good rider might 
 accomplish it with a jump or two, without being 
 brought into trouble; but a dozen of deep ruts 
 
352 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 covered over with long grass, cannot be tripped over 
 by a half-blown horse with a loosish rein, except on 
 the usual terms of heels over head. 
 
 Such an obstacle occurred in the burst we were 
 about describing, midway between find and finish ; 
 and the number down at the sweeping was — we 
 were going to say, marvellous — yet there was no 
 marvel in the case. Every man had fixed his eye upon 
 the hounds, as they were running away from him ; 
 and, there being no fences to crane at or funk, each 
 thought of riding over the Newmarket course or a 
 nicely kept bowling green; and to a certain point all 
 went pleasantly and comfortably enough, although 
 their horses did not go quite so rapidly as antici- 
 pated. In short, every man fancied himself upon a 
 thoroughbred in tip-top condition, simply because he 
 was riding a race over turf; and we need scarcely 
 note their disgust when disabused of these day- 
 dreams by a sudden change into midnight, when 
 hosts of stars seemed glittering around them. As 
 in the charge of cavalry at Balaklava, every third 
 man of the first rank went down; the majority coming 
 out of the vale, and not accustomed to such ins and 
 outs without seeing a fence before them, went down 
 also ; but the hill men rode more carefully, know^ing 
 the risk to life and limb in going fast over such 
 treacherous ground, and the ruck extending some 
 two miles en anih^e, profited by the example set 
 them by their betters in pace. 
 
 " Steady, squire,^^ cried Will Headman to Mr. 
 Staveley, as they were approaching the trackways, 
 ^^pull him up, sir, into a trot; it can^t be done 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 353 
 
 otherwise, except by accident. A double ox fence is 
 milk-and-water to such things as these; and going at 
 water ever so wide — barring the Severn^ and other 
 rivers not jumpable — is quite harmless in com- 
 parison. You gets your go under soft and soapy 
 like, and comes up not much the worse for the dip- 
 ping ; but here, as that there Count says, who comes 
 over from Johnny Crapaud's land, ^tis all ^de contraire 
 — your horse^s nose goes into de ground, and you fly 
 over de ground / and the chances are in favour of a 
 man's spine being disarranged without the assistance 
 of Mr. Calcraft. Steadily does it, sir, and a pull up 
 for a second or so over these ruts will give our horses 
 just time to catch their second wind, and then we 
 shall sail away as pleasantly as ever. Jem's ahead 
 of us, squire, and his nag has got the foot of mine, 
 with two stone less upon his back, which goes for 
 more than most folks fancy. As for catching him, 
 squire, or the hounds, that's all moonshine. We 
 can't do it. ^ C'est impossible,^ as the Count says, 
 — who, I expect, from his manner of operating, will 
 come to grief afore he gets t'other side of these 
 crossings — it's just the sort of trap to catch a 
 mounseer. Heads up and tails up — all that sort 
 of thing ; instead of minding where he is going to 
 and keeping his horse together. Now, squire, for 
 the run in. Come along, sir, the best foot fore- 
 most." And away sped Headman, on his bit of 
 blood, at an astonishing pace. 
 
 But every one knows, who knows anything about 
 it, that blood will tell in man, horse, or hound. The 
 better they are bred the better they will go ; and 
 
 A A 
 
354 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 Will Headman had been placed upon the back of a 
 big one^ over sixteen bands bigb, which could carry 
 his weight and take a good place in a four-mile race 
 — for such this was without mistake : and, like the 
 trial between horses and hounds^ some years ago, 
 over the Beacon course at Newmarket^ the hounds 
 had the best of it. The old squire's hounds had not 
 been trained upon legs of mutton or sheep's trotters, 
 but they were in first-rate condition, from hard 
 work and proper diet ; and the four miles were accom- 
 plished in a few seconds under eleven minutes. 
 
 ^^ Now, Sam, they have him V' cried George Tracy. 
 " That black hound has, I see, turned him on the 
 point of the hill, and the second catches him by the 
 back, and the only fellow within three hundred yards 
 of them is Jem. You and I hope to be in second 
 and third ; and Will Headman has been making up 
 leeway at such an extraordinary pace that he must 
 be fourth ; and I would not undertake to say that he 
 cannot pass both of us yet.'' 
 
 The triumph of the old master — who, by the way, 
 had set to work right manfully in this struggle, re- 
 solved to show what he had done, and could do still 
 although past the years allotted to mankind — was 
 complete when he beheld his first whipper-in alone, 
 with the fox held over his head, and the hounds lying 
 and standing around him, and not another horseman 
 yet within fifty yards of him. 
 
 *' Now, gentlemen," he exclaimed, as some of the 
 stiff-necked ones began dropping in one by one on 
 cock-tailed horses, " you see we can beat you with 
 all the odds against us. Our hounds have just 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 355 
 
 passed through all of you easily, and my first whip 
 is the first man up at the finish/^ 
 
 '' The quickest thing I ever saw in my life, sir/^ 
 said the master of a neighbouring pack. " I con- 
 gratulate you upon such a brilliant aff'air/^ 
 
 *^We do not care much about brilliant things^ 
 sir/^ was the reply. " Once in a season, just to see 
 how hounds can run together, is well enough -, but 
 this is foxracing not foxhunting. There is no oppor- 
 tunity for the display of talent in the huntsman or 
 sagacity in the hound. A Newmarket lad could 
 do quite as well* here as the most experienced of 
 professors, and a lot of curs, colly dogs, and lurchers 
 run over the ground as fast as well-bred foxhounds." 
 
 " I can^t hold him up any longer, master," said 
 Jem to Will Headman ; " he ain^t so light a weight 
 as you seem to think, and my arms are tired of the 
 job ; besides which we may find another fox, and 
 kill him in like manner, before half the gents as 
 started gets up — if ever they gets up at all, which 
 seems very dubious. I never seed such an example 
 made of hossmen. There is a tail of ^em for two 
 miles at least, and lots of nags all over the downs." 
 
 ^^ Give him to me, then, Jem :" and Headman, 
 taking the fox, held him for a few seconds over his 
 head ; and then, with a scream which none could 
 imitate or exceed, threw the carcass high up into the 
 air, and the bones were broken ere it reached the 
 ground by the expectant pack. 
 
 George Tracy, however, and Sam Coventry do not 
 put in an appearance at the winding up of this per- 
 fect performance in its way. Where are they ? 
 
 A A 2 
 
356 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 There is a little group of horsemen collected around 
 an object lying on the turf, about half a mile below, 
 and that object is the prostrate body of George 
 Tracy. He was riding into the finish cheerfully and 
 carelessly, when, on stepping on what appeared to 
 him as firm turf as any before crossed, his horse 
 floundered and fell, throwing him heavily, and roll- 
 ing over him. Coventry sprang instantly to his 
 assistance, picked him up, and was endeavouring to 
 administer a dose of aqua viice from his flask, when 
 Colonel Hamilton reached the spot. 
 
 " What has happened V he asked, quickly. 
 
 '^ Tracy is, I fear, seriously hurt,^^ was Sam^s 
 reply; "quite stunned, — and I can^t bring him 
 round.^^ 
 
 " Let me try, then, whilst you ride for a surgeon ; 
 there are two out with the hounds.^^ 
 
 " By all that^s lucky,^^ cried Sam, " here is Mr. 
 Danvers just coming up, who is as clever at this 
 sort of thing as in crossing country after hounds.^^ 
 
 The doctor was soon out of his saddle, and kneel- 
 ing by Tracy^s side, feeling for his pulse, and exa- 
 mining his body. 
 
 ^' Concussion of the brain, colonel, and, to add to 
 his misery, a broken collar-bone.^^ 
 
 ^^ AVhat can be done ?'' asked the colonel. 
 
 " We must get him down to the nearest inn as 
 soon as possible — better to a farmhouse, where there 
 woukl be less disturbance." 
 
 '^ He shall be taken to my house, doctor, which is 
 not far distant, and fortunately my carriage is on 
 the ground somewhere. I will go for it directly." 
 
SCIExVCE OF FOXHUNTING. 357 
 
 By the time Colonel Hamilton returned, Tracy- 
 had in a great degree recovered, his consciousness 
 and Sam having assisted him into the carriage_, gave 
 his horse in charge to the colonel's groom, and then 
 again rode off to join the cavalcade now in motion to 
 draw for a second fox. George Tracy being a great 
 favourite in the hunt, anxious inquiries were made 
 by his friends of Sam Coventry. 
 
 ^' He is not, I fancy, so badly hurt as I first 
 thought. George could not have fallen to such ad- 
 vantage anywhere else ; and, taking the pros and 
 cons into account, I have a shrewd suspicion that it 
 will be the luckiest fall he ever got in his life. His 
 collar-bone will soon be all right, with a clever 
 doctor to attend to him, and a beautiful girl to while 
 away his pains and aches with her silvery tones. 
 Egad ! George is a good-looking fellow, a favourite 
 with women, and the colonel seems to have taken a 
 decided fancy to him. Under such auspicious cir- 
 cumstances it is not very difficult to guess the result 
 of his being laid up as an invalid at the Grange.^^ 
 The latter part of his speech was addressed to John 
 Staveley in a low voice. 
 
 '^The colonel is a very particular man in some 
 respects,'^ remarked Staveley, " and the 071 dit is that 
 he has assigned his only child to Lord John.^^ 
 
 ^^ Who is old enough to be her father,^^ added 
 Sam. 
 
 " No matter ; he was always considered a marti- 
 net in the field, and is not likely to be trifled with 
 when his mind is made up upon any point.'^ 
 
358 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 " The pack full opening, various, the shrill horn 
 Resounding from the hills, the neighing steed 
 Wild for the chase, and the loud hunter's shout." 
 
 Scurry the second — A dip into the vale — Harmony of huntsman and 
 first whip — Jem and his master — Over the hills and far away — 
 Dropping sterns and dropping astern — Blood and condition will 
 tell — ' Up the hill, spare me' — Trying it on foot — Jem beats his 
 master at pedestrianism — Short, sharp, and decisive. 
 
 ^' Well, Will, what next V^ asked the old master of 
 his huntsman. ^' This little burst has opened their 
 pipes, and now they want something better to do. 
 We shall find a fox, I suppose, at Hazelgrove, under 
 the hill?" 
 
 " Yes, sir, that's a pretty sure find ; but I'm a 
 thinking there's that other we whipped off from the 
 gorse not likely to have left the downs yet awhile, 
 and I can partly guess where he is. Those gents, 
 sir, want one more gallop of this sort just to satisfy 
 'em quite entirely that the hounds can beat 'em out 
 and out, and then we can have a nice quiet hunting 
 run in the vale to finish with; and I'll undertake to 
 say, however moderate the pace, there arn't a horse- 
 man out who can ride over 'em. They are nearly 
 pumped out already, sir, and one more go over this 
 turf will just put 'em all in their right places." 
 
 " Then, Will, let them have it." 
 
 '^ And so they shall," muttered Jem between his 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 359 
 
 teeth ; " we arn't going to be sneezed at by these 
 hurry-scurry riders from toother hunts^ who com'd 
 down on purpose to show us the trick. I rayther 
 thinks they'll go home wiser than they set out ; and, 
 although they do say all the wise men come from 
 the east, Fve a notion we of the west can show 'em 
 a trick or two worth knowing.'^ 
 
 Some six. miles back from the point where the first 
 fox had been brought to hand in a style so satisfac- 
 tory as to elicit general applause from all who could 
 reach the spot^ lay a small plantation, overhanging 
 a beautiful grass vale, and there Headman fancied 
 the second fox might have waited awhile, as he had 
 not been followed by hounds a hundred yards from 
 the gorse; and his conjectures proved correct; for no 
 sooner had the pack been thrown into it than the 
 fox bundled out of it, not quite in view, however, and 
 down the hill he went, without hesitation; and the 
 pack, catching sight of him as he descended, set to 
 running again a terrific pace. Taking it as granted 
 that they were now committed to a clipper in the 
 low-lands, the majority of the field rattled down after 
 them, bent on mischief. 
 
 "They won't run away from us here, master 
 Jem," cried Tom Harkaway, belonging to the B. C. 
 Hunt, " the fences will stop them ; they can't creep 
 through them as fast as we can jump over them." 
 
 "Our hounds never think of creeping through 
 hedges like yours, Mr. Harkaway — they be bred too 
 high for that sort of low muddling work ; so come 
 along, and I'll soon pump you out, my hearty," he 
 muttered, as he went over the first wide double with 
 
360 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 a swing which none but a thoroughbred could ac- 
 complish. 
 
 ^^ Ha ! ha V^ he laughed^ as Tom Harkaway got 
 a nasty one into the far ditch. ^^ You don^t seem to 
 get over ^em quite so easy as you expected. Very 
 fine riding/^ chuckled Jem. '' These hill men don^t 
 know anything about double ditches and fences; 
 ^tain^t in their line — a donkey could jump the biggest 
 fence in their country. Ride over our hounds ! 
 That^s a good joke. Ha ! ha ! Come up, Duchess/^ 
 as he landed his mare over a sunk fence into a gentle- 
 man^s park. 
 
 The pressure, however, proving too sharp, the fox 
 made short work of it in the vale, having turned 
 again back for the downs, evidently with the inten- 
 tion of trying the earths in the gorse from which he 
 had been at first dislodged. He had dipped suffi- 
 ciently deep, notwithstanding, into the vale to draw 
 down the whole cavalcade after him ; and now ensued 
 a struggle more severe than the first race over the 
 open, the fox having made a circuit over about a 
 mile of the very stiff'est enclosures before tacking 
 round, and the pace did not slacken. 
 
 Will Headman was now to the fore, the light 
 weights being unable to take the lead from him 
 through the stiff blackthorn fences, which they could 
 not grapple with like men of greater power in the 
 saddle. During this semicircular burst our hunts- 
 man maintained his place and reputation as a first- 
 class rider to hounds, nulli secundus. Once let the 
 lead be taken from a huntsman to foxhounds by any 
 one of his hunt, and his authority is gone. There 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 361 
 
 are solitary exceptions, when he may by accident be 
 thrown out, and fast races over the downs where 
 lighter weights eclipse him ; but in everyday work, 
 the man who cannot hold his position as first fiddle 
 is not the right man in the right place. If other- 
 wise, his only excuse can be that he is too badly 
 horsed to be with his hounds. The old squire 
 took especial care that no such charge as this should 
 be placed to his account. His men were well 
 horsed : they knew it, and did credit to their 
 master^s judgment in providing them with animals so 
 well fitted for their requirements. Will Headman, 
 and his first whip, Jem, were paragons of perfection 
 in their line of business. Two superior to them in 
 all respects could not have been found throughout 
 her Majesty^s dominions ; and although Jem, as 
 avant courier, might occasionally take advantage of 
 the position when his master, as he called him, was 
 not up, yet did he know his duties too well ever to 
 play him false, acting fairly and honestly as a locum 
 tenens until his superior came up. There were no 
 jealous feelings between huntsman and first whipper- 
 in — too commonly the case, and as commonly sub- 
 versive of sport in the field. Jem regarded Will 
 Headman in the same light that a schoolboy looks 
 up to a clever kind preceptor ; and Will Headman 
 repaid his pupiFs attachment and deference to him 
 by a sort of fatherly interest in all he did. Jem was 
 admitted into all his arcana, or mysteries of the 
 science ; neither was he excluded from the kennel, 
 and kept in the dark as to the pedigrees of hounds, 
 breedings, and crossings, and other little matters of 
 
362 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 that kind. With such mutual confidence^ it was 
 not surprising to find the working of the establish- 
 ment in such harmonious order. 
 
 Jem, from his position as first whip, being at 
 the far end of the plantation when the fox first 
 broke away, had got the first start with the hounds, 
 and it was his business to keep close to them, but 
 not to interfere with their proceedings before the 
 huntsman came up ; and he had been too well in- 
 structed to think of handling them so long as they 
 could feel a scent. Eeing a light weight also, he 
 could ride down hill — the most dangerous of all 
 riding — much faster than thirteen stone would con- 
 sider necessary; and hounds, having nothing to 
 carry, can go down declivities much faster than 
 horses with their riders. The hill overhanging the 
 vale was nearly as steep as the roof of a slate-covered 
 house ; and Will Headman effected his descent by 
 making use of his horse^s hind legs as a sledge — for, 
 knowing the danger of sidelings on such an emer- 
 gency to be productive of sidelong rollings and over- 
 turnings, he put his head straight, his hocks and 
 tail acting the part of rudder. A horse cannot fall 
 forward going down hill if held in this position, and 
 it is equally obvious that he cannot fall backwards, 
 if properly guided. Let him diverge to the right or 
 left, and ^^ earth-biting '' is the certain result ; and 
 the rollings and catastrophes to the unskilled in 
 horsemanship were grievous to relate. 
 
 Once down the hill, Headman felt, like many 
 others, a deal more comfortable in his saddle, and 
 the strides of his Newmarket second soon brought 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 363 
 
 him into nearer relationship with his hounds ; and 
 the glance of his eagle eye detected in a few minutes 
 the sudden swerving of the chase to the left, of 
 which he took immediate advantage, and nicked in 
 just at the critical time as their heads were again 
 turned towards the hill. 
 
 ''Ah/' he muttered, ''1 see it all. He hadn't 
 start enough for Hazel Grove, and now means the 
 gorse again. Hang it ! going down such a hill is 
 bad enough ; but Fll warrant we all went down a 
 deal quicker than ever we shall go up/* 
 
 WilFs surmises proved something more than mere 
 guesses as to this part of the performance. The 
 ascent was in truth a choker to all save fox and 
 hounds. Horsemen could not make a trot even by 
 tortuous windings and tackings, and there was the 
 pack before their eyes, going up at such a pace ! 
 Will Headman tried it on foot — so did Jem ; but 
 the latter, being as light as a feather in comparison 
 with his master, took precedence in pedestrianism. 
 Jem could run w^here his superior could only make a 
 walk of it, blowing like a grampus the while : and, 
 as a natural result, the first whip had the best of 
 this up-hill game. Ere, however, Jem reached the 
 top, the hounds were over the downs and far away, 
 going at racing pace as before, and they ran from 
 scent to view, pulling down their fox within half a 
 mile of the gorse entirely by themselves. Jem was 
 again the first man up ; but nought remained of 
 the fox save his head, which Chancellor was carrying 
 about in triumph. 
 
 '' Halves, old fellow !'' said Jem, catching him by 
 
364 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 the scruff of his neck ; " I wants his nose^ and you 
 shall have the rest/^ 
 
 " Will Headman/^ said John Staveley, who was 
 switching his big brown horse along at a tremendous 
 pace, ^^ this is a glorious finish to our down meet. 
 These jealous men from the other hunts can^t go 
 home and laugh at us, that^s one consolation. They 
 have had a pretty good dusting this morning, and 
 Fll engage have never seen hounds run so fast in 
 their lives/^ 
 
 " All very well in its way, squire, and Fm glad 
 it has been in our power to show them that our 
 hounds can run as well as hunt. They have made 
 clean work of it this burst, and in course, by the time 
 we reaches ^em there won^t be so much as a pad left. 
 No matter — they can see what's been done, and I 
 hope Jem was in time to save the brush/' 
 
 Ten minutes after about fifty horsemen of the 
 three hundred got up to the spot where the fox had 
 been dispatched so summarily, and some twenty 
 minutes were allowed for other stragglers to come in, 
 during which the merits of the sport were discussed, 
 and voted unanimously the finest ever witnessed. 
 
 ^^Now then, I suppose," said Mr. Palmer, the 
 master of the B.C. Hunt, "home is the next order 
 of the day, since we have had galloping enough — at 
 least, I can speak for myself.'' 
 
 " Oh no, sir," replied Headman ; " our hounds 
 wants a good hour or two more, just to get their 
 heads down again after this wild work ; and master's 
 orders were to draw Hazel Grove if this here fox 
 was killed on the downs.'^ 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 365 
 
 " A very wise resolve ; and as Hazel Grove lies in 
 my way home, it suits my book to a nicety ; besides 
 which such a scenting day may not fall to our lot 
 for another month. Carpe diem is my motto ; so 
 come along. 
 
 " Well, Mr. Staveley/' said the master of the B.C. 
 Hunt, " although of the opinion that enough is as 
 good as a feast, I will follow you into the vale." 
 
 '^ And if benighted there," added John Staveley, 
 " there is bed and board for yourself, and a loose 
 box for your horse, at my place, and a hearty good 
 welcome." 
 
366 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 " Each season has its joys, 'tis trae, 
 And none should reason spurn ; 
 And those who nature rightly view, 
 Enjoy them in their turn. 
 
 " The angler, racer, courser, shot, 
 As each to each is born ; 
 But the season of seasons — is it not ? — 
 "When the huntsman winds his horn." 
 
 ** Sub Jove frigido" — The foxhunter's season — "When a fox is not a 
 fox — Distinguishing characteristics of well-bred foxhounds — 
 Making the best of a bad scent — Will Headman's descent into 
 lower regions^ — Hazel Grove — Forcing a fox — A cool calculator 
 nearly outwitted — The afternoon fox — Barren downs and luxu- 
 riant pastures. 
 
 A GOOD scenting morning may be^ and often is, 
 succeeded by a bad scent in the afternoon, during tlie 
 winter months which constitute the season of fox- 
 hunting. It so happens that the foxhunter is de- 
 barred from the usual enjoyment of sunshine and 
 genial weather which cheer another sportsman, 
 whether handling rod or fowling-piece. Angling, 
 grouse, partridge, and pheasant shooting are not 
 pursued as our sport is, sub Jove frigido. The at- 
 mosphere is not so frigid that they cannot derive 
 some enjoyment from the balmy breezes by which 
 they are surrounded, even should their game prove 
 too scanty to fill creel or bag. There are two causes 
 which prevent our sport commencing before the 
 winter season sets in. Foxes are not considered as 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 867 
 
 foxes until the 1st of November. Thev are not full 
 grown before that time, and hedges are not denuded 
 of their foliage even then; moreover, foxhunting 
 would not be tolerated by agriculturists whilst their 
 corn remained standing in the field. On these ac- 
 counts, therefore, the opening day for foxhunters is 
 fixed for the 1st of November by general consent, 
 since foxes may be lawfully killed, like hares and 
 rabbits, every month in the year. From experience, 
 old sportsmen know that cold weather, frost, hail, 
 snow, and chilling storms militate greatly against 
 scent ; and the wonder is that foxhounds should be 
 able, in the face of all these dampers, to hold the 
 line of their game at all. Use has been called 
 second nature, and hounds, from becoming used to 
 fight through all these inclemencies, adapt them- 
 selves to the difiiculties to be encountered. 
 
 It has been truly said that no animal of the canine 
 species possesses so fine a nose as a thoroughbred 
 foxhound, and from experience we have good cause 
 to endorse this opinion. We have seen foxhounds 
 stoop to hunt hare, which beat all the old blue 
 mettled sort in the pack out and out at questing, as 
 it is called — i.e., speaking to the trail and hunting 
 her afterwards over every variety of soil; and this 
 was done by hounds purchased from an old estab- 
 lished foxhound kennel, which had been proved 
 staunch to a fox scent only foi^three seasons. 
 
 Beckford tells us a story — a true one, no doubt — 
 of a foxhound belonging to a neighbouring pack, 
 which joined his harriers one day by accident ; and, 
 as he ran faster and turned quicker with the scent 
 
368 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 than his own currant jelly dogs^ he hit off every 
 check, and helped them to kill a brace of hares. 
 This fact not only proves the sagacity of a foxhound, 
 but his superiority of nose, even beyond that of 
 harriers ; and we have seen pointers with a fox- 
 hound cross conspicuous alike for their enduring 
 qualities and quickness in finding their game. The 
 most striking characteristics of well-bred foxhounds 
 is the pace with which they will carry a middling 
 scent, when harriers would be hunting and bow- 
 wowing over it. 
 
 Will Headman, nothing loth, descended from the 
 breezy downs into a country much better suited to 
 his weight and taste ; and, after a trot of some six 
 or seven miles, reached the renowned covert called 
 Hazel Grove, notorious for a sure find and a straight 
 hard running fox. It was not a very big coppice, 
 nor a little one — a betwixt-and-between — but big 
 enough to hold a fox for an hour, if not disposed to 
 leave it. Forcing him from such a place was " all my 
 eye and Betty Martin,^^ the crude derivation of this 
 old adage being from Oh ! mihi beatus Martini j as 
 we suppose most people know ; but how this became 
 a byeword amongst the heathen we are at a loss to 
 conjecture. Certain, however, it is, that a fox won^t 
 leave a good thick covert of sixty or seventy acres, 
 unless it suits his convenience to do so ; in fact, he 
 might wear out the best pack of hounds by ringing 
 the changes upon them round and round the boun- 
 daries of it, without the risk of their tearing his 
 carcase to pieces. It is a great mistake to suppose a 
 knowing old fox can be frightened by the cry of 
 
SaENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 369 
 
 hounds, screeching of huntsmen and whippers-in, or 
 cracking of whips, and made to leave his stronghold 
 one moment earlier than it pleases him to vacate it. 
 We have witnessed the nonchalance of these wily ani- 
 mals thousands of times, and even when pressed by 
 hounds, their apparently thorough contempt for their 
 enemies. Whilst fresh in physical power, as yet un- 
 tried and unabated, they seem regardless of the risk 
 they incur by running into the mouths of the hounds, 
 and more afraid of a pink jacket outside the wood 
 than forty spotted skins within it. Headed back 
 almost into their open jaws is an event of everyday 
 occurrence ; but it is not often they are tripped up 
 by such an audacious act. 
 
 One of the most barefaced things we remember 
 was perpetrated by an old fox, who sat up on his 
 haunches in the very next field to a small covert, 
 whilst the hounds were running merrily upon his 
 scent and certainly not two hundred yards behind 
 his brush ; and there he sat for a second or two, as 
 if calculating the time when he should be obliged 
 to go faster. Nothing could exceed the indignation 
 of Charles, our first whip, on witnessing such an 
 insult to decency on the part of a fox. He hollaed 
 him, but trudge on he would not until it suited his 
 pleasure ; and when we reached the spot where sat 
 Charles screeching, he said, '^ Well, sir, I hope we 
 shall take the shine out of that old devil, for, of all 
 the impudent brutes in fox-skin, I never seed his 
 equal,^^ telling us the occurrence. 
 
 "We shan't handle him to-day, then,'' was our 
 reply, '^ for he seems to know we cannot do it.^' 
 
 B B 
 
370 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 " FU try hard^ master, and so of course will you ; 
 and if he beats us both he is a good un, and no 
 mistake.'^ 
 
 This old fox, however, did contrive to beat us at 
 last; but it was a very near thing, and he never lived 
 to boast of it. He led us a tremendous dance over 
 miles of country, and, at the last, crossed a deep and 
 rapid river, over which we were obliged to seek the 
 assistance of a ferry boat to waft us and our horses. 
 This little delay saved his brush; but he was so 
 beaten that a man breaking stones on the road above 
 the river, seeing him so completely exhausted, caught 
 him, as he told us, by the '^ tail,^^ when the old gen- 
 tleman turned and bit him through the leg for such 
 uncourteous treatment ; and then, crossing under a 
 gate, he reached the refuge in some rocks for which 
 he had been running, and from which he never again 
 sallied forth. 
 
 We could relate numerous instances of coolness 
 and sang-froid exhibited by foxes when hounds were 
 in full chase after them which would prove them 
 to be very wide awake and calculating, not timid, 
 animals : and as to forcing them to leave a large 
 covert, or to pursue any course contrary to their in- 
 clinations, it will be found that eventually they suc- 
 ceed in their object, unless barred out from home or 
 outpaced by hounds. We remember the reply given 
 by the late William Codrington, who was considered 
 a second Meynell for his wonderful knowledge of 
 foxhound pedigrees as well as his own practical ex- 
 perience, to a young paceman who had expressed 
 his opinion very loudly in his presence about the 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 871 
 
 inability of his pack to force a fox from a large wood 
 of several hundred acres. " Force him out, sir, did 
 you say V rejoined the indignant master. '^ Force 
 
 your grandmother to- &c., &c. !" There is a great 
 
 deal of truth also in the doggrel lines respecting 
 the conduct of a fox, even under pressing circum- 
 stances : — 
 
 ** If he will go, he will, you may depend on'fc ; 
 But if he won't, he won't — and there's an end on't." 
 
 By the time Will Headman reached Hazel Grove 
 it was nearly two o^clock in the afternoon ; and we 
 all know that afternoon found foxes generally prove 
 the stoutest runners, one cause of which is assigned 
 to their having enjoyed a longer siesta, after perhaps 
 a late heavy breakfast. Hazel Grove was not a covert 
 of sufficient area to admit of a fox playing vagaries 
 with his enemies, and Headman^s rattlers soon 
 convinced the old gentleman found therein that 
 they were quite in earnest about either ousting or 
 eating him. The head they held through the 
 faggot sticks admitted of no short turnings, for they 
 ran in a widely extended front, like a trawling net 
 spread out for catching fishes. 
 
 " Capital scent still, Will,^^ remarked Staveley. 
 
 '^They are whirling him round a bit rather 
 sharply, squire, as usual on first finding ; but how 
 long it will last is another matter.^^ 
 
 '^ There ought to be a better scent over these rich 
 pasture fields than across those barren downs we 
 have just left." 
 
 '' There^s no ^ ought ^ in this case, squire, begging 
 your pardon, except the big round letter which goes 
 
 B B 2 
 
372 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 for nothing ; and I always backs them barren downs, 
 as you call them, against meadow lands, as holding 
 a better scent any day in the week. You see, 
 squire, scent depends more or less upon the air than 
 upon the ^arth and I dare say you^ve noticed a sharp 
 frost take more hold of things under the hill than atop 
 of it. Hark ! to Counsellor. Have at him, my lads ! 
 hoic together ! hoic! They^re a- sticking to him, sir, 
 and one more round will about satisfy him. But, as 
 I were saying, there ain^t such a thing as a rule for 
 scent ; nobody can tell anything about it except by 
 experience. Your wiseacres — book men — them as 
 sucks other folks^ brains for what they puts in print — 
 knows all about it, in course, and talks a deal about 
 /^atmospherical and terrestrial influences ; and yet, 
 squire, they knows no more about what they are 
 writing than a schoolboy beginning to spell his 
 ABC does about grammar. But there^s Jem^s 
 holloa — he^s away ; and we^ll talk more on scent, sir, 
 as we goes home with his brush.^^ 
 
 A rush was instantly made by some fifty of the 
 right sort, who still followed the hounds into the 
 vale ; but it was evident, after crossing the first large 
 grass field, that there was but a holding scent, and 
 not much chance of the pack getting clear, as in 
 the morning, of the horsemen. The fences, however, 
 proved strong enough for the veriest glutton, which 
 went for something, and the pace good enough to 
 keep them from riding too close, until they reached 
 the bank of a wide and deep river intersecting the 
 country, and at a point where no friendly bridge was 
 perceptible. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 373 
 
 ^' Lower down, gentlemen/^ said a cowman, in 
 answer to a question addressed to him, ^^ you can get 
 over by the mill ; '' and w^ithout further delay, away 
 rode forty-eight of the field. Will Headman, 
 whose sharp eye detected a landing place on the 
 other side, where the cows came down to drink, 
 cried out to John Staveley, " Here, squire, follow 
 me ; if you don't mind a dip under water, I knows 
 how to land you again ; '^ and dash into the middle 
 of the stream he leaped, with Jem on one side, and 
 Staveley on the other ; and after a ducking all three 
 emerged safely, and landed on terra firma. Two 
 others followed their example, when they had seen 
 how they succeded in battling with this formidable 
 obstacle ; but the trio were two fields ahead ere they 
 had accomplished their in and out, not quite so 
 cleverly as they expected. 
 
 '^Egad, WilV exclaimed Staveley, whose teeth 
 were chattering like castanets with the cold, ^^ I 
 don't much fancy this sort of thing ; water isn't to 
 my taste at any time." 
 
 '' Not unlikely, squire, but it must be taken 
 sometimes, and we shall soon get dry again by hard 
 riding. Besides which, we are all right with the 
 hounds, and the other gents are all wrong about 
 that bridge, which lies more than a mile up stream, 
 and the hounds are pointing t'other way, so we shall 
 have 'em all to ourselves." 
 
 For fifty minutes the fox ran straight ahead, as if 
 making for some large woodlands in their neigh- 
 bour's country; but on crossing a large open 
 common, on which a herd of cattle were seen 
 
374 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 blowing and snorting, it was evident they had been 
 following the fox, and the pack could barely hold 
 the line through them, at a very slow pace. Head- 
 man did not consider it prudent, however, to make 
 a swinging cast forward, in the hope of bettering 
 his position; and well it proved that he let well 
 alone, for on jumping the fence into a green lane 
 near a cottage. Counsellor hit the scent off in a 
 contrary direction. 
 
 ^^ Headed, squire,^^ he said, " by that man in the 
 garden ; and his dog looks as if he had been arter 
 our fox, for the hounds don^t like it^ and won't speak 
 to it, sir, although feeling they are upon it. A little 
 patience, and we shall be right again, but he has 
 now given up his point forward ; of that there can^t 
 be much doubt.'' 
 
 And so it turned out. The fox now made a wide 
 circuit over the vale, and the pace improved as the 
 pack gained upon their game. Again the dreaded 
 river appeared with its meandering course to resist 
 their progress ; but, fortunately, this time a bridge 
 saved them another cold bath. 
 
 '^ Now I knows all about it, squire," exclaimed 
 Headman ; ^^ he is running straight for Sandiway 
 Park Coppice, and the earths were put to this 
 morning ; so we shall handle him yet.'^ 
 
 Cold water tells upon a fox as well as a hot sun. 
 By the time he had gained the wood his strength 
 was nearly exhausted. In vain he tried every earth 
 — all were fatally closed upon him ; and whilst thus 
 lingering, the hounds came tearing up through the 
 underwood. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 37 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 A cold bath — Beaten horses and a beaten fox — Will Headman tastes 
 something stronger than pea soup — Jem and the miller — Two 
 ways of letting oflf steam — Our huntsman's ideas about scent — 
 The Queen's Head — Staveley and the old waiter — Lame hounds — 
 The jog home. 
 
 When Will Headman, followed by John Staveley, 
 reached the brow of the hill under which lay the 
 head of earths just tried by the old fox he was 
 pursuing-, their horses were pretty much in the same 
 condition as the wily animal, in short — to use a 
 homely phrase, they were '^ used up/^ or done up so 
 completely that they could not make a trot of it one 
 yard further ; and to add to their despair under such 
 distressing circumstances, the fox did not choose to 
 die upon the earths, but with an energy peculiar to 
 sinking vulpines, after giving his enemies a turn 
 round the covert, he again broke away at the lower 
 end of it, with the eighteen couples not a hundred 
 yards from his brush. Headman watched his last 
 exit for a second or two with an intense scrutiny ; 
 then, jumping from his saddle, said quickly, 
 " Squire, will you hold my horse, he can't jump 
 another fence; but, although not so lithesome as 
 twenty years ago, I can see the finish on foot. He's 
 running now for those farm buildings, and he can't 
 go beyond them.'^ 
 
 In a trice Headman was bundling down the hill. 
 
376 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 going at liis best pace, and fully prepared to do the 
 run out on foot if the necessity arose for so doing ; 
 but his bold resolve was nipped in the bud, greatly 
 to his consolation, by seeing his darlings whisking 
 their sterns about the cow-house, and hearing one 
 or two well-known tongues baying within. 
 
 ^^ All right,'^ spluttered Will, as he rose up, after 
 an unexpected surge into a cesspool, into which he 
 had fallen when scrambling over a low wall ; '^ we 
 have him now to a dead certainty, although I^m 
 pretty well stifled by that villanous cow slush. 
 Well, it don't much signify; the pinkos dyed purple, 
 that^s all — bah ! I stinks like bad baccy /^ 
 
 "Holloa, master !^^ cried Jem, who just then 
 made his appearance on foot. '^What's the matter?'^ 
 
 "Nothing particular, Jem, only a dip into the 
 mucksum, ^vhich aint quite so pleasant as rose- 
 water : but here he is, behind these boardings in the 
 cow-house, so lend a hand to pull one of ^em up." 
 
 This operation being speedily completed, the fox 
 bolted out amongst the hounds, and was as speedily 
 dispatched, by which time John Staveley had arrived 
 in the farmyard leading Headman^s beaten horse. 
 
 " Here he is, squire,^^ exclaimed that individual, 
 holding the fox over his head until he reached a 
 clean bit of grass outside the walls ; " and I think, 
 squire, youM like to have his brush, sticked and 
 labelled, and hung up in your hall amongst t'other 
 celebrated trophies of that kind; and I must say, 
 squire, youVe well deserved it.'^ 
 
 " Be that as it may, Will, I would not have 
 missed this brush for a five-pound note ; and so now 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 377 
 
 let them have the carcase at once, for my coat 
 seems frozen to my back, and Jem looks as if a hot 
 glass of brandy- and- water would just save his life. 
 Moreover, we can get some gruel at the Queen's 
 Head for the horses, and all on our road home/^ 
 
 " Ah ! squire, thaf's the ticket," said Jem, in 
 high glee, *' for I do feel much more like a moving 
 icicle than a whipper-in ; that last plunge into the 
 river, when you and master went over the bridge, 
 pretty nigh did for me and the poor mare. We were 
 a longsome time under water ; and when we com^d 
 up, tlie current took us down stream, and I began 
 to think w^e never should land, when the miller hove 
 in sight, and beckoned me to guide her to where he 
 was standing on the bank ; and being a strong man, 
 he laid hold on her head, and dragged her out." 
 
 " Now then, \Yill, quick march ; give me the 
 brush and take your horse, I shall foot it for a mile 
 to get warm." 
 
 " And so shall I, squire, and then we can talk 
 about scent the while." 
 
 " What^s the matter with Jem, Will ? he seems 
 to have got a fit." 
 
 ^'Not he, squire; he only turned hisself on his 
 back, and is kicking up his heels to let the water 
 out of his boots." 
 
 " Ha ! ha ! ha ! not a bad plan either ; but I 
 always have a gimlet-hole in the sole of mine, to let 
 it run out." 
 
 *^ Well, squire, I guess that is something new." 
 
 '' New or old. Will, ^tis an easy way of letting off 
 the steam, when we have too much of it ; and as it 
 
378 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 has either rained or mizzled every day in the week 
 this season^ except one Sunday, my dodge answers 
 the purpose very well.''^ 
 
 " I shan't forget the hint, squire ; but where is all 
 the gents that set out from Hazel Grove, sworn to ride 
 us down?^^ 
 
 ^^ And that Mr. Harkaway/^ chimed in Jem, who 
 had got upon his legs again ; " he funked the river 
 when we went into it^ and turned away for the 
 bridge with the rest on ''em. Well, Fd rather be 
 drowned than that any one of that B. C. Hunt should 
 have been up at the finish of this old fox. We 
 have blow'd ^em all up, high and low — on down and 
 in the vale ; and Fll warrant our good old master, 
 when we gets home, will give us a hearty welcome 
 for beating the knowing ones so thoroughly .^^ 
 
 "Now, sir,'^ said Headman, as they tramped 
 along on foot towards the Queen^s Head, "I sup- 
 pose you didn^t expect a scent in such weather as 
 this, with the mist freezing on our coats as it falls, 
 and the wind in the east ; but then you see, squire, 
 there^s no rule for it, as I said this morning, not- 
 withstanding all the philosophers tell us about it. 
 It were better, though, on the downs than it is in 
 the vale, where generally the land is of a colder 
 nature, and for choice 1^11 back the lighter soils 
 against the heavy ones; but there the Aair, squire, 
 has more to do with scent than the ^arth.^^ 
 
 " That^s true enough, Will, for I remember seeing 
 a capital scent with spaniels when out shooting last 
 year, during the hardest frost I ever remember. The 
 wind was due east, as it is now, and the cold most 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 379 
 
 intense ; and yet, notwithstanding, our little cry of 
 spaniels and terriers, kept knocking about the hares 
 and rabbits at a wonderful rate, the greater part of 
 the day ; and as for the ground, it was as hard as a 
 board, and not a blade of grass in the high wood, 
 where the scent was the best. This sets at nought 
 all the old established crotchets about a southerly 
 wind and a cloudy sky, with their balmy breezes, as 
 indispensable to a good scenting day. Experience 
 teaches us that the enigma of scent lies as deep in 
 the well as truth is said to be.^' 
 
 " Well, squire, Fm quite of your opinion, and 
 still thinks it's all in the Aair ; contrariwise, how 
 could our hounds twice this arternoon have owned 
 the scent across that 'ere river ? The water the fox 
 touched in crossing were gone a long way down the 
 stream before they reached the bank ; and in course, 
 if the water held the scent, they would have gone 
 down arter it^ instead of swimming straight across 
 it. The fact is, squire, the water didn't hold the 
 scent at all, no more than the land does sometimes, 
 ^twere wafted over it by the Aair, or /iatmosphere, as 
 some learned folks call it, and the hounds felt it 
 was before them. Well, now, here's a case in point ; 
 there^s that chap before us walking along the road, 
 and smoking his pipe ; his whiff don't touch land or 
 water, and yet I could run him for miles, as long as 
 his baccy lasted — leastways Jem could, and run into 
 him, for he's a deal lighter on foot than I. Then, 
 squire, I remember seeing, once in my life, a lot of 
 staghounds, as they're called — and a pretty lot it was 
 —break away from huntsman and whip, and run the 
 
380 SYSTE^il OF KENNEL AND 
 
 deer cart like blazes, although the poor brute shut up 
 in it, had not put his hoof yet on the ground, so 
 that couldn't be called a pad scent any ways — ^twere 
 all in the Aair, squire/' 
 
 " Well, so it is generally, Will ; but the air is 
 uncommonly cold just now, and thank goodness we 
 are at the Queen^s Head, where we shall get some 
 hot brandy-and-water." 
 
 '^ And 1^11 warrant, squire, arter we have drunk it 
 folk might run us for a mile or two when we get 
 into our saddles.'^ 
 
 '^ Well, what^s to be done with the horses, they are 
 worst ofF?'^ 
 
 ^^ We^ll put 'em into the stable for a minute or 
 two, out of this biting wind, whilst we gets some hot 
 gruel for 'em and a mouthful of hay/^ 
 
 '^Corn, I suppose you mean?^^ 
 
 " No, squire, they could^nt eat it ; and if they 
 would gruel is the thing first, with a noggin of gin in 
 it to warm 'em, then a morsel of hay, and we must be 
 on their backs again. It won^t do to let ^em stop 
 too long, orthey^ll get stiff; and here^s a large loose 
 box with plenty of straw where we will put the 
 hounds for the ten minutes we can stay/^ 
 
 Whilst Headman and Jem, with the ostler, were 
 arranging for the comfort of their horses, John 
 Staveley entered the house, ordering cold meat with 
 the brandy-and-water for three, to be placed on the 
 table in the traveller's room, where blazed a roaring 
 fire, before which he stood with his back to the 
 grate. 
 
 *' Now, waiter, that will do ; we havn't much time 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 381 
 
 to spare, so call the liuutsman and whipper-in to 
 come here directly/^ 
 
 " Yes, sir; but master, seeing you looked cold, has 
 had some good gravy soup got ready/' 
 
 '^ All the better, bring it in/^ 
 
 Exit waiter ; enter head ditto, with a tureen of 
 hot stuff called ox-tail — a misnomer generally, as 
 ox-tails are not so easily got hold of as sheep^s tails 
 in the provinces. 
 
 " Well, Thomas,^^ exclaimed Staveley, " I was 
 afraid to ask questions, not seeing you as usual, and 
 began to think this cold weather had shrivelled you 
 up like a daisy at sunset/^ 
 
 ^^ I was engaged, squire, taking up dinner to some 
 gents in the commercial line when you rode up ; and 
 you know they always wants the best of things at a 
 mementos notice, and the lowest rate.^^ 
 
 "And how does the house go on, Thomas ?" 
 
 "^Tain't burnt down yet, sir, but ^twill soon by 
 these fire engines. They have got the rail open to 
 within ten miles of us, and when they builds up the 
 station-house at Lenton Hill, ^tis all over with our 
 house. We shan't ever do any business except with 
 tourists and trappists, and they won't pay the coal 
 bill/^ 
 
 " What do you call trappists 1" 
 
 " 'Tis another name for bagmen — in politer lan- 
 guage,, commercial — we can't tack on ^gentlemen,' 
 sir, without doing violence to our sense of truth.^^ 
 
 " Here, Jem,^' cried Staveley, "off with that red rag 
 of yours. Take it in the kitchen, Thomas, and bring 
 your master's dressing gown or your missuses flannel 
 
382 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 petticoat to throve over his shoulders. Now^ Jem, 
 down with this first/' pouring him out half a 
 tumbler of brandy-and-water, '^ and then go into 
 the basin of soup. Egad, Will, I think we had 
 better put him in between the blankets at once, and 
 do him up here for the night.'^ 
 
 " I shall be all right again presently, thank ye, 
 squire ; but I do feel very much like a dog in a wet 
 sack.^' 
 
 Horses and hounds, after a hard day, such as we 
 have been relating, are far better jogging quietly 
 on their way home, than standing or lying in a 
 stable, however comfortable, at a way-side inn, for 
 more than a few minutes, the former for a little 
 warm water or gruel to resuscitate their exhausted 
 frames, but as to the latter, it is very seldom that 
 any refreshment can be procured for them. Whilst 
 moving, hounds which have been strained or injured 
 by blows or blackthorns do not appear to feel these 
 effects; but when their limbs begin to stiffen by 
 lying down, they turn out quite lame. Will Head- 
 man, knowing this certain consequence, hastily 
 swallowed his soup and brandy-and-water, with a 
 small proportion of bread and meat, and pocketing 
 the remainder of the loaf for his pets, said, " Now, 
 squire, Fm ready ; but you can enjoy your meal 
 comfortably, and overtake me on the road.^^ 
 
 " No, Will, I don^t want to spoil my dinner ; so 
 get out the hounds while I pay the bill — I shall be 
 ready, too, in five minutes.^^ 
 
 ^^ Some of them go rather tenderly,^^ remarked 
 Staveley, on resuming their tramp upon that road. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. S83 
 
 " Yes, squire, and there will be more goin^ ten- 
 derly to-morrow morning ; but that can't be helped 
 after such work as they have gone through this day. 
 And now to resume our discourse about scent; you 
 seemed dubious about it's being in the Aair?'' 
 
 '' Not always, Will/' 
 
 " Generally — that's my rule, if there's any rule. 
 My meaning is, that scent always does depend more 
 upon the ^atmosphere, than upon the state of the 
 ground. Now you noticed, I dare say, this arternoon, 
 that the hounds were running hard up one side of 
 the hedge, over Buttermere farm, when the fox had 
 gone up the other side ; yet, now I suppose you will 
 admit, that was not a ground scent, inasmuch as the 
 fox never touched the 'arth where the hounds were 
 running what is called breast high, that is, when the 
 scent is Avafted over their heads. I don't mean to 
 deny, squire, altogether, that the ground has nothing 
 whatever to do with it, no matter what sort of soil 
 you are running over, provided there is something 
 to catch and hold the ^fluvia oozing out of the 
 animal's body and his breath ; and there was a proof 
 of it, when we got upon Starveall Common, the 
 poorest bit of ground in the country, but covered 
 with coarse grass and patches of heather — didn't 
 they fly over it ! faster than across the rich grazing 
 lands of farmer Grainger." 
 
 '' Well, Will, I admit this, but the air has little to 
 do with it on a bad scenting day, when hounds are 
 obliged to pick out the line foot by foot." 
 
 " Very true, squire, that's what we call a pad 
 scent, left upon the 'arth chiefly by the fox^s foot ; 
 
384 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 and when honnds are holding the line over greasy 
 or sticky fallows there is less scent, from the soil 
 clinging to the ball of the foot. Then so much 
 depends upon the pace at which the fox is travelling. 
 The faster he goes the better the scent ; and the 
 reason is plain enough — the ^fluvia from his body 
 being thrown off in a much higher degree when in 
 motion. We often draw over foxes lying snug in 
 their kennels; and every spooney who knows any- 
 thing about varmints can tell ye that a ferret or a 
 fitch whilst asleep throws off no scent from his 
 body ; but stir him up with a pole or a terrier dog, 
 and don^t he smell a few, squire ? This very morn- 
 ing, the second fox we killed was found by me, not 
 the hounds, which passed him, curled up under a fir 
 tree fast asleep, and I gave him a cut of my whip to 
 rouse him up. So you see, with all the burning 
 scent he left behind him when bundled out, not a 
 hound winded him in his kennel, when the Aair 
 around him was not impregnated with the ^fluvia 
 from his body. Then you see the scent changes as 
 the fox grows weaker after a long run ; and when he 
 is quite exhausted, there is scarcely any at all : and 
 you know. Squire, one of our greatest difficulties is, 
 when running a beaten fox into a covert w^here 
 there is another, to prevent the hounds flashing 
 away upon the fresh one, the scent of which is so 
 much better than that of the hunted one. Now, if 
 hounds had the sense to know this, they would stick 
 to their own game, which is nearly knocked up, and 
 not run after the fresh fox, which will lead them 
 many miles before he can be brought into the same 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 385 
 
 condition. In course, all hounds enjoy a scent, 
 that^s natural ; but I rather think they like catching 
 their game quite as well as hunting it/^ 
 
 ^^ Yes, Will, that's true enough ; changing scents 
 is the greatest of all our drawbacks/' 
 
 ^^It is so, squire; we must put up with the 
 weather, chop and change as it may, like other folk ; 
 but to have hounds holloa'd on to a fresh fox when 
 they are just on the point of catching the tired one, 
 after a hard chase, is what I calls a very hard case." 
 
 " There will be a harder case to-morrow, I think — 
 a precious hard frost, and no hunting at all for a 
 month, perhaps." 
 
 " A fortnight's shut-up wouldn't do us any harm, 
 squire, as we have had a pretty good share of work 
 this season, and that's about the lion's share in 
 comparison with our neighbours. But, talking of 
 frost, I dare say you have seen a capital scent in a 
 white one, whilst it was white, but just the reverse 
 or none at all when it were going off, and the 
 vapour like rising from the ^arth. Well, putting 
 this and that together, and all things considered, 
 scent is, after all that can be said about it, a very 
 ticklish subject to handle, like a live fox; still I pins 
 my faith upon the ^air." 
 
 ^^ Eight, quite right. Will, it does all come from 
 the Imir : here our roads cross, so good night." 
 
 C C 
 
386 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 Foxhunting fixtures — Various motives for meeting hounds — Change of 
 line in drawing coverts — Good foxes on the look out for squalls — 
 Witches and wizards — The poultry fancier — Scarcity of good 
 bipeds as well as quadrupeds — Counting noses — Keeping your 
 appointments — Hunting a cure for atra cura — Advertising 
 fixtures now imperative — Ludicrous scene in the field — An explo- 
 sion — The flight of Anak. 
 
 Every pleasure in life has its alloy ; but of all field 
 sports, we believe foxhunting to be the most enjoy- 
 able. The ride or drive to the place of meeting on 
 a hunting morning cheers and exhilarates one ; the 
 expectation of meeting friends and neighbours ; the 
 anticipation of good sport ; the scene of hounds and 
 horses grouped together at some favourite fixture; 
 all these afPord food for enjoyment to the genuine 
 lover of the sport. It is not our purpose to inquire 
 into the various motives by which one half, perhaps, 
 of the assembled horsemen are actuated; but it 
 would be contrary to our experience to say that all 
 men go out hunting for the sake of hunting. By 
 condescending to patronise the sport, however, they 
 are doing good service to the cause, and we welcome 
 their appearance at the place of meeting with 
 pleasure. Foxhunting happens in these days to be 
 the fashion; and, as the lady once said, '^ We may as 
 well be out of the world as out of the fashion.^^ 
 The place of meeting never ought to be at or 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 387 
 
 even near the side of the covert to be first drawn. 
 Moreover, masters of experience know full well the 
 necessity of keeping their own counsel, or, in other 
 words, sealing their lips, as to their line of march 
 from a given fixture. If a certain covert is gene- 
 rally drawn from a certain place, many will not go 
 to that place at all if lying out of their road from 
 home, but content themselves with loitering at the 
 wood hedge, instead of riding a mile further to the 
 advertised fixture ; yet, whilst approving their 
 prudence in saving their horses' legs, we are reluct- 
 antly compelled to disappoint the expectations of 
 the few in order to ensure, as much as in our power 
 lies, the sport of the majority. If the same covert 
 is invariably drawn from the same place of meeting, 
 that covert will be besieged by a host of foot-men as 
 well as horsemen, long before the arrival of the 
 hounds ; and if there is a good fox in it, he will 
 make sure to be out of it on the first intimation of 
 danger. A good old fox is rarely caught napping, 
 and as rarely waits to be found by hounds. We do 
 hear occasionally of a straight running one being 
 thus found ; but it is generally in a strange country 
 or in the spring of the year, when dog-foxes are 
 unusually indolent and sleepy during the day, from 
 travelling many miles over night. But a knowing 
 old wily, upon his own ground, when finding his 
 door shut, is always on the qui vive for squalls ; and 
 the tramp of horses or talking of pedestrians 
 around the wood are sufficient hints to make himself 
 scarce as soon as possible. 
 
 We have often known foxes to leave the strongest 
 
 c c 2 
 
388 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 coverts in which the earths had been stopped at 
 night — perceiving, of course, what this barring of 
 doors portended— ^and to lie out in hedgerows, even 
 in the stubble and turnip fields, until the hounds 
 had been drawn away from the wood, and then, 
 when the whole cavalcade had passed out of sight 
 and hearing, quietly emerge from their hiding- 
 places, and sneak back into covert. This stratagem 
 is continually adopted by crafty old foxes, and the 
 huntsman is often blamed for not drawing the wood 
 sufficiently — in short, leaving foxes behind him, 
 which, in reality, were not there when the hounds 
 were. The fact is, that foxes are not credited with 
 half the wiliness and sagacity they possess ; and 
 although we have often heard hares called witches, 
 the term wizard is rarely applied to any of the 
 vulpine race. 
 
 By instinct the hare has recourse to many devices 
 when her strength and speed fail to elude the 
 pursuit of her enemies; her leaps and doubles in 
 retrograde movements, even to the last, being truly 
 surprising. Occasionally, when hardly pressed by 
 hounds, hares will take refuge in drains or rabbit- 
 holes, and if not ejected from them will resort to 
 the same shelter again to save their lives ; but, as a 
 general rule, their chief dependence is upon strata- 
 gem, to mislead their pursuers ; and this constitutes 
 the great distinction between the chase of the fox 
 and the more timid animal. A fox runs straight, if 
 permitted so to do, for a given point — a head of 
 earths or drain — which he regards as his home; and 
 if barred out from them goes still further on for 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 389 
 
 other such places with which he is acquainted. That 
 is generally the course pursued by what we call 
 hard-running foxes; and it is marvellous what an 
 extent of country they travel over in their nightly 
 peregrinations at a particular season of the year. 
 There can be no question that both foxes and hares 
 do not exhibit such stoutness in running as in 
 former days^ and the cause is obvious : they are 
 generally too numerous and too well fed at home 
 to be under the necessity of travelling very far for 
 com panio.n ship or food. All experienced sportsmen 
 know — although reluctant to admit the fact^ for fear 
 of the numbers being diminished by unfair means — 
 that for hunting, game should be rather scanty to 
 afford good sport. 
 
 The great drawback to foxhunting is the 
 changing of foxes (crossing the line of a fresh one), 
 when save for this misadventure the run would have 
 been complete. There are what we call ringing 
 foxes as well as the straight-running. The former, 
 however, are generally vixens, and therefore their 
 lives ought to be spared. But when a dog-fox is 
 detected in such shortgoings, a couple of hours are 
 well spent in securing his scalp ; for having once 
 beaten hounds at such tricks, he will never improve 
 upon further acquaintance. Kill this sort of animal 
 by all manner of means — fair or foul. Mob him, 
 hustle and holloa him to death as soon as possible if 
 you can; and we forgive you taking every advantage 
 of this mar-sport, short of spoiling your hounds in 
 your effort to obtain his spolia opima, since he 
 generally brings discredit upon his family by 
 
390 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 prowling about farmyards at night — unless rabbits 
 are very plentiful in his locality — and robbing the 
 henroosts ; and when found by hounds has recourse 
 to dodging tricks^ and rings round covert to foil them. 
 
 It is related of a famous old Dorsetshire fox, 
 which had beaten Mr. Farquarson's hounds for 
 several seasons, and had obtained the sobriquet of 
 Buttermere Jack, from being generally found in a 
 large covert of that name, that on hearing the 
 tramp of a horse near the wood, or the slamming of 
 a gate, he was olBP immediately, gaining thereby such 
 an advantage that the hounds could never overtake 
 him. One fox of this character is worth a score of 
 those so easily brought to book, after your twenty 
 or thirty minutes' burst. Ah ! that book-keeping or 
 nose-counting account is just the very thing to 
 mar sport. The thirty brace of cubs disposed of 
 somehow or other before the 1st of November 
 would appear to argue that the pack which could 
 accomplish such a feat must be, as good spirits are 
 said to be, ^^ above proof /^ whereas ten couples of 
 harriers would as easily perform the same act. 
 
 It is universally admitted that good people are 
 scarce — much more scarce, considering the increase 
 of population, than they ever have been since the 
 days of Noah — so are good foxes. The good ones 
 are rarely to be met with, the bad are continually 
 in our way when not wanted. In Beckford^s time 
 it was not the fashion generally to advertise the 
 places at which foxhounds were to meet ; and there 
 can be no doubt that such a reservation on the part 
 of the master proved beneficial to hounds, although 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 391 
 
 unsatisfactory and exceedingly disgusting to the 
 foxhunting community. Every genuine sportsman 
 will allow that there are days, and many throughout 
 the season^ when hounds would be far better lying 
 upon their benches in the lodging-house at home 
 than disturbing coverts from which no sport could 
 reasonably be expected. Moreover, the hunting 
 fixture in his time was not attended, as now, by a 
 large concourse of men on horseback, who had sent 
 on their hunters many miles by road or railway to 
 be present at the gathering, and had set apart that 
 day for recreation from business, or from a real love 
 of hunting; so to either of these, although from 
 different causes, the non-appearance of the hounds 
 could not fail to produce great disappointment, and 
 something more. To be told by a whipper-in, with the 
 master's compliments, " that the hounds would be 
 there next morning if favourable/^ seemed only 
 adding insult to injury. 
 
 Men who have nothing to do at home, and others 
 so exceedingly fond of hunting that nothing could 
 keep them at home, when there is a chance of 
 meeting hounds, will go out in every kind of weather 
 in the hope of finding, if not a fox, a cure for that 
 atra cur a qucs sedit post equitem, to kill time — save 
 the mark ! — which, to those who know not rightly its 
 value, passes heavily and slowly along, like the car 
 of Juggernaut, crushing numbers by its weight; 
 yet to others, who count the minutes as they fly as 
 the most precious moments of their lives which 
 they can only call their own, every hour to them 
 has its allotted work. 
 
892 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 The vast increase of hunting men in these later 
 days^ has^ however^ rendered the pubhcation of 
 hunting fixtures imperative; and although many- 
 large landed proprietors are not foxhunters^ more 
 than half their friends and acquaintances are lovers of 
 the chase, and to gratify them parties are made over- 
 night, when the foxhounds are advertised to meet at 
 or near their country seats. An additional impulse 
 has also been given to this popular sport by the pa- 
 tronage of the fair sex. A man may prove sulky 
 and surly to his brother man, where his pursuits 
 differ, who is not proof against the winning smile of 
 woman when pleading the cause of ^^ The Noble 
 Science." The tillers of the soil may be called the only 
 class of men who really do suffer from this sport 
 having become so fashionable ; but, putting aside the 
 love of it inherent in the hearts of all true Britons 
 or half Eritons, the increase of hunting studs in 
 every locality must and does increase the value of 
 their hay and corn to a great amount, and conse- 
 quently compensate for any injury done to their 
 crops when in a growing state. Occasionally we do 
 meet with a sulky farmer, who threatens to pitch- 
 fork some of the field if he can catch them ; and we 
 will relate a little emeute of this kind which oc- 
 curred lately in the hunting-field. 
 
 The hounds had come to a check on the land of a 
 big burly agriculturist, who assailed one of tlie hunt 
 with very uncourteous language, threatening him 
 with condign punishment on the spot for thus tres- 
 passing. The assailed, in no wise disconcerted at 
 this furious attack, quietly took out a cigar, and 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTIXG. 393 
 
 ligliting it from his matchbox, replaced the latter in 
 his coat pocket, on which he unfortunately bumped 
 down in the saddle ; and being a bulky man, the 
 sudden and heavy pressure caused the whole to 
 explode with a sharp crack, resembling that por- 
 tending the advent of a thunderstorm. There 
 being no fire-engine nearer at hand than that 
 belonging to the parish three miles off, and being 
 unprovided with Mr. Benham^s Extincteur (which 
 every smoker ought to carry on his back, in case of 
 a similar accident), our hunting friend sprang from 
 his saddle instanter, tearing off his coat with wild 
 and frantic gestures — and well was he justified in 
 doing so, upon finding such a cracker attached to 
 his tail. We presume many of our readers may 
 have seen or heard of unfortunate dogs placed in 
 this uncomfortable dilemma by mischievous urchins. 
 The agricultural Anak cast but one look at this fire- 
 eater springing from his horse, not a long linger- 
 ing look behind, but believing his adversary's 
 intentions to be, from tearing off his coat so hastily, 
 to challenge him there and then to a game of fives, 
 Anak fied incontinently and ignominiously from his 
 own field ; neither slackened he his speed until he 
 had reached his homestead, some half-a-mile distant, 
 wherein he bolted and barred himself from the anti- 
 cipated onslaught; and we need scarcely remark 
 the exceeding merriment it caused to the whole 
 field. 
 
394 SYSTEM OF KENKEL AND 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI. 
 
 "Winter rural sports — Foxhunting and pheasant shooting — The battue 
 — Commander-in-chief — Non-interference — Experienced sports- 
 men of service sometimes — Gfeneral conduct of the fiekl — Rivalry 
 in horsemanship — Hunting to ride — Spoiling sport — Heads and 
 tails up. 
 
 In the present enlightened age the time of meeting 
 together for the purpose of finding a fox is about 
 one hour before noon^ when our forefathers gene- 
 rally returned home for their early dinner^ having 
 mounted their horses at cock-crowing, i.e.^ by the 
 earliest dawn of lights and long before Aurora 
 had risen from her bed in the east. Beckford's 
 opinion on harehunting was^ that "if you make 
 a serious business of it, you spoil it/^ Young 
 England appears to entertain a similar opinion in 
 regard to foxhunting. We have become very 
 luxurious in the nineteenth century ; we don't like to 
 be put out of our way, or, in other words, subjected 
 to the least inconvenience or trouble when it can be 
 avoided ; and therefore, in obedience to their require- 
 ments, eleven o^ clock has become the fashionable 
 hour, allowing plenty of time to make a good break- 
 fast, glance over our letters, and take a hasty run 
 through the newspaper, before having a run through 
 the country. 
 
 The heaviest time during the winter season is the 
 forenoon, when there is little to be done in the way 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 895 
 
 of recreation and amusement by those happy mortals 
 who have literally nothing to do, except, perhaps, 
 scribbling over two or three sheets of note paper to 
 very particular friends ; and were not foxhunting the 
 fashion, what would become of them? On non- 
 hunting days time may be saved from ennui by a 
 lounge down to the stables after breakfast, smoking 
 a cigar whilst looking over the horses, and kicking 
 your heels agaiust the corn-bin whilst watching the 
 operation called dressing. A battue day possibly 
 may sometimes intervene to drown dull care ; but 
 the most thickly stocked preserves cannot afford 
 sport — sliooting we ought to have said — for three days 
 a week throughout the season, like a moderately 
 stocked foxhunting country. A battue day is a 
 grand meet for gods and goddesses ; but, like real 
 angels' visits, they are few and far between. Battue- 
 ing would lose its chief, and we may add only, 
 attraction were less than a thousand head of game 
 slaughtered in one day ; and where are the preserves 
 which could afford such blood-shedding three days 
 a week, from the 1st of October to the 1st day of 
 February ? More money would be required to 
 maintain the staff of keepers, watchers, &c., for such 
 an establishment than that for the support of six 
 packs of foxhounds on a moderate scale. Although 
 little can be said against foxhunters, they get pretty 
 well bespattered with foul language as well as with 
 mud in foul weather; yet selfishness and vain boast- 
 ing cannot very fairly be laid to their charge. A 
 master may feel rather pleased on seeing a good 
 run afforded by his pack noticed in sporting prints. 
 
396 SYSTEIkl OF KENXEL AND 
 
 and he has good cause to be proud of such an 
 achievement, which has cost much labour and 
 scientific knowledge in bringing to a fortunate 
 termination. Omne iulit punctum qui miscuit utile 
 dulci. 
 
 Foxhunting may be said to combine the utile and 
 dulce^ by imparting health to the body as well as 
 recreation and pleasure to the mind. Wild-shoot- 
 ing, in contradistinction to battueing, where a man 
 must take plenty of walking exercise to fill his bag, 
 is both useful and agreeable, and the shooter can 
 boast of pursuing his game to more advantage than 
 foxhunters. Upon such matters of taste, however, 
 we are not disposed to split straws. Some men 
 prefer walking to riding ; the latter is our choice, 
 from being more exhilarating, and attended with less 
 fatigue of body, which always tells upon the spirit. 
 
 With foxhunting, non-intervention on the part of 
 the field has been considered a necessary and 
 general rule to lay down, the propriety of which is 
 obvious ; as '^ too many cooks spoil the broth," too 
 many amateur assistants are certain to spoil the 
 sport. There are some men who really take an 
 interest in all the proceedings, from the find to the 
 finish ; but they are rarcB aves in these days, Avhen 
 riding occupies the minds of ninety-nine out of the 
 hundred, and so little attention is bestowed upon the 
 work of hounds : still, where such men are to be 
 found, masters hail their appearance at the place of 
 meeting with sincere pleasure, regarding them as 
 brother labourers in the same field, upon w^liose co- 
 operation in critical cases they may depend ; and there 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 397 
 
 are many opportunities when experienced sportsmen 
 can lend a helping hand in case the whipper-in may 
 be absent from his post. 
 
 Whilst drawing coverts, the head whipper-in 
 cannot be here, there, and everywhere at the same 
 moment, although, perhaps, expected to do such 
 ubiquitous duty : and here a sensible amateur who 
 knows '^ who^s who ^^ in the pack — videlicit, has made 
 himself acquainted with the hounds and their various 
 dispositions — may be of great service to the master, 
 and contribute greatly to the sport of his fellow 
 foxhunters, by a judicious use of his voice and whip 
 in several ways. When the body of the pack has 
 settled to one fox he may cut off stragglers breaking 
 away after another. If young hounds are running 
 riot, of which he has ocular proof, a rate and a 
 crack of the whip at the right moment are of signal 
 service to the master and huntsman. We are, of 
 course, supposing the amateur who can do these 
 things to be a proficient in the science, otherwise 
 he may do more mischief than good. When a few 
 couples get ahead of the pack, he may have an 
 opportunity of stopping them, absenti whipper-in. 
 At a check on a fallow field, nothing more likely 
 than for a " timid ^' to start up from her form and 
 scuttle away, with Foreman and Fleecer, straining 
 every muscle to catch her. A cut over them, with a 
 deep guttural note, will prevent others following their 
 bad example. But hallooing and screaming is quite a 
 different affair to rating, producing the contrary effect, 
 and creating immense confusion. An amateur assis- 
 tant, however zealously affected towards the orderly 
 
398 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 conduct of the pack to "whicli he has attached himself, 
 unless possessing strong vocal powers, had better 
 not attempt a rate, but content himself with the 
 use of the whipcord. Riding and hallooing after 
 young hounds in pursuit of a hare with a shrill 
 voice is more often taken by them for a cheer than 
 a rate, encouraging others to join in the outbreak. 
 
 Upon such an emergency, a sensible huntsman 
 will instantly turn his horse's head, calling his 
 hounds back or in a contrary direction, leaving the 
 delinquents to the tender mercies of Jack, who will 
 give them a thorough good scoring before they can 
 take refuge in the pack, where, of course, they ought 
 to feel quite secure from further punishment. We 
 know of no better plan to break young hounds from 
 running hare than this ; and after one lesson of this 
 kind, it is not likely that they will run the gauntlet 
 again, especially if both Jem and Jack can be spared 
 to give them a thorough good lashing before they 
 can reach their huntsman. "We have found the 
 most wilful rioters cured by this process, when all 
 others have failed. Where hares abound, hounds 
 are accustomed to see them continually getting up 
 before them, and become indifferent; but where 
 they are scarce the reverse is the case. We re- 
 member a clever huntsman in the New Forest — at 
 that time full of deer — who used to trot his young 
 hounds along the drive across which they were con- 
 tinually passing ; and if any of the entry broke away 
 he turned his horse round quickly, trotting off in 
 another direction and blowing his horn, whilst the 
 whippers-in were punishing the offenders and driving 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 399 
 
 them back at full speed to their huntsman; and 
 those which had been thus scarified and horrified 
 by whip and voice never would look at a deer 
 again. 
 
 The late John Ward, when hunting the Craven 
 country, had a tame deer, which used to walk out 
 with the hounds into a paddock near the kennels, 
 and fed with them out of the troughs containing 
 oatmeal and boiled flesh. We all know that preven- 
 tion is better than cure ; and this is more particularly 
 the case with young foxhounds, which are very diffi- 
 cult to cure of bad habits, when they have once 
 tasted the blood of deer or hare. The noli me tangere 
 must be rigidly enforced ; and although ^^ cats may 
 be permitted with impunity to look at kings and 
 queens," young puppy dogs must not cast longing 
 glances towards their forbidden fruit without caution. 
 A whipper-in ought to be a first rater with his 
 tongue as Avell as his hand. We don^t care the 
 least about a melodious voice, for, although agreeable 
 to the ear, it is of little service in wood or field, and 
 the possessor of it generally indulges this faculty 
 rather too freely. We prefer the vox objurgans to 
 the vox suavis et canora in a whipper-in. 
 
 The mischief arising from an unruly pack of 
 hounds is great, but that from an unruly field of 
 sporting men far greater. We have ever considered 
 the position of a subscription master anything but 
 enviable. Those who pay their twenty-fives, or even 
 tens, always think themselves entitled to have a 
 hand in the game, or, rather, a voice in the vote ; 
 they have a right to holloa whenever so disposed, 
 
400 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 to ride over hounds if in their way, and to commit 
 sundry other enormities as it pleases them ; and if 
 reproved, tender their resignations as supporters of 
 the hunt. This conduct is, to say the least of it^ 
 evidence of very bad taste, as well as of utter dis- 
 regard to the conventionalities of society. The 
 most furious of radicals are represented by a delegate, 
 whom they not only pay for his services, but feel 
 bound also to submit to his decision ; and when a 
 master has been selected by the unanimous con- 
 currence of the hunt, every subscriber ought to 
 know that he is the recognised commander-in- 
 chief pending his tenure of ofiSce, whether of long 
 or short duration. As with nations so with fox- 
 hunting countries ; there must be one to whom the 
 reins of government are entrusted ; there must be a 
 head and neck to guide the body and control the 
 limbs. 
 
 Compliance with certain established rules is ex- 
 pected of the ^^ field,^^ both to afford the huntsman 
 and hounds room for exercising their several abili- 
 ties without let or hindrance^ as well as to ensure 
 their own sport. When gorse or spinny is being 
 drawn, the " field ^' are expected to leave that side 
 open and quite free from trespassers, where the fox 
 may be likely to break for a good line of country ; 
 and until he is gone clear away, no holloa should 
 escape the lips of those who may have caught sight of 
 him, since nothing will head back a fox more cer- 
 tainly than a premature signal of this kind. Should 
 the gorse be small, silence ought to be observed by 
 all the lookers-on. Talking and coffee-housing is 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 401 
 
 permitted at the place of meeting ; but these should 
 cease and cigars be thrown away as soon as the pack 
 is thrown into the covert. It is also expected of the 
 " field ^^ that they allow the hounds to go first and 
 settle down upon the scent before they take up the 
 running or riding. This is a very difficult rule to 
 be enforced by the master when all are so nervously 
 impatient to be off and away. 
 
 Rivalry in horsemanship is the great evil in the 
 hunting-field. Harry Hasty does not relish the idea 
 of being cut down by Tom Harkaway ; he is on the 
 look-out to take the lead of him, and malgrc entrea- 
 ties or remonstrances from master or huntsman, goes 
 away at racing pace with the leading couples. What 
 concerns him is only how to get a good start and 
 keep it. What are hounds to him ? He rides after 
 them, it is true, because the recognized fashion is to 
 do so ; but he is evidently intent upon using this 
 kind of riding to hounds — or, more generally, riding 
 over them, unless the pace is good — for a means to 
 an end. A steeplechase would be infinitely more 
 to his taste. Probably, most probably, the horse he 
 is riding has to undergo this ordeal at the close of 
 the hunting season. Poor brute ! merciless man ! 
 n^importe, Harry Hasty has a point to gain in the 
 betting ; as for hounds, they ought to take care of 
 themselves, and get out of his way. Now what is a 
 master of hounds or his huntsman to do with such 
 hurry-scurry fellows as these? They cannot be 
 caught, perhaps, till the mischief has been done ; and 
 by that time, in the game of "'^ follow my leader,^^ a 
 score more will be in the same catalogue of first- 
 
 D D 
 
402 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 class offenders; the hounds, heads up, in ten or 
 twelve minutes ; and no scent forward. 
 
 To tell such men — sportsmen of course they are 
 not — that by their own conduct a good run has been 
 spoilt, will be mere waste of so many words. They 
 have no idea of sport ; it has never entered into their 
 imaginations to conceive what sport might mean. 
 They have gone out hunting for their gallop, have 
 had it ; and Harry thinks his nag has the foot of 
 Tom^s, and can negotiate — that^s the cant term — 
 his fences in better style. That^s all he cared about 
 knowing; and as for the master's ^^ damson juice/^ 
 he don^t care a rap about it. He has broken old 
 Saracen^s leg ; but masters of hounds don^t bring 
 actions for damages of this kind. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTIKG. 403 
 
 CHAPTER XL VII. 
 
 "But if the rougher sex by this fierce sport 
 Is hurried wild, let not such horrid joy- 
 E'er stain the bosom of the British fair. 
 Far be the spirit of the chase from them ! 
 Uncomely courage, unbeseeming skill, 
 To spring the fence, to run the prancing steed : 
 The cap, the whip, the masculine attire. 
 In which they roughen to the sense ; and all 
 The winning softness of their sex is lost." 
 
 A clear stage — Clearing a pack and five-barred gate — Pressing hounds 
 — Thoroughbred hunters jio novelty — Short and bang tails — 
 Ladies in the hunting-field. 
 
 At present we are treating of the duties which the 
 ^^ field^^ owe to the master and his hounds ; here- 
 after we may discuss the forbearance they ought to 
 exhibit towards each other. We lay this down as a 
 rule absolute, recognised by every true sportsman, 
 that no man is justified in riding so close upon the 
 line of the pack as to interfere with their just prero- 
 gative of doing their proper business in a proper 
 way. If a man cannot ride to hounds without rid- 
 ing after them — that is, in their wake — he is bound 
 to give the last hounds both time and space to clear 
 every fence before he puts his horse at it. Nervous 
 riders are always in an absurd fuss about this very 
 thing, and why ? Hounds don^t run now, if they 
 ever did, in a long extended line of half a mile, when 
 it might be imagined that the leading couples would 
 
 D D 2 
 
404 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 kill and eat their fox before tlie rear- guard got up, 
 supposing all had an equal start. But the fact is, 
 that although not quite so closely huddled together 
 whilst running, as recorded in the ^^ Memoirs of 
 another Tom Smith/^ that a man on horseback 
 could clear the whole lot and a five-barred gate at 
 one swoop ! foxhounds generally pack tolerably 
 well in chase ; and he who takes the tail hound for 
 his pioneer has no cause to be nervous about being 
 thrown out — only let him beware never to ride too 
 closely upon him^ to prevent him keeping his place. 
 A great deal of trash has been written aud said 
 about riding alongside of the leading couples, where 
 no one has a right to be — no, not even their hunts- 
 man — cui bono ? If a man has eyes in his head he 
 ought to be able to see, without being in such for- 
 bidden and dangerous proximity, whether they have 
 a scent before them or not. Twenty or thirty yards 
 to their right hand or left is sufficiently near, allow- 
 ing them space to turn on a sudden check and make 
 their own cast, without being ridden over in their 
 eagerness to recover the line. Hounds are rarely 
 ridden over by experienced sportsmen, the mischief 
 being done by steeplechasers — jealous and nervous 
 horsemen — solely occupied with their own thoughts 
 and the performances of their horses, without con- 
 sidering any further. Such continue pressing and 
 poking on, fearful of losing place, and to them a 
 sudden throw up at head is an intolerable disaster; 
 it lets other fellows in who happened to be out of 
 the start, placing them on an equality with them- 
 selves ; and on that account only they are so irapa- 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 405 
 
 tient of delay. It does not appear to enter into 
 their calculation that a short respite from excessive 
 respiration may prove of great service to their 
 horses, which ought to be standing still or moving 
 slowly about, while the rear-guard are in distress 
 from making up lost ground. Upon these occasions 
 a pull-up for a few seconds or minutes is tantamount 
 to a couple of miles gained in the run ; it gives your 
 horse time to recover his wind ; and after that, if 
 worth his keep, he will keep his place to the end 
 of it. 
 
 Not very long ago — within the last year — we 
 noticed in print an assertion, that men ride better 
 now than their forefathers ever did before them. 
 That more men hunt now" — or rather, go out riding 
 with hounds, which are not exactly synonymous 
 terms — we readily admit; but that men ride better, 
 with more judgment and discretion, maintaining 
 firmer seats in the saddle, than fifty years ago, we 
 utterly and entirely repudiate; for of the two or 
 three hundred who meet together in the grass shires, 
 there are not more than twenty or thirty who see the 
 end of a good run, the remainder being told off 
 generally in the first four miles when the pace is 
 severe. If the majority of the field ride so much 
 better now, how does it happen they are so easily 
 displaced? We have been told that hounds are 
 much faster. The same assertion has been made 
 with regard to hunters ; therefore they must be on 
 equal footing as to speed. 
 
 Young England entertains the idea that nobody 
 ever rode a thoroughbred horse in the hunting- 
 
406 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 field prior to the advent of the present century, 
 simply because, we suppose, hunters of the past have 
 been pourtrayed in print with short tails instead of 
 long. This is a great mistake, good riders to hounds 
 in all previous days since foxhunting has been in 
 existence having shown a preference for thorough- 
 bred ones, although from prudential motives curtail- 
 ing an excessive longitude of horsehair. Bang tails 
 are the fashion now — short tails in bygone times. 
 Crinolines are also the fashion with women — per- 
 haps we ought to say, have been till very recently — 
 trains now. Well, we won^t cavil about trifles : but 
 will any young Englander have the face to tell us 
 that women were not as fair, as estimable, as ami- 
 able and equally well bred, if not with better blood 
 flowing in their veins, than those now flaunting in 
 public with their flowing dresses, for which a page 
 is requisite to uphold ? 
 
 To confess our true opinion, we don^t think the 
 hunting-field quite the arena upon which women can 
 exhibit themselves to so great advantage as in the 
 drawing-room. Men admire the fair sex mainly be- 
 cause they possess those characteristics not common 
 to themselves ; and, on the other hand, women 
 generally love our sex because we possess qualifica- 
 tions the very antipodes to their own. A pretty 
 face, with a graceful figure, in female costume, on 
 horseback, is a very charming sight; but we had 
 rather behold it in Eotten Row than in the hunting- 
 field. There cannot be any more health-giving 
 invigorating exercise. What is lolling idly on the 
 soft cushions of a carriage compared to a seat in the 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHCTNTING. 407 
 
 saddle ? Little air and less exercise can be expected 
 from the former ; whereas nothing can be more de- 
 lightful than a brisk canter over downs^ or through 
 green lanes, on a fine balmy spring morning. In 
 these days, also, of crinolines and wide-flowing 
 dresses, it is quite reviving to see a good figure in a 
 riding habit, which sets off the form to the greatest 
 advantage. 
 
 Out of the large number of ladies, however, who 
 ride to meet or follow hounds, there are very few 
 Dianas who really enjoy the sport, and can take a 
 line of their own across country. When a man falls 
 at a fence his misadventure excites little or no com- 
 passion from his brothers in pink — more often a 
 laugh ; but when a woman comes to grief there is no 
 gentleman in the field who would not give up his 
 place to render her every assistance in his power. 
 Such acts of gallantry and attention show the feel- 
 ings of a true sportsman, as well as of a well-bred 
 man. We confess our anxiety on their account 
 when seeing them in full chase, riding at fences 
 which many men would decline, and with a spirit 
 characteristic of their sex; for the minds of these 
 gentle creatures, when aroused to acts of daring and 
 activity, are not only on an equality, but often 
 surpass the most courageous of the sterner sex. 
 
 It has been remarked over and over again that 
 horses, however fractious with men, become suddenly 
 quiet and tractable when handled by women — one 
 cause of which may be attributed to their holding 
 the reins as if with a silken thread, and the other 
 their more gentle treatment ; the suaviter in modo 
 
408 ' SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 is, as regards equestrianism, more eflScacious than 
 the foriiter in re, since a good horse never requires 
 whip or spur, and women especially never ought to 
 be placed upon the backs of any save made hunters. 
 Young adventurous riders may take pleasure in 
 teaching a four-year-old how to cross country ; the 
 pleasure is enhanced by finding oneself on a quick 
 and ready pupil ; and if brought to the finish after a 
 good run, the pilot has good cause to feel proud of 
 their joint success, although attended perhaps with 
 a few overturns. 
 
SCIENXE OF FOXHUNTING. 409 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIII. 
 
 The author's visit to a game preserrer with a friend — Hospitable re- 
 ception — ^Ir. Fortescue's advocacy of " The Noble Science " in a 
 social point of view — Hunting wild animals natural to man — 
 The time of year when foxes may purloin pheasants, which, 
 even then, have a peculiar protection — Rabbits their favourite 
 game. 
 
 Many years ago, when commencing the unthankful 
 task of forming a foxhunting country in a district 
 which had at a remote period been visited by a pack 
 of foxhounds — but which, like angels^ visits, had 
 been few and far between ; so rare, indeed, that a 
 price had been set on the heads of the vulpine race, 
 and paid by the churchwardens of some parishes — 
 we called upon a large game preserver to solicit the 
 favour of his preserving foxes for our hunt. 
 
 '^ Preserve foxes V^ he exclaimed, in perfect amaze- 
 ment at the apparent impertinence of our request; 
 ^' I preserve hares and pheasants for my own and 
 my friends^ amusement. What on earth induced 
 you to ask me to make my coverts a preserve for 
 foxes ?^^ 
 
 ^^That you might increase the number of your 
 friends fiftyfold. But the term preserve, is perhaps 
 rather too strong ; our meaning is, that if you will 
 protect the foxes which may enter your coverts from 
 being trapped by your keepers, you will confer a 
 
410 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 very great and lasting favour upon a great many of 
 your neighbours, who prefer hunting to shooting/^ 
 
 ^^ But this is not a foxhunting country ; it is too 
 hilly, and the woods are considered too large for the 
 purpose. In short, since my possession of this pro- 
 perty foxhounds have never drawn one of my 
 coverts ; and, therefore, as a matter of course, I 
 have treated foxes as other vermin, and they have 
 been trapped accordingly/^ 
 
 ^^Well, sir, we admit that hitherto, no hounds 
 having ever drawn your coverts since your succes- 
 sion to the property, you were perfectly justified in 
 killing foxes ; but as to the unfitness of this country 
 for foxhunting, by reason of its hilly nature just in 
 this immediate vicinity, and the extent of its woods, 
 we must observe that the hills you speak of are 
 mere molehills to the mountains we have seen in 
 many provincial foxhunting countries ; and as to the 
 woods, they are the most insignificant spinnies in 
 comparison with those in Hants, Berks, and Wilts. 
 Why, sir, my friend Fortescue, of Langley Hall, on 
 the borders of Wilts, who accompanied me this 
 afternoon, declared that every acre of wood he had 
 seen within our six-mile ride would not amount in 
 acreage to half of one of the coverts in his hunt." 
 
 ^^ Where is Mr. Fortescue ?^^ he inquired. ^^ His 
 father was a particular friend of mine." 
 
 " Holding our horses in the stable-yard.^^ 
 
 " Oh ! that must not be. Pray have your horses 
 put into the stable. I should like very much to see 
 Mr. Fortescue.^^ 
 
 Returning with our friend, who was received 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTIXG. 411 
 
 most graciously, and many inquiries made about his 
 father, we sat some time talking upon indifferent 
 subjects, and, when taking leave, the great game 
 preserver asked us to stay and dine with him. 
 ^^ Being a bachelor/^ he said, " I will dispense with 
 your dressing for dinner ; and foxhunters are not 
 disposed to be particular as to the viands set before 
 them/' 
 
 Having no engagement, and it being then the 
 month of July, we accepted with pleasure the invi- 
 tation ; and our host, upon so short a preparation, 
 produced an entertainment which none can furnish 
 better than bachelors' cooks ; and we certainly did 
 ample justice to his champagne, for which the heat 
 of the weather was pleaded as an excuse. After 
 dinner, claret and burgundy took precedence over 
 our port and sherry ; and although our host, from 
 ill-health, drank only a weak solution of brandy-and- 
 water, he was pleased to see his guests so well 
 satisfied with the productions of his cellar. Our 
 friend Fortescue being both witty and clever, with 
 an abundant store of odd stories and anecdotes, 
 contributed most pleasantly to the hilarity of the 
 entertainment, and our host, feeling in high good 
 humour, said with jocularity — 
 
 " So, Fortescue, you came over with your friend, 
 it seems, to storm my castle and preserves, by the 
 assault, I suppose, of your agreeable conversation ?'' 
 
 ^^Not exactly so, sir, since I did not calculate 
 upon being admitted at all into your presence ; but 
 as you conferred that honour upon me, and received 
 us with such unbounded hospitality and kindness, 
 
412 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 my lips are sealed as to our mutual object ; but thus 
 much I may say, without intending to say more, 
 I am a foxhunter by choice — you are a game- 
 preserver ; yet, like my friend, you are also a master 
 of hounds." 
 
 '^ A master of hounds, Fortescue V^ 
 
 ^' Yes, sir. You are master of the choicest kennel 
 
 of greyhounds I have seen ; and my friend H 
 
 is a master of foxhounds. Yours run by sight — his 
 by nose ; your game is abundant — his scarce." 
 
 ^^Well, then, you think, as brother masters of 
 hounds, I might spare a few hares to maintain his 
 foxes ?^^ 
 
 Fortescue was silent. 
 
 ^^Ah! I see; silence gives consent. It shall be, 
 then, as you desire. I will protect foxes to this 
 extent in my home coverts, that if any one is caught 
 there in my keepers' traps, which are set alike for 
 all four-footed vermin '' 
 
 Our friend started nearly out of his chair at his 
 game being called vermin, which our host noticing, 
 said quickly — 
 
 ^^ I meant no offence to you or your pursuit, 
 Fortescue ; but foxes in this neighbourhood are 
 considered vermin/^ 
 
 " Thank goodness, sir, they are not so considered 
 in ours, or we should have little enjoyment of field 
 sports during the winter, and few friends to partake 
 of them. In our country foxhunting is dignified by 
 the name of 'The Noble Science;' and we have one 
 of the choicest professors of it at its head, who 
 maintains a first-rate establishment at his own 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHCTXTIXG. 413 
 
 expense for the recreation of himself and neighbours. 
 What would younger sons during their vacations, 
 professional men, farmers, tradesmen, and others, 
 who have no ground to shoot over, do for occasional 
 relaxation from business, without foxhounds or 
 harriers ? I can assure you, sir, our neighbourhood 
 was the dullest of the dull until our great Squire 
 came down to settle at his old place, and brought 
 with him a pack of foxhounds. The change pro- 
 duced by this event is really marvellous. Friends 
 who chanced to meet perhaps once a month at a 
 dinner party, then known by name only, living out 
 of visiting distance, now greet each other at the 
 covert side three times, if they are so disposed, in 
 the week, some galloping over the downs on their 
 hacks to have a gallop witli the hounds. The tillers 
 of the soil are seen flocking together with their 
 jovial faces. Parsons, proctors, tradesmen, doctors 
 swell the meet, on their roadsters, cobs, and ponies, 
 just to have a look at the hounds, and join in social 
 chat, before the business of the day begins. All 
 appear with cheerful countenances. Many intro- 
 ductions are made; people become acquainted who, 
 save for foxhunting, might have been strangers for 
 life. In short, sir, the animals you are pleased to 
 call Vermin ^ have been productive of more social 
 intercourse between man and man — bringing also 
 the lower and higher classes into communion and 
 good fellowship — than all the hares and pheasants 
 in the British Isles put together.^^ 
 
 " Ohe ! jam satis/' exclaimed our host. '^ Pray 
 forgive me, Fortescue, the lapsus Unguce of classing 
 
414 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 your friend Reynard amongst vermin. Until now 
 that you have enhghtened me upon the subject, I 
 was not aware of the benefit this Httle animal 
 confers upon mankind. For the future, however, 
 his claims to protection shall not be overlooked by 
 me; and, as I was about to proceed when that 
 unfortunate epithet fell from my lips, if any fox 
 should inadvertently be trapped by my keepers, he 
 shall be immediately conveyed to your friend^s 
 house ; and should a litter of cubs be laid up in my 
 home preserves, which are small coppices only, they 
 shall be dug out alive with their mother, and sent 
 also to the kennel. In the larger Avoods, lying about 
 a mile distant, I am not so particular about game, 
 generally killing all pretty closely down by the end 
 of the season. No steel-traps shall be set again; 
 and your friend is most welcome to hunt them as 
 often as he pleases — in moderation, of course ; and 
 there also the cubs, as Avell as the foxes, shall be 
 protected for his amusement and that of our neigh- 
 bours who prefer hunting to shooting.^^ 
 
 Our very grateful thanks were tendered for the 
 kind compliance with our request. Less we had 
 anticipated — more we had no reason to expect. To 
 turn a game preserver, with all his prejudices 
 strongly enlisted against our game, into a fox 
 preserver all at once, or at all, we foresaw would be 
 a very difficult, if not impossible, undertaking. 
 
 A man convinced against his will, 
 Is of the same opinion still. 
 
 Game preservers and gamekeepers appear to have 
 a natural antipathy to foxhunting. Yet is it not 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 415 
 
 natural? Since the time of Nimrod the love of 
 hunting or venery has been natural to mankind ; and 
 it is nowhere so generally displayed as by the inha- 
 bitants of our British Isles. From rich to poor, from 
 childhood to manhood, men were not only ^^ deceivers/^ 
 but hunters ever of some kind of game. Rabbit- 
 hunting and rat-catching are to the boy what fox- 
 hunting is to the man. They follow the instinctive 
 impulses of their nature, as dogs and other animals 
 of prey do theirs. It may be a humiliating confes- 
 sion, yet the fact is so. Nimrod was a mighty 
 hunter; and we find the privilege of hunting and 
 capturing animals, birds, and fishes conferred in 
 these words upon Noah and his descendants: — 
 " The fear of you, and the dread of you, shall be 
 upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl 
 of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and 
 upon all the fishes of the sea ; into your hand are 
 they delivered. Every moving thing that liveth 
 shall be meat for you." Reasonably, therefore, we 
 may say that hunting is our natural sport — battue 
 shooting unnatural, because it involves no risk, no 
 excitement, no labour, no use of skill or science in 
 the acquirement of our game; and it is like a whole- 
 sale haul of herrings or mackerel in comparison with 
 hooking and landing a salmon of twenty pounds 
 weight. 
 
 Well, we don't quarrel with people merely because 
 our opinions, tastes, and pursuits difi'er, or we should 
 be for ever quarrelling. We may, however, offer 
 this piece of advice to game preservers, who too 
 often pretend to preserve foxes also — secretly con- 
 
41 G SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 niving at their destruction by their keepers, or, 
 what is tantamount to the same thing, asking no 
 questions. Let them follow the example of the 
 gentleman we have above cited. Rather than per- 
 mit the cubs and foxes to be killed, they may 
 protect them to this extent, without the hollow 
 profession of preserving them. There are, we know, 
 many game preservers who act fairly and above- 
 ground towards foxes — and we give them all honour 
 for this forbearance and kind consideration of their 
 neighbours^ sport — but there are others who had 
 rather that the foxes which visit their coverts should 
 be put underground. 
 
 The only time of the year when foxes do commit 
 depredations upon pheasants is when the hen birds 
 are sitting upon their nests outside the preserves ; 
 and a hungry vixen with cubs may occasionally fall 
 upon one or two in her rambles. Yet very rarely 
 indeed does this occur where there are rabbits, which 
 are certainly the favourite food of foxes. In fact, 
 we have often watched the movements of vixen 
 foxes when leaving their cubs in search of prey, and 
 their first have been invariably directed in pursuit of 
 rabbits. There is, moreover, a natural protection to 
 all birds sitting on their nests in the absence of any 
 scent from their bodies to attract their enemies to 
 the spot. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 417 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX, 
 
 The wiliness and caution of foxes — Easily scared from poultry and 
 pheasant pens — Ill-founded charges against rooks — Gamekeepers 
 and poachers — Travelling in the last century — Old fox and dairy- 
 maid — Innocency of cubs — Feathered game on the wing, before 
 they have left home — The gamekeeper's scapegoat. 
 
 There is not an animal with which we are ac- 
 quainted more cautious in his movements than the 
 fox — from this pecuUarity called " wily," an epithet 
 he is most justly entitled to. Perhaps we might 
 make exception in favour of deer, as they appear 
 equally on the move when danger threatens them. 
 Deerstalkers have discovered the inutility of at- 
 tempting to gain a near proximity to a wild stag 
 down wind, even when apparently sleeping on his 
 bed of heather. The slightest taint or si mavis 
 scent emanating from mankind, borne upon the 
 breeze, rouses him in a moment from his lethargy ; 
 and, springing to his feet, he looks around for a 
 second, then gallops away to some rising ground, 
 where he may watch more securely the advent of 
 his enemy. Although unseen, equally avoided is the 
 track of man by the wily fox. Poachers and keepers 
 are so well acquainted with this fact, that, when 
 setting traps for them, they generally besmear their 
 shoes with sheep^s offal, to nullify their own scent ; 
 and we have heard fox-stealers say, that when setting 
 
418 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 a live trap, called a witch, at the mouth of the 
 earthy they never visited the trap except once in 
 twenty-four hours, or an old fox would lie sulky 
 there for a week before venturing out : and to prove 
 how easily they are scared away from committing 
 depredations upon poultry, we can state this as a 
 fact of some service to farmers and breeders of 
 pheasants : — 
 
 For three years in succession we have raised from 
 sixty to a hundred head of turkeys and chickens on 
 a piece of moorland, within two hundred yards of 
 the wood hedge of a very large fox-covert, in which 
 no less than five litters of cubs were reported by the 
 woodman to be laid down the season before last. 
 The only protection to this host of the feathered 
 tribe consisted of a penning made of wattled hurdles, 
 four feet high, with a piece of twine netting raised 
 above the hurdles on stakes six feet high, and at 
 intervals strips of red cloth attached to them, float- 
 ing in the breeze. The coops containing the hen 
 birds were placed within this enclosure, where the 
 chickens remained day and night for three months 
 during the summer, although allowed to roam about 
 the moor at certain hours of the day. A light net 
 was also thrown over the coops at nightfall, when we 
 visited the penning for the last time, and walked 
 round it to see all was secure. Thus situated, with no 
 other protection, we have raised our poultry for three 
 years ; and not a single chicken has ever been carried 
 away by a fox, although we have often seen their 
 footmarks within a few yards of the forbidden fruit. 
 
 More than this, there are kites^ hawks, ravens. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 419 
 
 crows, magpies, and jays continually hovering over 
 the ground. Rooks innumerable, of which we take 
 no notice ; but from seven hen turkeys, invariably 
 making their nests and laying their eggs in the 
 heather, we have not lost seven eggs. This is not 
 all. Within fifty yards of our penning there were 
 hatched out this last summer two coveys of par- 
 tridges. Now some sceptics will exclaim; '^ How can 
 these things be V^ They are facts. The bit of 
 netting, with our red pennon waving with the wind, 
 scares away the fox — the midnight robber — and the 
 gleam of our gun-barrel in the sun warns the birds 
 of prey — Procul, oh procul, este profani ! We never 
 set traps or lay poison for any of these obnoxious 
 vermin. On the contrary, we watch with pleasure 
 and admiration the graceful evolutions in the air of 
 three, four, or five large kites, wheeling, screaming, 
 and sometimes swooping down within a few yards of 
 our proteges ; yet we do not send the bullet hurtling 
 through the air to their destruction. The barrel is 
 raised aloof to warn them that this is forbidden 
 fruit and forbidden ground, and that warning proves 
 sufficient. Crows are more impudent, and we are 
 occasionally under the necessity of riddling their 
 jackets for a too near approach. 
 
 Ravens, like foxes, are very wary, and, although 
 continually flying and croaking over the moor, have 
 never done us any harm. Now, if one man, with 
 a paddle much oftener in his hand than a gun, can 
 thus protect young poultry and game from the 
 depredations of these beasts and birds of prey per- 
 petually crossing this tract of land, how is it that a 
 
 E E 2 
 
420 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 staff of keepers and watchers cannot do the same 
 thing, without having recourse to steel traps and 
 poison? If game -preserving continues to increase 
 as it has for the last few vears, all these beautiful 
 birds, although birds of prey, will soon disappear 
 entirely from the British Isles, as the bustard has from 
 the Wiltshire downs^ when the spread of cultivation 
 extended over that once magnificent prairie of our 
 country. Kites and ravens travel miles and miles 
 away from their nesting-places in search of food, and 
 the latter more frequently subsist on carrion than 
 young game, feathered or furred; and as to their 
 killing old game, credat Judeus appella. The raven is 
 not fitted by nature to pursue and catch game. He 
 is too unwieldy and clumsy a bird for this purpose ; 
 but, gifted with extraordinary keenness of scent, he 
 is seen winging his way to some distant spot where 
 lies the carcase of some animal mouldering to decay; 
 or, if within reach of the sea-shore, thither does 
 instinct direct him in search of fish left on the sands 
 by the receding tide. We have been accustomed to 
 ravens from childhood, these birds having been pro- 
 tected almost with religious care by our ancestors 
 for many generations, their nest in the old king oak 
 containing at least a cartload of sticks and other 
 building materials. There they have been permitted 
 to live unmolested and bring up their young, which, 
 when able to provide for themselves, took their 
 flight to some more distant woods^ one pair of birds 
 only ever remaining with us. 
 
 The buzzard and dun kite also found a home and 
 protection in our coverts ; and as for rooks, every 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 421 
 
 tree in the park, and even the large laurels around 
 the house, were loaded with their nests ; and to give 
 some idea of their countless numbers, the sky was 
 positively darkened as they hovered over us before 
 descending to their roosting-places in the lofty elm 
 and oak trees which surrounded the lawn. In the 
 face of all these supposed enemies to game, we 
 always had an abundance of it ; and partridges par- 
 ticularly were so numerous that we could kill during 
 September our thirty brace a day, if required. The 
 land also under cultivation was never more produc- 
 tive than at that period. These are stubborn facts, 
 which may be cavilled at by game preservers of the 
 present day; but they are, nevertheless, perfectly 
 true, and could be vouched for by old men living in 
 the neighbourhood, besides ourselves. 
 
 Now, as rooks have been accused of sucking eggs, 
 and even killing young ducks and chickens, we leave 
 these assertions to be digested by those who have so 
 mistaken their natural calling. Our poultry yard 
 stood in the midst of this huge colony of ^^ black 
 barons of the wood,^' where they were seen strutting 
 about, as over the lawns and gardens, in perfect 
 security ; yet the loss of chicken or duckling was 
 never charged against them. Perhaps it may be 
 that out of gratitude to their protectors such for- 
 bearance was exhibited towards the young poultry. 
 No matter from what cause, our statements of these 
 facts cannot be contravened. 
 
 There were only one keeper and one woodman to 
 look over the home manor of some fifteen hundred 
 acres of wood and land ; and, besides partridges in 
 
422 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 such profusion, we had a fair show of pheasants and 
 hares — quite as many as were required for our own 
 family and friends ; but, at that time, not a rabbit 
 existed on the property. Our greatest enemies were 
 poachers, who did not, however, as now, assemble 
 very often in large bands, our preserves not being 
 sufiBciently well stocked to pay for such combined 
 nocturnal visitations. Yet were there a few deep 
 artful thieves of this fraternity, who ventured single- 
 handed, or in small parties, to knock pheasants off 
 their roosts on windy moonlight nights. But our 
 keeper at that time proved more than a sufficient 
 match for two or three such men, even unaided, 
 although he always had the command of assistants 
 whensoever they were needed. He had chosen, 
 when young, the prize-ring for his profession, being 
 an active, athletic young man, and had gone into 
 training for this purpose in London, when his uncle, 
 a respectable farmer in our parish, not approving the 
 line of life marked out by himself, persuaded his 
 nephew to return to the country, and occupy the 
 situation of gamekeeper, then vacant, in our family. 
 He accordingly came down ; and, being brought 
 over by his uncle, and highly recommended as a 
 young man of great promise, his services were ac- 
 cepted, and he was forthwith installed in office. 
 Ours, however, not being a house to be visited by 
 rich or poor without an introduction to better things, 
 uncle and nephew were returning home, with heads 
 a little elated, when they must needs make a call 
 upon the host of a small wayside public-house, 
 wherein were assembled a motley group of poachers 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 423 
 
 and blackguards of every description, who, on hear- 
 ing from the landlord that the nephew of farmer 
 Hancock had just been taken by the Squire as 
 keeper, ventured most impudently to utter threats 
 and anathemas against persons undertaking such 
 discreditable offices^ declaring how they would serve 
 him if attempting to interfere with their amuse- 
 ments; but the young keeper, not relishing the 
 language addressed to him, soon set the matter in 
 dispute on a right footing, by dealing his services 
 around upon his assailants more Tom Spring, knock- 
 ing one fellow first off his pins, and then two or 
 three to tumble over him; so that, with the co- 
 operation of uncle II., they were soon like the army 
 of Sennacherib, all dead corpses — at least hors-de. 
 combat — in less time than it has taken me to relate 
 the encounter. This onslaught and terrific dealing 
 with his opponents taught our country yokels to 
 keep their heads a long way out of milling distance 
 from the new keeper, who, sooth to say, was as 
 expert at single-stick or back-sword as with his 
 mawleys. Moreover, he was a wide-awake fellow, 
 out all night — not at a public-house, but on his beat 
 or rounds — and sleeping by day. In short, he 
 turned out just the man we wanted ; and as at that 
 time, between school and college, little of our time 
 was spent at home, he shot game also in large quan- 
 tities, with which my father never seemed satisfied, 
 having so many friends to supply with this com- 
 modity. 
 
 In those times there were no iron roads, no handy 
 stations at which baskets of game might be left for 
 
424 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 immediate transit, as now, by poachers. Convey- 
 ances were rare and slow, roads bad — parish ditto 
 nearly impassable in certain seasons, or in very bad 
 weather : and, to show how very bad they must have 
 been many years anterior to our entering on our 
 pilgrimage in this wicked world, we may mention 
 the fact of our great-grandmother being dragged to 
 the parish church, only two miles distant, in the 
 family coach by six long-tailed black horses; not 
 only that, but so great was the toil to horses con- 
 sidered, that our venerated great-grandmother took 
 her dinner with the parson, and returned home after 
 evening service. 
 
 In our boyish days foxes did not abound in our 
 coverts, as they were never drawn by foxhounds, and 
 therefore not strictly preserved; but we remember 
 one grey-headed old monster, of the true greyhound 
 breed, which had mad?^ his kennel upon the top of 
 a high ivy-clad wall, overhanging the poultry yard, 
 whence he was wont to look down with lonering eyes 
 upon the feathered tribe below ; but the dairymaid^ 
 who had charge of them, used to threaten him with 
 her mop. " Ah ! you old villain,^^ she was wont to 
 say; "you may peer out of your hiding-place, and 
 welcome ; but come down, if you dare, before night- 
 fall, when my pets are shut up, and then you shall 
 have your supper, as usual ;^' and, strange to relate^ 
 this old fox never did run counter to tlie dairymaid's 
 orders, who always put his supper for him, consisting 
 of oflal, heads and necks of chickens, entrails of 
 game, and other odds and ends, outside the back 
 door, which the old gentleman regularly dispatched. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 425 
 
 At that time we thought little, and cared less, about 
 foxes ; but a few years later in life they came more 
 immediately under our own care and cognizance, 
 and we studied their habits ; and from this long 
 study and observation, we have formed the conclu- 
 sion, that those wily animals are far too wily to 
 prove so destructive to game and poultry as short- 
 sighted game preservers and long-sighted game- 
 keepers would force upon our credulity. So long as 
 cubs imbibe their mother's milk they are incapable 
 of sucking blood from birds and four-footed game 
 killed by their own prowess or cunning ; and, as 
 they do not arrive at mqnths of discretion before the 
 month of August, by which time young pheasants 
 and partridges are on the wing, or ought to be, it is 
 not very likely that many of these could fall to their 
 share. 
 
 It is not a very easy matter to put your hat over 
 a covey of young partridges or pheasants when 
 under their mother's wing and watchful care ; and 
 when pheasants take to roosting on high, which they 
 very soon do, we should like to see the fox-cub or old 
 fox which can lure them from their perches by a 
 magnetic fascination of his eye. Rest assured, ye 
 lovers of the tri^jger, that our game is more sinned 
 against than sinning. Your pheasants are too high 
 exalted to fall into his mouth at his bidding ; and if 
 he does occasionally pick up a wounded bird, how 
 are you the loser? He would perish from gangrene 
 a day or two later. Your keepers tell you idle tales 
 about foxes, because they interfere with their per- 
 quisites — rabbits. But this is not all : when the 
 
426 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 number of pheasants is shortened by their own mal- 
 practices, there is no more convenient scapegoat 
 than a fox. All that we could wish is that he were 
 sent forth, like the goat from the camp of the 
 Israelites, into the wilderness unscathed. 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 427 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 Testimonials to huntsmen — The old capping custom — Beckford's anec - 
 dote — Hard and irregular life of these officials — Four days per 
 week more agreeable than six — May foxes and July cubs — Pensions 
 — Huntsmen to old established and subscription packs. 
 
 Capping has become obsolete — the fashion of the 
 custom has passed away ; and foxhunters of the pre- 
 sent era may raise their eyebrows in surprise^ and 
 a curl of the hairy lip may denote their contempt 
 of the practices so long countenanced by those who 
 were supposed to have existed in a barbarous age. 
 Many a reader of these pages will exclaim^ " What 
 does he mean by capping?" — perhaps handicapping. 
 Not exactly in the same sense that term is now used 
 as appertaining to racing; but^ in its etymological 
 meaning equally, if not more, correct. Capping 
 signifies putting your hand in your pocket and 
 drawing out a five-shilling or half-crown silver coin — 
 formerly dropped into a cap held out for that pur- 
 pose — to reward the huntsman for exhibiting the 
 scene of tracing a fox, or rather killing him, since it 
 did not invariably happen that a fox, even in those 
 days, sought the shelter of woodlands to yield up 
 his life. 
 
 We are told by Beckford that a huntsman accus- 
 tomed to this usage had been offered by his master 
 
428 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 a considerable sum of money, more than equivalent 
 to what he had ever received in any one year pre- 
 viously as cap-money; but that, at the end of the 
 season, he begged to return to the old custom, as 
 nearly as we can recollect, in the following lan- 
 guage : — " You have been generous, sir, in giving me 
 this allowance, to which I have no claim, and it far 
 exceeds my expectations; yet I have not now the 
 same pleasure in killing my fox as under the old 
 system/^ We could not accuse this huntsman of 
 greediness, if the case so cited were true ; and there 
 can be no suspicion of its being incorrect, as cited 
 by one of the most truthful of foxhunters. We must, 
 therefore, dive into deeper water — to the bottom of 
 the well, if we can — to explain the anomaly. 
 
 The huntsman of the old school had been accus- 
 tomed to the practice of capping ; it acted like a 
 stimulant upon his nerves — it was something like 
 dram drinking. The anticipation of dollars, half- 
 crowns, and shillings being poured into his pouch 
 on the death of the fox excited both his brain and 
 frame to the greatest possible exertion; and not 
 merely for filthy lucre's sake did he look forward to 
 this recompence, but for the honour of the thing. 
 Cash prices, quick returns, are, we are told, the life 
 of trade ; and huntsmen, like other professionals, are 
 not wholly indifferent to pecuniary rewards for ser- 
 vices rendered; but, as a general characteristic, we 
 rarely find the talented of their class sordid-minded. 
 Well paid they ought to be, and must be, to dis- 
 charge their several and onerous duties efficiently. 
 The great risks they incur to life and limb must 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 429 
 
 be taken also into account — not to mention their 
 liability to colds, and other maladies, from exposure 
 to the most inclement weather, and under peculiar 
 circumstances. 
 
 Gentlemen can go fast or slow, as it pleases them, 
 to the place of meeting — on horseback, or upon 
 wheels ; and in very bad weather they may be ex- 
 cused from appearing at all, it being merely optional 
 whether they face the elements without or remain 
 within doors. Not so with those to whom the 
 management of the hounds is entrusted — huntsman 
 and whippers-in. Whatever the weather may be, 
 they must face it, and there is no escape from the 
 pelting of the pitiless storm. 
 
 Other men can gallop out of it, and seek refuge 
 in a public or farmhouse — their time is their own. 
 A huntsman's belongs to his master, and he must 
 be punctual to it. The same slow jog-trot pace 
 with his hounds must be maintained throughout to 
 the place of meeting ; and, again, after the business 
 of the day is over, through deluges of rain, snow- 
 storms, or sleet. However biting the cold, officials 
 have no chance of keeping themselves warm by in- 
 creased exercise, like other men ; all must be borne 
 with patience and fortitude until their game is on 
 foot. 
 
 But the most trying part of the whole day's work 
 is the journey home after a long run, leaving off 
 perhaps fifteen or twenty miles from the kennels, 
 with lame hounds and jaded horses. We have heard 
 of '" Patience on a monument smihng at grief ;^^ but 
 we think a drenched huntsman, on a lame horse. 
 
430 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 plodding his heavy way through muddy lanes, would 
 form a more appropriate illustration to that cardinal 
 virtue. 
 
 Strikes seem all the fashion of the day ; but it 
 strikes us that tailors have little cause to complain 
 of hard usage and low wages, as it appears from 
 statements in the papers that about two guineas per 
 week has been their usual pay, which is higher than 
 that received by the generality of huntsmen and 
 whippers-in throughout the provinces, and whose 
 time for work is not limited to twelve hours a day. 
 It is true that, during the vacation — commencing 
 with the close of the hunting season, and extending 
 to the first day of cubhunting — huntsmen and whips 
 have no severe w^ork to undergo ; and, fortunately, 
 it happens so to them, as well as to the horses and 
 hounds, that the bow is not always bent, that there 
 is some time for relaxation and recreation In some 
 countries, however, the respite is very short — where 
 they kill their May fox, and begin cubhunting in 
 July. 
 
 Foxhunting is a very agreeable and exhilarating 
 amusement to those who can go out only when they 
 like and go home when they like ; and, although 
 there are many gentlemen who would hunt every day 
 in the week if they could, we doubt not that profes- 
 sionals would prefer four days to six, if permitted to 
 express their candid sentiments upon this point. 
 
 Irregular habits of living are denounced by 
 physicians as very detrimental to health; and what 
 class of servants lives more irregularly than those 
 who contribute so much to our amusement in the 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 431 
 
 hunting-field ? Barring breakfast, they have no 
 other meal during the day. Indoor domestics get 
 their snap luncheon at eleven, dinner at one, tea at 
 five, and supper at nine ; in fact, it would appear 
 that doing a good deal of eating and drinking and a 
 very little work, is the chief purpose for which they 
 are hired and paid; whereas huntsmen and whips 
 are obliged to condense all their meals into one, and 
 that taken at a very uncertain hour, varying from 
 six to nine in the evening, as they may happen to 
 return from hunting; and we know by experience 
 that long abstinence, coupled with hard work, is not 
 likely to improve a man^s digestive powers, or give 
 him an appetite for dinner. The late Assheton 
 Smith, after hunting, always indulged in a warm 
 bath before sitting down to dinner; but such a 
 luxury does not fall to the lot of Jem or Jack, 
 although they get plenty of cold ones. 
 
 In several large foxhunting establishments, of 
 ancient date and high renown, where the hounds are 
 handed down from father to son as heirlooms in the 
 family, it is the custom — which cannot be too highly 
 commended — of rewarding meritorious huntsmen, 
 when unfitted by age or accident for active service, 
 with a retiring pension. Unfortunately, however, 
 from the changes continually occurring in the master- 
 ships of the great majority, such customs are con- 
 fined to the few; and, as a general rule, huntsmen and 
 whippers-in must depend upon their own resources, 
 and whilst in health save what they can out of their 
 wages to soften the asperities of declining years. 
 This may be effected to some extent by those who 
 
432 SYSTEVI OF KENNEL AND 
 
 hold first-class preferment for several seasons in 
 fashionable districts, but is not easy of attainment 
 by others located in the provinces, where the fields 
 are very select, and douceurs consequently scanty. 
 
 Huntsmen and whippers-in are generally regarded 
 in the light of public servants; and where the ex« 
 penses of the establishment are borne by the master, 
 gentlemen who hunt regularly with his hounds deem 
 it imperative to assist the officials, who afford them 
 so much amusement, without any other pull upon 
 their pockets. Members of a subscription hunt may 
 say with some justice, "We pay your master for 
 your services ; he charges us with all the expenses 
 incidental to his establishment — the maintenance of 
 servants, horses, hounds, and all etceteras ; therefore 
 you have no reason to expect extra remuneration 
 from us." 
 
 This, in many cases, is true enough; and we 
 have known instances where subscribers have as- 
 sumed a superiority over the master, by insisting 
 upon the dismissal of a huntsman or whipper-in 
 falling short of their requirements. Probably some 
 of my readers may have heard of the unenviable 
 position of a ^^ toad under a harrow :" it is a very 
 old, though not very elegant, adage— supposed to be 
 a very accurate description, in a few words, of a 
 man labouring under distracting difficulties, tossed 
 about from pillar to post, as the unfortunate reptile 
 is from time to time by the implement over his 
 head. 
 
 If not actually obliged to perform the part of 
 toad, subscription masters are often accused of acts 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 433 
 
 of toadyism ; there is a diiFerence in terms, yet not 
 much distinction in reality. Men with ambitious 
 views are often led into unpleasant situations, from 
 which, when thoroughly committed, they find great 
 difficulty — moral courage we mean — in retrograding . 
 not exactly like the thin mouse who got through a 
 small chink into a corn-bin, and soon found his 
 carcase so expanded that he could not get out again. 
 Well, this is no concern of ours. If men choose to 
 take the management of a subscription country, we 
 can only pity them, and feel also commiseration for 
 servants required to please so many masters, which 
 is, of course, a hopeless case. 
 
 "When the master pays for all it is altogether of a 
 different complexion; and men of liberal ideas, having 
 their fun gratis, consider themselves bound to give 
 gratuities to the officials, more or less, according to 
 their means ; hence has arisen the practice of pre- 
 senting testimonials to those, on retiring from office^ 
 who have for many years exercised their best abilities 
 in promoting their sport. 
 
 F F 
 
434 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 CHAPTER LI. 
 
 THE LAST OF HIS ENTRY. 
 
 We are instigated by no idle curiosity to inquire 
 what becomes of '^ the brave old hound^ the bonny 
 old hound/^ who has spent the best years of his 
 hard-worked life in the service of his master ; who 
 has been petted, and cheered — and painted too, 
 perhaps, in his prime — depended upon for his wel- 
 come note in later years, when, save for old Solon, 
 everything would have gone wrong. What, we ask, 
 is the fate of this old favourite and faithful hound 
 when his strength and power fail ? Is he rewarded 
 as he ought to be ? Does he retire, when unfitted 
 for active life, to enjoy some otium cum dignitate ? 
 Is not more often a halter provided for him than a 
 home ? Or is he not bundled out of the kennel, 
 with what is called the old draft hounds, which have 
 done amiss, and shipped for the Continent or India, 
 to undergo tortures and ill-usage worse than death. 
 Evil-doers must, we know, be drafted, and some 
 hounds will go wrong, even in their fourth or fifth 
 season; but, for the faultless and faithful, against 
 whom no other charge can be preferred except that 
 common to man as well as to any other animal in 
 the creation — old age, surely some consideration 
 ought to be found befitting a master's gratitude for 
 
SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 435 
 
 the fidelity and services of an old and well-tried 
 servant. To send such a one from his home, to be buf- 
 feted and knocked about by strangers and foreigners 
 in another land, is a blot — a crimson one — on the 
 escutcheon of any foxhunter, which nothing can 
 wipe out. 
 
 • '^ Poor old fellow ! put him out of his misery !^^ 
 which means, give him a charge of powder and shot 
 through his honest old heart ; a dose of strychnine 
 to paralyse those limbs for ever which have now 
 grown slow in his master's service ; or a blow from 
 the feeder's poleaxe to knock out those brains by 
 the aid of which the pack has been so often led on 
 to victory. Although not particularly thin-skinned 
 or over soft-hearted, we have ever borne in mind 
 that golden maxim — ^^ Justice extends to the brute 
 creation ; " and we should as placidly think of com- 
 mitting suicide upon our propriam personam as of 
 handing over a faithful horse or hound to be pole- 
 axed or Calcrafted. 
 
 There may be a deal of fanciful imagination 
 entering into our mind when indulging such ex- 
 ploded sentiments; perhaps we may be accused of 
 entertaining monomaniacal and eccentric notions 
 upon this subject. It is not the custom or fashion 
 of the day to exhibit feeling for anybody or any- 
 thing save our noble selves. Loving your neighbour 
 as yourself is regarded as a silly phantasy, origi- 
 nating in some weak-minded mortal, not as the 
 imperative command of the " Most High." 
 
 The life of a foxhound is a hard one — the life of 
 a hunter still harder. The first has to cater for 
 
436 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 himself only — the last for self and master also. Yet 
 it so happens that the hound has done his work 
 nearly about the time that the horse has begun his 
 in earnest. At seven years old the hunter is in his 
 prime, whilst by the end of that period the career 
 of a foxhound is nearly^ if not quite, brought to a 
 close j double these years, and the hunter sees the 
 last of his season. Now, strictly speaking, as a 
 general rule, a dog of seven years, in any other 
 than a foxhunting establishment, is not a worn-out 
 helpless old animal. Some dogs enjoy the use of 
 all their faculties — speed, perhaps, excepted — until 
 they have reached double that age. In short, we 
 have known many dogs with their sense of hearing, 
 seeing, and scenting unimpaired until reaching their 
 sixteenth year; and we have been told of others 
 attaining the age of twenty-one before ordered out 
 for execution. 
 
 Dogs of all other denomin,ations appear to be 
 endowed with greater longevity than foxhounds, 
 which, from their symmetry, bodily prowess, and 
 courage, might be supposed to surpass every other 
 variety of the canine species; and yet we find a 
 bandy-legged cur, without one single point of bodily 
 form in his favour, going on his beat of life years 
 after a foxhound of the same age has been contri- 
 buting to the growth of apples. How does this 
 happen ? Is the foxhound really a deceiver ? Have 
 we partially invested him with powers and endur- 
 ance beyond his nature ? Not so ; but the course 
 of his feeding is the cause of his failing. It has 
 been ascertained, and proved beyond contradiction, 
 
SCIibl-^CE OF FOXHUNTING. 437 
 
 that animals of the carnivorous kind never attain a 
 good old age — in other words, live the natural and 
 allotted years — upon farinaceous food only ; and we 
 know full well that oatmeal porridge, with the best 
 of broth, is not the diet to support man or hound 
 under severe labour. Bread has been called "the 
 staff of life; '' yet to a very limited extent is it so. 
 The poor man, without his bit of bacon or fresh 
 meat occasionally — a sup of milk or buttermilk with 
 his potatoes, and a taste of dripping with his other 
 vegetables — would find bread alone unequal to sus- 
 tain him. We are too prone to put our faith of 
 sustenance upon bread alone. 
 
 In warmer climates farinaceous aliment may suf- 
 fice to keep body and soul together, where great 
 exertions under a tropical sun cannot be maintained 
 but in colder climates stronger fuel is necessary to 
 keep the furnace going. A visit to the Zoological 
 Gardens at feeding time will satisfy any sceptic that 
 lions, tigers^ and animals of that class are not pre- 
 sented with a bowlful of porridge or soup for their 
 supper ; but, instead of this, a large bone of cow or 
 horse, with little meat upon it, is thrown into their 
 dens, this being their only meal during the twenty- 
 four hours. Such was the course of feeding in the 
 days when we were in the habit of paying them fre- 
 quent visits. If, therefore, animal food in the most 
 indigested form is considered necessary to maintain 
 these animals in health without any exercise, save 
 that of pacing up and down their narrow dens, is it 
 not obvious that those of a like nature require the 
 greatest possible amount of nutritive food to support 
 
438 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 
 
 their natural constitutions under severe and continued 
 
 exertions? 
 
 We have had occasion to remark more than once 
 upon the useless incumbrance of a too numerous 
 body of hounds maintained in many large establish- 
 ments of the present day; and although Mr. 
 Meynell, in his early career of M.P.H., made that 
 greatest of all mistakes, in depending upon numerical 
 strength — taking nearly a hundred couples of hounds 
 into the field — by sowing his wild oats in this 
 manner he very soon became aware of the exceedingly 
 wild practice he had been pursuing. We need not 
 again quote the opinion of our hunting poet, Somer- 
 ville, upon this subject — who, by the way, must have 
 been well blooded to fox and hare to write as he has 
 so accurately upon all things appertaining to those 
 sports, entering also into details wliich we should 
 suppose no other than an experienced master of 
 hounds could be acquainted with. 
 
 The work of a foxhound is not more severe, in the 
 season, than that of a pointer^ setter, or spaniel, and 
 yet these latter are going on and doing their master 
 good service long after the former has been discarded, 
 simply because they have been better fed and cared 
 for. No man could be trained upon mutton broth 
 and porridge to win a prize fight or a boat race. 
 Liquids and farinaceous food will not alone suffice 
 for such purposes. Take thirty couples of foxhounds, 
 feed them twice a day, at the least, upon more flesh 
 — not raw, or over- boiled to rags — than meal, and 
 they will do more efficient work than double that 
 number usually treated by the general system of 
 
• SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 439 
 
 kennel diet. And there is another consideration of 
 far greater consequence than the support of a useless 
 number of hounds. Expernentia docet. The longer 
 a foxhound can hold his place in the pack, the more 
 valuable he becomes. What a lot of teasers would 
 that prove, consisting of six and seven-year-old 
 hounds in their integrity ! No fox would be so 
 strong, no day so long, no scent so bad that these 
 veterans could not cope with ; and then the luxury, 
 the complacency, the entire confidence with which 
 we regard their proceedings can be appreciated only 
 by those who have sat in a huntsman's saddle. 
 
 My brave old hound, my bonny old hound, 
 
 Here's a health, here's a health to thee ! 
 And as years roll round, may'st thou still be found 
 
 Alongside in the chase with me. 
 Many's the day we have hunted away, 
 
 And many's the track we have set ; 
 And now I am told, that thou'rt growTi old — 
 
 But there's life in the old hound yet. 
 
 How oft has thy voice made the hunters rejoice, 
 When its deep mellow tones were heard ; 
 
 For well did they know that thy startled foe 
 Must go his best pace on the sward ; 
 
 Thou hast followed the chase with untii'ing pace 
 From morn till the sun has set. 
 
 Thou hast lain at my feet, when thy heart scarcely beat- 
 But there's life in the old hound yet. 
 
 Once did I think, when on the steep brink 
 
 Of a dark shining rock thou stood, 
 That thy race was run, that thy life was done, 
 
 As thou leapt o'er the yawning flood ; 
 When thou fell on the rocks with the beaten fox 
 
 I thought a hard fate thou hadst met ; 
 But we found thee below with thy conquered foe, 
 
 Aye — and life in the old hound yet. 
 
440 SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 
 
 Thy coat is now grey, and thy strength doth decay, 
 
 But thy heart is as brave and as true 
 As when first we went forth on the hills in the north, 
 
 In pursuit of the fleet-footed crew. 
 Men are to be found, who would kill the old hound, 
 
 And his long years of service forget, 
 But a hand I'll ne'er lend to destroy my old friend. 
 
 While there's life in the old hound yet. 
 
 There's many a lass I've loved is dead, 
 
 And many a friend grown old, 
 And unless with thee to the woodlands led, 
 
 This weary heart grows cold ; 
 But as o'er hill and dale I fly. 
 
 With thy voice to madden my brain, 
 All, all's forgot, as I shout to thee, 
 
 *' Yoicks ! have at him, old hound, again ! " 
 
 THE END, 
 
 Woodfall and Kinder, Printers, Milford Lane, Strand, W.C. 
 
lb I vj /O 
 
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