c^ .^^ cr^^W^^^ife^t:?;^ ^ 9 **< 3 ^1 ' ^ THE NOBLE SCIEi^rCE A FEW GENERAL IDEAS FOX-HUNTING, USE OF THE RISING GENERATION OF SPORTSMEN. F. P. DELME RADCLIFFE, ESQ. WITH NUMEEOUS ILLUSTE ATIONS FROM ORIGINAL DESIGNS BY HIS BROTHER. 31 ^cto (Eiitiott, "WITH ADDITIONAL NOTES BY THE AUTHOR. LONDON : GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, AND L. C. GENT. 1875. Bcbication. TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS, ALBERT EDWARD, PRINCE OF WALES, K.G., ETC., ETC., ETC., THIS THIRD EDITION OF "tHE NOBLE SCIENCE," IS, BY HIS GRACIOUS PERMISSION, MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, BY HIS VERY OBEDIENT HUMBLE SERVANT, THE AUTHOR. PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. SoMERViLLE, a tlioro Uglily English squire, who about the middle of the last century gained undying fame by his poem of " The Chase," one of the happiest of English compositions, ever elevated, and frequently approaching sublimity, of whose muse a contemporary observes that *' Her incense, guiltless of the forms of art, Breathes ail the huntsman's honesty of heart," the great, the immortal Somerville enjoyed the privilege of dedicating his work to the Prince of AVales of the period, great- uncle of the present heir to the throne. His opening address to the " Great Prince, Whom Cambria's towering hills proclaim their lord," is continued in a strain highly poetical, but savouring of that adulation which is the born heritage of princes. Abstinence from all compliment, however due, would, I feel, be most acceptable to him under whose auspices I have the honour to introduce my third edition. But vi PREFACE. I feel that I shall not only be acquitted of flattery, but have the world with me when I say that, apart from the prestige attached to his illustrious position, to no one could this work be more aptly dedicated than to one who, in every hunting-field in which he has appeared, has shone pre-eminent, as in all sports and pursuits becoming English gentlemen, and I acknow- ledge a just pride in the patronage of him who, with the whole Royal Family, has established claims, no less upon oar affections than our loyalty. Being unexpectedly called upon by the most enter- prising of publishers, I have revised every page of the volume issued thirty-five years since, chiefly for the benefit of the rising generation of my own locality. I regret that it is not in my power to render it any way more attractive, than by favour of its readers it has hitherto been held. If I may indulge in one flourish of my own trumpet, I may boast that the practical utility of several dicta has been most agreeably recognized. My old friend, Lord George Paget (now Lieut. -General, possibly oblivious of the fact), informed me that the price of the book, expen- sive as was the first edition, was cheap to him ; one page — containing advice as to the length of his boot-heel, pre- venting pressure from the stirrup on the instep — having more than repaid him. Another made no less recog- nition of my advice as to the hind shoes of the horse, by which he had, since reading it, escaped overreach. One of the greatest compliments, and most highly ap- PREFACE. Vll predated, was paid me by no less renowned a sportsman than that celebrity of the West — the Reverend and revered John Russell. Introducing himself to me on Goodwood Race Course, he declared that he " would have walked there from Dartmoor to shake hands with the Author of * The Noble Science.' " I have reason to hope that the maxims of my zenith may yet be found generally, though it cannot be ex- pected, after a lapse of years, that they can be invari- ably, applicable. Changes in the system of agriculture, the great increase of rural population, and other cir- cumstances have greatly affected scent, as they have altered the habits of foxes. Where one man took the field, when this book was written, there are now fifty. Hence the present fabulous price of horses. " Customs will alter, men and manners change," but the leading features, the main principles of " The Noble Science "are unaltered — I trust unalterable. The hints which I presumed to offer, were the sound deductions from practical experience. If foxes no longer travel the distances they did of yore ; if a run over any extent of country is rather an exception, neither the love nor pursuit of the sport has deteri- orated. A contemporary, who for the last half century has shone, universally admitted, as one of the finest horse- men who ever crossed a country, and who has been no less distinguished as a sportsman, has thus written to me this month : — VI] 1 PREFACE. " If foxhunting be no longer the sport it was, it remains still a grand, a noble social institution. Of this I have a strong religious conviction. My warmest friendships have been made and cemented in the hunt- ing-field." As I can offer no new light on the subject, in hum- ble adhesion to my data of 1839, 1 will conclude this preface with the addition of one more to the many quotations from beloved Horace : — " Vade, vale, si quid novisti rectius istis, Candidus imperii, si non, his utere inecum," which for the benefit of the few young ladies of the period, who do not know everything — Latin included — I translate literally : — ) Farewell, and if with, these you disagree Impart uew maxims or use these with me. PKEFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. " Eloquar an Sileam V Ovid. To those who ask, why I have had the presumption to offer another vokune, in addition to all which have already been published upon fox-hunting, my answer is, that, since the time of Beckford, whose maxims are now, for the most part, obsolete, it has been generally remarkable, that nothing (with the exception of that which has flowed from the classic pen of Nimrod) has appeared upon the subject, qualified for a place beyond the saddle-room, or servants' hall. It was not till after the full completion of my task, that I w^as shown an article upon fox-hunting, in a work entitled, " Sporting by Nimrod." Had I been sooner aware of the existence of this, I might possibly have omitted some passages in the earlier parts of my pages, with reference to the respectability of " the Noble Science ;" seeing that he proves it to have been worthy of all acceptation, not only by crowned, but by mitred heads ; X PREFACE. but SO far from attempting any such alteration of my text, as might constitute a deviation from his jiath, T have been proud to find that I have unconsciously trodden in his steps. The mode of treatment cannot be very dissimilar, where both are impressed with the same exalted view of the subject. It is not necessary that a painter should expunge the effect of a rainbow from his landscape, because he finds that the idea had previously been adopted by another artist. To all other faults of this work will be superadded that of egotism. The third person is more consistent with the labour of composition ; like the editorial " we," it may afford some aml)ush, or may soften the asperity of didactics ; but hoping that, while I am above ground, no one will ever draw for me without a certainty of finding, I have preferred egotistically to answer in my own person, for every precept I have ventured to propagate ; have adhered throughout, " currente calamo," to the epistolary style, and may safely affirm, that from the first to the last line com- mitted to press, I have not made two copies of one single page. If I am taxed with undue criticism upon The Diary of a Huntsman, or with a desire to disparage that production, the manner in which I have spoken of its autlior, as a sportsman, previous to his appearance as a penman, must acquit me of anything approaching, in the remotest degree, to personal disrespect. To have been silent altogether, would have argued that PREFACE. XI I held the writings of a contemporary as utterly iiu worthy of notice, or that I yielded a tacit assent to the promulgation of doctrines which, not only in my own opinion, but in that of all enlightened authorities to whom I have referred them, are calculated to mis- lead those whom they are intended to enlighten. In dealing with these, as with public property, I trust it is unnecessary for me to disclaim a spirit of acrimony, or any feeling unworthy the relationship of brother- sportsmen, both aiming at the same end. I remember once to have heard a celebrated general officer remark, in allusion to the publication of a cer- tain adjutant upon field exercise, "That adjutant is a better man with the drill than with the quill." It is very possible, that a man may shine as a rider, without attaining any degree of eminence as a writer. I may, perhaps, in my own person, offer an instance of failure in both respects ; but having, in my first chapter, touched sufficiently upon my own fears, I will only add, in the apologetic sense of one line, and in the supplicatory tone of another, from Ovid, " Confiteor si quid prodest delicta fateri." " Da placidam f esso lector amice manum." F. P. D. R LIST OF EMBELLISHMENTS. STEEL PLATES. Hugo Meynell, Esq., with his Huntsman, Jack Raven, and the Hound Glider. From the original Painting by C. Loeaine Smith, Esq. Engraved by J. W. Archer - - Frontispiece C. LoRAiNE Smith, Esq., from a Portrait in the possession of the Rev. L. Loraine Smith. Engraved by H. B. Hall to face p. 293 ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD. (From original designs, by the Rev. C. D. Radcliffe. Engraved by E. Landells.) Ornamental Title to precede the printed Title page. Plate I. Going out to cover to face p. 136 Plate II. Drawing in Gorse 144 Plate III. Gone away - - 151 Plate IV. Close at him — " the earth is open " . - - - 1.59 Plate V. Bolted, and Whoo-whoop 170 Plate VI. Going home - - - - - - - - 180 Plate VII. Foxhounds at the face of a drain . - - . 255 Chap. I. (Head piece) The Meet - - - - Page 1 (Tail piece) Taking tlie line for cover - - - 7 Chap. II. (Head piece) Bitch and Puppies - - - - 8 (Tail piece) Hounds in Couples - - - - 1 6 Chap. III. (Head piece) Portrait of a Foxhound - - - 17 (Tail piece) Hound seizing a Fox - - - - 35 Chap. IV. (Head piece) Feeding Hounds - - - - 36 (Tail piece) Huntsman and Hounds - - . 47 Chap. Y. (Headpiece) 'Ware Hare ! 48 (Tail piece) Whip and couples - - - - 57 Chap. VI. (Head piece) A Workman 58 (Tail piece) A Botch 69 Chap, VII. (Head piece) Hunters in Paddock - - - - 70 (Tailpiece) "Gruelling" as it should be - - 97 Chap. VIII. (Head piece) Double, Single, and the Rub - - 98 (Tailpiece) A Spill 132 Chap. IX. (Head piece) Ancient Geologi>;ts - . . . 133 (Tail piece) Foxhound's Head - - - - 181 Chap. X. (Head piece) Hounds in Bath - - - - 182 (Tail piece) Foxhound running - - - . 208 Chap. XI. (Head piece) Making a double cast - - - - 2()9 (Tail piece) Fox running 230 Chap. XII. (Head piece) Savoury anticipations - - - - 231 (Tail piece) and no mistake - - - - 268 Chap. XIII. (Head piece) Earth Stopper ----- 269 (Tail piece) The Social board ----- 289 Emblematical Tail piece to Appendix 302 Ground Plan of the Kennel at Tedworth 281 Plan of Bedstead in the Kennel at Tedworth - - - - 282 Plan of the Stables at Tedworth 282 Introductory CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. CHAPTER 11. Management of Hounda — Doing the thing as it should be done — Knowledge of Country essential in the Master and Huntsmen — Compared with an Army— Business of Hunting — Difterences in Country— Leicestershire and Hampshire— Necessity of Hounds being qualified for their Particular Country — Mr, Smith and the Hambledon ........ 8 CHAPTER III. Description of Hound adapted to Hertfordshire — Good and Bad Luck — Mr, Meynell's Opinion as to the Size of a Hound — Mr. Barnett and the Cambridgeshire — Fast Hounds and Quick Hounds — Lord Segrave's Blood — Draft from his Kennel — Hon. G. Berkeley and his Hounds — Size of Hounds best for Herts — Arched Loins, or Wheeled Backs — Purity of Blood to be pre- ferred to any Cross— Mr. Smith's Cross with the Bloodhound — Shape of Hounds — their Height . . . . .17 CHAPTER IV. Huntsman, as an intellectual Being — The Power of Mind — " Blood will tell" — Gentlemen against the World— Duke of Wellington and the Army — Best Class of Professional Huntsmen — Advan- tages of Temper in all Education — Difference in Disposition of Hounds — Peculiarities — Summary of General Duties of Hunts- men in Kennel , . . . . . .36 CHAPTER V. Whipper-in — Advantages of Practical Explanation — Anecdote of a Miracle — Essentials in a Whipper-in — Duties in Kennel, and in the Field— Discrimination— Passive Obedience — Tom Ball . 48 XIV CONTENTS. P\OE CHAPTER VI. Hiding to Plunt and Hunting to Ride— Horsemansliip inseparable from Enjoyment of the Chase — Going a-Hunting— Price of Horses— Thorongh-bred. versus Cock-tails — Blood, again, will tell— A ]\Ian without a Grandfather — The Wendover Run — Nim- rod's Letter on Condition — Physic— Bleeding . . .58 CHAPTER VII. Continuation of Remarks on Condition— Nimrod's Alterative Balls —Gruel after Hunting— Tired Horses, Treatment of — Hints in- tended for Owners of Short Studs — Shoeing — Lost Shoes — Anecdote of a H. H. Divine and his Bishop — Spare Shoes — Method of Shoeing at Oakley — Grooved Shoes — Over-reaches — Feet and Legs — Foot Lameness— Hot Water as a General Specific— Knee Buckets — Bleeding in the Foot— Use of Physic — Feeding after Hunting — When to use Beans — Preparation or Training of Hunters — Rules for getting them fit — Sweating — Clipping, Grooming, and Dressing —Time for Clipping — Pre- cautions—Legs — Firing and Blistering — Salt and Water Ban- dages — Mercurial Charges — The Late Mr. Villebois — Efficacy of his Application^Ventilation of Stables— Its Importance — How easily contrived — Beauty of a Horse's Coat as an outward Sign of Health ........ 70 CHAPTER VIIL Riding to Hounds — Difference of Countries— Of Horses — Expense — Economy — Equipment of a Hunter— Riders— Long or Short Stirrups— Hand — Temper— Horsemen — Accidents — Crossing Ruts — Cramped Places — Blind Ditches — Timber and Bull- finchers— Falling on the Right Side — Useful Horses— Favourites —Colour — Size— Sex— Railroads the Curse of the Country — Impending Evils of Foxhunting "a thousand years hence" — Conclusion of Advice on Treatment of Hunters — Dress of a Gen- tleman Sportsman — Mrs. Trollope on Male Attire — L'Air Noble — Change in Costume — Black Cravats — Jack-boots — Con- tinuations—Best Dress for Hunting— Origin of wearing Scarlet ; Royal Rule for ditto— Hats— Caps— Whips— Spurs— Charac- teristics of a real Gentleman Fox-hunter in contrast with the mere Vermin- killer . . . . . . .98 CHAPTER IX. A Hunting Morning ; Mood for enjoyment of ; Different Sentiments upon— Place of jSIeeting— Forcing a Fox— Where is the \\"\\\, is the Way — View Halloos — Noise — Silence— The Human Voice divine— Field Language — "Tally-ho" versus "Tally-O" — Mr. CONTENTS. XV Smith's Glossary — Drawing Coverts — Up or down Wind — Instance of an Up-wind Draw in a Spinney— Getting away with a Fox— The Burst— Pressing him— Advantage of a Start to the Fox — Mr. Smith's Idea of a Fox's Knowledge of Scent— Covert Side — " CofFee-housing" — The Number of Hounds for an Effec- tive Pack— Number in the Field — The Great ]\[r. Meynell, with a Hundred Couples out — Success of such a Pack— Killing above Ground, and Digging— Drawing over Foxes- Getting settled to one — "Ware Piiot'' — Mischief of Interference— Hare and Fox on the Same Line — Lawful Assistance, when admissible and ad- vantageous — A Quick Find — Liability to Eiot in a long draw Blank— Punishment of Hounds — A Day in Herts — Average Sport — The Find— "Gone away"— The First Ten ]\Iinutes— A Huntsman in his Proper Place ; how to keep it — Varieties of Soil — A Check— Eye to Hounds, and Last Recovery — Forward again — Eacing for the Lead — Over-riding Hounds— Settling to Business — Hunting and Ptunning— Hunting a Fox, not riding him down — A View in Chase — The Thick of the Thing — A Second Check at the Plough Teams — Headed or not 1 — Hunts- man's Head required — Forward again and again — The Field in High Feather — A Sinking Yox — " Hang those Footmen, how they holloa !" — A Fair Finish— Whoo whoop ! This Run com- pared with a better — Double Casts with Divided Pack — The Forward Principle, the Rule of Fox-hunting — Drains — Going Home— The Time for all Things— Return to Kennel— Efficacy of Hounds — Mr. Smith's Breed of Foxes that can beat any Pack — Condition everything, and Everything depending on " System of Kennel" . . . . . .133 CHAPTER X. System of Kennel — Baths — Feeding — Warmth — Diet — Ventilation — Oatmeal — Vegetables — Mangel-wurzel — Sago — Biscuit — Milk — Breeding — Walks— Sires and Dams — Generative Econ- omy—Choice of Whelps— Naming— Rounding— Dividing Pack — Drafting— Cub-hunting — Going out in the Evening, an Old Practice— Entering Young Hounds — Killing Cubs — General Re- sponsibility of Masters of Hounds .... 182 CHAPTER XL Uncertainty of Scent — Signs and Indications — Mr. Smith's Theory disputed — Arguments in Proof of Scent coming from Body and Breath of the Animal, and not from Touch of Pad alone — Exem- plified by Case in Point— Old Wells and the Oakley— Efi'ect of Dew upon Scent — Ascent of Dew versus Descent— Experi- mental Philosophy — Dr. Dufay and M. Muschenbrock — Results of Experiments — Mr. Smith upon " Metal "... 209 XVI CONTENTS. CHAPTER XII. Hunting from Home— M. F. H. in his own Country — Presents — The Late Mr. Hanbury— Popularity — Satisfaction — Rights of Coun- try — Support of Hunting — Errors of Custom — Remedies — Difficulty of Reformation — Earth- Stopping — Mr. Smith's Plan — Game-keepers — Habits of Foxes — Importance of Rural Amusement — Decline of Shooting — New Game BiU — Fox- hunting the only Resource — Estimate of Expenses , .231 CHAPTER XIII. Of Provincial Countries—Fox-hunting in Hampshire — Mr. Assheton Smith — His career in Leicestershire — Character as a Sportsman and Horseman — Removal to Hampshire — Tedworth and its Agi-emens—Yiait to the Kennel — Reception there— Description of the Kennel and Premises — Stables, &c., &c. — Appearance — Local Advantages— Huntsman— Entry — Stamp of Hounds — liadical good — Success of the Pack — Horses — Summary of this Sketch— Plans of the Building . , . . .269 Appendix ........ 290 Biographical Sketch of Two Sportsmen of the last Century . . 293 -r-\/ CHAPTER I. " Proscrire les carts agreables, et ne vouloir que ceux qui sont absolu- nient utiles, c'est blamer la nature, qui produit les fleurs, les roses, les jasmins, comme elle produit des fruits." From the Album of a Parisienne. INTRODUCTORY. XT has been generally admitted, that few can have read " The Complete Angler" of old Izaak Walton, with- out being bitten by the seductive language in which he clothes the communication of his ideas upon his favourite pastime. Many have, indeed, founded their first taste for, and their subsequent proficiency in, the gentle art of angling, upon their acquaintance with his pages ; and I do not envy the temperament of that man who can rise from the perusal of Somerville's "Chase" uninfluenced by a corresponding effect upon his feelings. All, however, 1 2 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. cannot enter into the enthusiasm of the poet, — cannot be, with myself, at once transported into the very heart of that ''dehghtful scene where all around is gay :" — but if less has been written upon " The Noble Science" of Hunting, than upon other subjects of far less importance to the good of man, it is not from any lack of materials for quartos — but, simply, because the practice so far out- weighs the theory ; because, like good wine that needs no bush, it requires no description to enhance its attractions; and because considerably more than three parts out of four of the number of hunting men, are contented to take their share of the enjoyment, as they find it, without a thought towards the scientific or theoretical part of the pursuit, on the due cultivation of which there is so much more than they are aw^are of, depending. Far be it from me to desire that all sons of Nim- rod should degenerate, or be at once transformed into scribblers, book-worms, or, as a huntsman of my acquaintance more aptly designated them, bookmen. Heaven forefend, too, that those actively engaged in high and useful calling, should not, in the joys of the chase, find legitimate relaxation from the arduous course of li- terary avocations 1 — but, as some apology for committing to paper my "Thoughts upon Hunting," I would impress upon those friends who may vouchsafe an attempt to read what I have written, the fact, that few, possessing the ability, have found the inclination, either for their own amusement or the benefit of others, to publish matter which must be more or less interesting to every THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 3 true votary of the science, if founded only upon the soHd basis of experience. Furthermore, be it remembered, that anything ema- nating from the mere theorist, is as little worthy of notice as "An Authentic Account of Operations from the Seat of War in Spain," issuing periodically from a garret in Seven Dials ; that no one should pretend to write or offer an opinion upon the subject, who cannot of these things say — " Qu^que ipse vidi — et quorum pars fui." Now for myself, in defence of this, my humble essay, I do not pretend to say with Horace, " Dicam insigne, recens adhuc Indictum ore alio." I am bound to state, feeling tremblingly alive to the imputation, on the one hand, of presumption, should I attempt to deviate from, or of plagiarism, should I follow too closely in the track of those who have" preceded me, that I am actuated by no hope of bringing to light anything new under that sun which I invoke to shine upon my endeavours, and to dispel the threatening clouds which will gather upon the horizon of an author's morning ; by which, in plainer or less poetical phraseology, I would be understood to mean a first attempt at any publication beyond a pamphlet or a song. It is, perhaps, far less incumbent upon me to say one word in anticipation of a charge which never can arise, lest the truism of the French proverb should at once present itself, that " qui s excuse s' accuse," with regard to my . having joined the class of wiitatores, which, from our school-boy days, we have held as " servum pecus," and it will be too evident, I fear, that 1—2 4 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. I have never read one line of the several works of a sunilar tendency and purport which have appeared in my time, with the exception of Beckford, whom " not to know argues oneself unknown." When I say that, although I have of course heard of, I have never seen Colonel Cooke's work, or even, to my knowledge, an extract from his '' Observations upon Hunting," I need not add my conviction that it would be far better for my object if every line of it were committed to my memory ; but still I will arrogate for my bantling, with all its imperfections on its head, the merit, if any there be, of originality, if not in conception, at least in arrangement, of idea ; and in addressing it more especially to my friends and acquaintance in my own provincial district, I shall hope to secure one portion of favourable, if not of partial, critics. If I am accused of quoting too freely from Greek, Roman, or British Poets, wherever the aptness of the quotation is admitted, no apology need be made for having endeavoured to convey, in the beauty of lan- guage, ideas which could not otherwise be half so well expressed. I hope to escape the imputation of having affected a scholastic pedantry, to which I have no pretension ; and that those who may look over (I trust with the intention of overlooking) these and other failings in the following pages, may find them not wholly deficient in a redeeming portion of plainer English. I have already stated, that much has been written upon subjects far less important to the good of man THE NOBLE SCIENCE. *> than hunting ; but having been in this, my introductoiy chapter, more than sufficiently prosy, I will not tax the patience of those whom I wish to dip further into this volume, by entering into a consideration of the progress of " The Noble Science" from its origin to its present state of perfection, or of its bearings upon the social character of man ; but I will here briefly record my opinion, that hunting is entitled to all the encouragement which any State may have the power to bestow upon it. The effect of so manly an exercise upon the mind of youth has been well described by abler pens; its tendency to promote that good fellowship which should be *' our being's end and aim" is duly tested by the position of society in those counties where its influence has been most felt. No higher testimony to its practical utility, in a national point of view, can be required than that of as brave a hero as ever drew a sword, — the gallant Lord Lynedoch; — he whom Napoleon characterized as "that daring old man" has often affirmed, that he should not have been the soldier he is, had he not been bred a fox- hunter. The Koman poet, speaking of Diana, the goddess of hunting, says, " Deas supereminet omnes." From the time of Nimrod to the present, hunting has ever ranked first and foremost of all exercises, whether by man, in an uncivilized state, as the natural means of subsistence, or by the most enlightened and refined, as a soul- inspiring source of pleasure. Furthermore, I will add that fox-hunting ever has b THE NOBLE SCIENCE. been, still is, and, I trust, ever will be, enthusiastically upheld by men of the highest endowments, — by men possessed of all the noblest and best attributes of human nature, many of whom have devoted themselves to its objects with an assiduity alone sufficient to prove the worthiness of the cause. Its operations upon agricultural produce are, also, sufficiently well known, though, I fear, hardly enough appreciated by that class, the ''fortunati nimium, sua si bona norint, agricolse." I will, in an appendix, dedicate to the farmers of my own county a letter which I pub- lished some years since, in the Sporting Magazine, upon the subject of riding over wheat ; but T will here hold hard, nor allow myself to be led farther into a repetition of truisms so thoroughly established. Convinced, myself, that, for the health, the recreation, the general good, there is nothing to bear a moment's comparison with hunting, taking it relatively, or collec- tively ; taking it as affecting the physical condition of men, or that '' noblest animal in the creation" (as he has been styled), the horse, I will only add to the motto, " Floreat scientia," the heartfelt aspiration, " esto i^crpe- titaf — May it flourish till time shall be no more ! And now, in proceeding with my comments upon the manner in which I would see it conducted (a work commenced originally for my own occupation during the leisure hours of summer), let me say that, if I should be the humble means of awakening the attention of any one individual to the real interests, or tend in the slightest THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 7 degree towards the promotion of that sport to which I have been addicted from my cradle, with which I have been for many years most intimately connected, and to which (apart from higher considerations) I must ever remain devoted, I shall have gained my end. chapteb; il — " Keen on tbe scent, At fault none losing heart ! — but all at work ! None leaving his task to another ! — answering The watchful huntsman's caution, check, or cheer, As steed his rider's rein. Away they go ! How close they keep together ! What a pack ! Nor turn nor ditch nor stream divides them — as They move with one intelligence, act, will !" Love Chase. Management of Hounds — Doing the thing as it should be done — Know- ledge of Country essential in the Master and Huntsmen — Compai'ed with an Army— Business of Hunting — Differences in Country- Leicestershire and Hampshire— Necessity of Hounds being qualified for their particular Country— Mr. Smith and the Hambledon. That " whatever is worth domg at all, is worth doing well," is one of those maxims which may be fearlessly asserted, without risk of controversy ; and to no under- taking is it more applicable than to the management of a pack of foxhounds. To do the thing well, and as it should be done, ought to be the primary object of THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 9 any one aspiring to the office ; but let ns consider in what does this well-doing consist. It will not be found alone in the tout e?zse?72Z>/e, the faultless appearance of the turn out. Too much attention cannot be paid to the due efficiency of all appointments, with regard to " dogs, horses, and men ;" but an aspirant for fame, as a master of foxhounds, may give an exorbitant sum for a pack of hounds of unquestionable celebrity, — he may give carte hlanche to Anderson, Bean, and Elmore, to fill his stables: — he may secure the services of the best of hunts- men and whippers-in, — he may bring all these into the best of countries, — still it is no paradox to say, that, with all these means and appliances to boot, the thing may not be done well, or as it should be done. I have heard of men, ambitious, formerly, of emulating the place of Lord Jersey, and such performers over a country, who have, in the purchase of the very horses which they had followed as brilliant lights, considered that they had attained the summum honum, the grand requisite to go and do likewise ; and woful has been their disappoint- ment at finding that, without the presiding genius, — the head- piece which has ruled, the hand which guided them to glory, — the implements were but common tools in hands of ordinary workmen ; and they were little, if any, better than i7i statu quo. With all due allowance for native valour, few, I imagine, will maintain that the flower of a British army would, under the generality of commanders, have achieved the prodigies which have rendered the name and fame of WelHngton imperish- 10 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. able : and thus it is witli an establishment qualified properly to hunt any country. The chief must not only be heart and soul in the cause, but he must endeavour to fortify himself with that thorough knowledge of the business, which is essential — I say, indispensable — to complete success. The word, business, may grate upon the ear of those conversant only with the pleasure, and brings to my mind the waggery of a story, appertaining, I believe, to Theodore Hook, in which a citizen is driven to exasperation by being told that he could not, by any possibility, have any husincss in his boat, — his own boat, — because, as is ultimately explained to him, it is his pleasiire-ho^t. But I contend, that it is a business of no slight importance to cater for the amusement of a whole county ; setting aside the hopeless effort to give unqualified satisfaction, it is a business so to conduct all matters as to do justice to those who have confided to him the administration of the policy which rules the destinies of the little empire which is his theatre of action. I have been told, upon the best authority, of that great general, to whom I have before alluded, that, on the eve of battle, not only would he sleep soundly, but say that he had as good a right to sleep, then, as the Lord Mayor had in London, even should they be all killed and eaten by the enemy on the morrow, having made all the dispositions calculated to guard against every contingency, and entitle him to feel that confi- dence in his own resources which was the forerunner of victory. So, in like manner, j:)a?'i'2*s componere magna — THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 11 to compare great aflfairs with those comparatively of little consequence — should a master of foxhounds, upon join- ing, at the covert side, a host of followers, all " with souls in arms, and eager for the fray ;" when contem- plating the responsibility which rests with him, — when reviewing the numbers looking up to him as arbiter of what that day shall bring forth, be enabled to say to himself, '' I have done my duty to the best of my judg- ment ; I have fixed to draw the covert, which, of all others, it is most expedient to draw ; I have ascertained the more than probability of finding here, or in the neighbourhood ; I am not at variance with any farmer or landholder who might have been propitiated ; I have brought an effective establishment into the field; in short, I have done, and shall do, all within my power towards the sport, which, all must know, will ever very much depend upon the elements, and a variety of circum- stances over which I have no control, and which, whether favourable or otherwise, will affect me, at least as much as, if not more than, any one else." He will thus be supported through all the trying events of the day, by a consciousness that his field lack none of that zeal and energy which he should supply. He will, under failure of scent, or any of the catalogue of miseries to which he is exposed, even to the heading of a fox, patiently, if not cheerfully, submit to evils which he cannot sur- mount ; and should all go right, and "merry as a marriage bell," who, in the whole of that well-pleased 12 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. field, will have half the excitement, the exultation, the delight, which he will find in this joyous result of all his hopes and endeavours ? To retui-n to my position, that with the best esta- blishments which money can produce, a man may fail — may fail in showing that sport which will stamp the character of his pack; — for justice, blind justice, is very blind indeed in this respect, and will take success as the sole criterion of merit. I have said that it is not enouofh to brino^ into the field men, hounds, and horses, of the best pretensions ; I repeat, that it is not enough, unless all are pre-eminently qualified for the particular country in which their lot may be cast ; unless the ser- vants possess, in addition to every professional quali- fication, that intimate knowledge of all localities which is indispensable, and not less so to the master, if he assume, as he should do, the absolute command ; unless much, very much, have been done in the time of pre- paration which cannot be done during the season, which is as the harvest of the months of promise which have preceded it. As one striking instance, in support of what I have thus advanced, and drawing, as will be my invariable rule, solely upon f^icts within my own ex- perience, it will be fresh in the memory of all Hamp- shire gentlemen, that when the great Mr. Osbaldeston ■ — (and great he certainly and deservedly was, and ever must be held, as a master of hounds) — temporarily re- moved his splendid establishment from Leicestershire into the Hambledon country, with the aid of no less a THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 13 man than the renowned Sebright, now with Lord Fitz- wiUiam, to hunt one of the best packs of hounds ever bred, so great was the transition from the verdant vales of Leicester, to their antipodes in the good county of Southampton, that, although ''the Squire" had good- humouredly threatened the utter extinction of the whole race of Hambledon foxes, each day was but a repetition of '' confusion worse confounded ;" and they very soon abandoned the country, with all the disgust which the proverbial odiousness of comparisons was likely to engender. No one will imagine that I can entertain the re- motest idea of casting any reflection upon an establish- ment, the merits of which were beyond the reach of detraction. I have recorded the fact as it stands, only as the strongest proof of my assertion, that a tho- rough knowledge of a country and its peculiarities is indispensable ; and I have not the least doubt that if any of the principal actors in the scene to which I have alluded were questioned as to what they did in the Hambledon country, the answer would be " Nothing ;" that they found themselves truly dislocated, in a strange locality, and were all abroad. Whether they ivould have done nothing had they remained is quite another question ; my belief is that such a pack would have maintained its superiority in any country; though I still hold to my opinion, that a hound which may be perfect in one country, may be utterly useless in an- 1 4 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. other ; that the' greatest talents in a huntsman may be equally unavaihng, unless backed by an inthnate ac- quaintance with all peculiar circumstances with which he may have to contend. It may be supposed that I have quoted a strong case for my own purpose, and that the Hambledon country might have been found impracticable for sport ; but my case is confirmed by the sequel, in proof of what may be done by that knowledge of country which I hold so requisite, and by adapting the principles of the noble science of fox-hunting to the hunting of the fox wherever he is to be found. A good run is a good run anywhere, and is, I believe, at the present time, no uncommon occurrence in that same province, although beset by wood and bog on one side, and wood and flint upon the other. But to my point without further digression. It was not, I think, more than two or three seasons after Mr. Osbaldeston's brief sojourn in Hants, that Mr. Smith, who has since arrived at the height of dis- tinction as a huntsman and master of hounds, but who might then have been styled " a youth to fortune and to fame unknown," suddenly emerged from the retire- ment of rural avocation, and became somebody of greater importance to the good cause than any light which had yet dawned upon that sphere. With a very indifferent, and, I believe, so inadequate a subscription, as to call for many demands upon his THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 15 purse, and proportionate sacrifices on his own part, he undertook the management of the hounds, receiving them hterally at a day's notice from Mr. Nunes. He had, from boyhood, followed the chase wherever it was to be followed, through the country where he was born and bred ; not an earth existed, not a woodland or a spinney, with which he was not familiar. As a horse- man, he could cross the most difficult country, as a man should go, who attempts to hunt his hounds ; and, conse- quently, w^ith a pack of hounds and a stable of horses, which he would probably himself now term a scratch concern, to say nothing of his assistants in the field, he contrived to kill foxes and show sport, in a way which has had no parallel, either before or since his time, in those parts. This is only one of many instances which I could quote in support of my doctrine, as to the obvious utility of a due acquaintance with a country, and not less especially with the kind of hound best adapted to the soil, and the character of ground over which he is expected to hold a scent. What I may have to say on the subject of hounds will afford matter for my next chapter. I have, in this, dwelt more particularly on these points, from a consideration of the changes in ad- ministration which have taken place around me since last season, and of more which are likely to occur, in the hope that should any one connected with a new ma- nagement have taken up this book, he may have arrived 16 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. thus far before casting it aside, and thereby, possibly, may have his attention more immediately directed to what has, ^vithin my own knowledge, caused more failures than a host of all other accountable causes of disappointment. CHAPTEE III. " For Louiids of middle size, active and strong, Will better answer all thy various ends, And croAvn thy pleasing labours with success." SOMERVILE. Description of Hound adapted to Hertfordshire— Good and Bad Luck — Mr. Meyn ell's Opinion as to the Size of a Hound— Mr. Barnett and the Cambridgeshire — Fast Hounds and Quick Hounds — Lord Segrave's Blood— Draft from his Kennel — Hon. G. Berkeley and his Hounds— Size of Hounds best for Herts— Arched Loins, or Wheeled Backs — Puritj^ of Blood to be preferred to any Cross — Mr. Smith's Cross with the Bloodhound — Shape of Hounds — their Height. It would be tlie height of presumption in me, were I to make any attempt at offering any dogmas upon the system of kennel. I write, not for the information of the learned, but for the amusement of the uninitiated in these mysteries. It is not my purpose to make any compilation of practical details upon the treatment of 18 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. hounds, nor even to retail any of the thousand and one mfalhble specifics for the cure of distemper, and other diseases, all of which would be borrowed from, or be more or less infringing upon the province of, works already, for the most part, familiar to sportsmen. It is true that I could swell a volume, by recapitulating the . daily results of conferences with those possessing suffi- cient practical lore upon these matters, were such my object ; nay, this might, perhaps, constitute the only valuable product of my penmanship, but I question whether I should thus add to the stock of useful maxims which I desire to inculcate, or further my de- sign of offering a cursory view of the general and grand ruling principles of fox-hunting, which it will be my endeavour to make comprehensible and acceptable to those friends for whose amusement or edification alone these pages are intended. I must repeat, that I am drawing solely upon my knowledge and memory for facts, and should, perhaps, state that I am not only unaided and alone, but actually and literally writing, daily, in a room unfurnished with one printed article of any description, and wholly devoid of all access to books from which I might cull rich matter for my own.* "With regard to hounds, let us consider what stamp may be, from experience, pronounced to be best calculated for our provincial district, bearing ever in mind that * More tlian half the book was written in leisure hours during a sum- mer tour, and a considerable portion on board Mr. Acker's fine schooner yacht, the Dolphin. THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 19 our Bramingham is, to us, as much or more than the Billesdon Coplow to the Meltonian ; that our Gad- desden and Kensvvorth Gorse are no less estimable in our eyes than those of Segg's Hill, or Catworth, in countries of higher repute ; and that if we are more liable to that glorious uncertainty of scent, upon our colder lands, than those blessed with richer pastures, where scent can rarely fail, and where any hound ought to run, we are no less imbued with a love of the pace that kills, and it is, therefore, the more incumbent upon us to consult the cultivation of that odora canAm vis, and all the essential qualities of the animal upon which we are the more dependant. There is a certain degree of luck in all things : making a liberal allowance for the judgment which we are all ready enough to take credit for, upon the suc- cess of any scheme, it cannot be denied that there is good or ill luck attendant upon their results ; and that one man may be fortunate enough to attain in two years what another may not accomplish in twenty."' Thus, upon taking to fox-hounds, I had the good luck to succeed, in the first draft from a distant kennel which I pitched upon as likely to recruit the pack, and as particularly qualified for the country I had under- taken to hunt. My predecessor, probably at no less * Mr. Barrett has afforded, in Hants, a practical illustration of this— having succeeded to the command of the old H. H., on the death of his lamented brother-in-law, ]\lr. Villebois— with everything to provide de novo, his sport, last season, exceeded that of many previous, and he has now a pack of hounds, the sight of which wiU repay the trouble of a visit. 2—2 20 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. pains and expense, had procured drafts from Cheshire and elsewhere, which, altogether as unluckily, proved otherwise than beneficial to the kennel. The cUte of the pack, and many there were, bitches especially, well worth preserving as a foundation to the present, were chiefly bred at home, reflecting no little credit upon the judgment of their owner; but the majority of the dogs, though magnificent to the eye, were, to use poor Bob Oldaker's own words, fit only to be cut up into gloves. Much did their size and action militate against their progress over a country where a hound should be a close hunter. To enable a hound to be a close hunter, he must be near his work ; a large lolhping animal will, in our country, not only be figuratively as well as lite- rally above his business, but he will tire with the eflbrt of bearing his own weight over flints and fallows re- quiring constant stooping, and a gift oipy^essing, without which a Hertfordshire fox will laugh him to scorn. I must not be supposed, in any strictures upon a draft from the Cheshire, to offer any disparagement to that pack, which is, I believe, what it should be : I mean only to say, that their drafts did not suit the purpose of improving ours. For our country, I hold twenty- three inches as the maximum of height. It is true that, for the strong black-thorn woods of Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire, a certain weight of substance is necessary, and with all my admitted partiality for small hounds, there is no greater advocate for bone and THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 21 muscle ; but I have never lost sight of the recorded opinion of the father of the science, Mr. Meynell, — that the height of a hound had nothing to do with his size. The breed of some veteran professors might, perhaps, do for some countries, but defend us from lumber in any shape.'''' We have, near us, a fine sample of a large pack, where a larger hound is absolutely required, in the strong country, and almost impenetrable coverts, encountered by that good sportsman, Mr. Barnett ; but he is unremitting in his attention to shoulders, and that clean mould of limb which unites activity with pov.'ev. I was forcibly struck by the justice of a remark which he made to me one day ]ast winter, when w^e were dis- cussing the merits of different packs within our imme- diate notice, and the importance attached, in the pre- sent flying, railroadian era, to the pace of hounds. " Few people," said he, " consider sufHciently the dif- ference between a fast hound and a ciuich hound." I was delighted with a remark so entirely coinciding with my own long-cherished opinion, for I have ever held that a hound may be able to fly, that is, may be pos- sessed of physical ability to run like a greyhound, and yet prove a slow brute in chase ; but give me a quick * There can be no use in glossing over fact— I may be setting up com- paratively new, in opposition to old and well-received opinions, but it is, nevertheless, a fact beyond dispute, that wherever the heavy breed of throaty hound has been/air/y tried, it has been found wanting ; wanting, not in the pottering power of holding on the line, or rather of reiterating what has been proclaimed and allowed long before, but wanting in speed, terribly deficient in stoutness, and by no means superior in fineness of nose. Of all this, I might offer high proof, but not without allusions savouring of personality. 22 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. hound, a hound instinctively quick in working for and catching a scent, and I will answer for his following his nose fast enough for the best horse ever foaled. We all know the truth of the proverb that " like will beget like ;" and the fact, that certain qualities are hereditary, is illustrated no less in the breed of hounds and horses than in that of the ''genus humanum sine Cauda, carnivorum," &c. " Fortes creantur fortibus, et bonis, Est in juvencis, est in equis patrum Virtus : neque imbellem feroces Progenerant aquilse columbam." HOK. " c'lyaOoi c'tyivovro oid to lay. That thrills the ivanderer of that trackless way." Thus it is with hunting.— On the mere steeple-chaser, 136 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. or on the man who rises discontented from a feverish bed, to curse the custom which prevents the more protracted indulgence of sloth ; and still more, on him Avho inwardly kmients that no interposition of a friendly frost had spared him the necessity of *' doing as others do at Rome," would any word upon the details of the science, and what thereto appertains, be other than utterly wasted. It is by the real sportsman, by the true admirer of Nature and of Nature's God, by the man fraught with a lively sense of the boon of existence, of thankfulness for the health and happiness he is per- mitted to enjoy, by the man at peace with himself, and in charity with all men, that the exhilarating inspira- tions of a hunting morning will be felt and appreciated. But we are at the place of meeting ; we have no business to inquire into the motives of any one ; all have a right to hunt to please themselves, and as long as they do no mischief, may take the country as it comes, or the road as it goes, according to their own pleasure. — Out of a hundred merry faces, you will probably find many who have ridden long distances, and are constantly at great trouble and expense, out of pure love of the sport. The whole field wears, at least, the appearance of happiness, and, taking them all in all, they are probably a better set of fellows than you could find congregated together upon any other occasion. The place of meeting should never be too near the covert intended to be drawn. No one should ride by the side of it before the hounds are thrown off, as a THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 137 very old fox is easily disturbed ; and, when they are drawing, in taking up a station, which will, of course, be down wind, remember that it would have been too much for the patience of Job to have had a fox headed at his point of breaking. If hounds are drawing a wood furnished with rides, it is highly desirable that all should be within covert, excepting those placed officially to view a fox away, which otherwise might steal off unseen. If you are in a gorse, there is less occasion to depend on your ears ; you can see all that is going on, with little change of position ; and one side, that on which a fox is most likely to break, should be left entirely open to him. It is a farce to think of forcing a fox to take any particular line of country by compelling him to break in that direction. ■ If he will go, he will — you may depend on't ; And if he won't, he won't— and there's an end on't. He is almost certain to make good his first intention — he heads back, — the cream of the thing is curdled — hounds lose their first advantage ; they turn, probably, from a burning scent up wind, to a moderate one down wind, — the fox multiplies his start tenfold, and a good run is spoiled. Any man who has ever hunted more than twice, must know that nothing will sooner head a fox than a halloo. The veriest tyro must have heard of, if he have not witnessed, the effect of a tally-ho as soon as a fox puts his nose out of covert; and, with all due allowance for exuberance of delight, he has no business T38 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. out liuntlno: if lie have not learned to view the animal in respectful silence till he is quite clean "gone away." A view halloo given then, to the full extent of the utmost capability of lungs, can do no harm, but will be thankfully acknowledged by the huntsman. If hounds should be running, and settled to another fox, they will not be disturbed by it ; if they are not, the sooner the huntsman is aware that one (and probably the good one) is gone, the better. A clear, good, musical view halloo, either in or out of covert, is one of the most inspiring accompaniments of the chase ; and, as a sequel to the cheering encouragement given to the hounds by the huntsman, in a tone of voice harmonizing with the floating melody which has arisen from the breath of the first challenge which proclaimed a find, it creates a moment of excitement and pleasure indescribable. You knew before that it was all right ; you could swear by " old Medler, who never spoke false ;" " You would lay ten to one 'twas a find ;" but now you have the evidence to prove the fact, by ovular demonstration. He has not stolen away, leaving a steaming trail behind ; there he is, and you see nothing to hinder a continuance, upon fair terms, with him. Grateful, however, as is — welcome as must be — this tocsin to the ear, it is far better altogether dispensed with, than used incautiously or out of place. I would not divest the sport of one particle of its animation and cheeriness ; but fox-hunters do not, generally, err in THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 139 silence. Too much noise must create confusion, and render hounds wild. A noisy, over-vociferous hunts- man* sets a fatal example to his field, and is only preferable to one who, in the other extreme, may be silent and sulky to a degree of slackness. He must neither attempt to find a fox with his horn, and frighten him to death with his tongue ; nor must he talk to his hounds with apathy and indifference. When I say that fox-hunters do not err in silence, I mean that the proportion of mischief far exceeds the benefit resulting from halloos. The human eye is supposed to have a wonderful efiect upon the brute creation. " It is said that a lion will turn and flee From a maid in the pride of her purity." But I doubt whether the "human voice divine" is not far more powerful in its operation. How often does the partridge shooter inwardly consign the tongues of his attendants to * * *, where they might want cooling ? How many instances could I recount of foxes having been rescued from the jaws of death, from the very middle of the pack, by the tally-ho, here, — halloo, there, which gets their heads up, and prevents their running, infallibly, from a burning scent, into view of the devoted carcass, within a very short distance of their noses. The view halloo (a something approaching to a screaming intonation of " waugh," nearer than anything * Virgil, in his Georgics says, "Ingentem clamore premes ad retia cervum," speaking of stag-hunting — but this clamour was only to drive the stag to the nets. 140 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. I can write), cannot, I believe, be committed to paper ; but the "tally-ho!" the visible sign, or intelligence, of the sight of a fox, has been the subject of ingenious speculation as to the uncle derivaturf Whether it has its origin in the Norman taillis haiit, "high coppice;" or whether, as some assert with equal confidence, aa taillis, "to the coppice ;" or whether it is derived from the plain English tall ho ! as a salute to that conspi- cuous and distinguished part of the animal called the brush, is a matter of no moment to the sportsman, whatever it may be to the etymologist. My only object, in this digressive allusion to the word, is to express my hope and belief that I have not mis-spelt it. I conceive that nothing but a misprint, and a repetition of the same diabolical error of the press, can have given us so much of tally-0, as I find in Mr. Smith's valuable Diary of a Huntsman, which 1 have seen since the previous chapter went to press. We hear tye-ho ! for the deer ; so- ho ! for the hare ; to-ho ! to the pointer, &c., &c. Sail-ho ! is the cry from the mast head when a vessel is in sight. The interjection "ho !" being, as I take it, an exclama- tion indicative of surprise, and, at the same time, signifying the presence of an object. In Mr. Smith's glossary of hunting terms, we n.re told that "//ooi" is ^' the view halloo, when talhj-O is not heard, or ivheti hounds are at a check, and it is desirable to get thcni on ;" and, in explanation of tally-0 itself, that, " if desirable to halloo it loudly, it should be pronounced, ta, a-le, o," meaning, beyond doubt, ta, a, le-ho ! for we must expect THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 141 to hear of 'ounds, and 'orsci, in the dialect of the cock- ney, ivho 'ammers an 'ach along an 'ard road to hint at Ilepping, from a man who would thus clip the Queen's English, and rob the dear old tallj^-ho of the expressive aspirate which was familiar to our infancy. To return to halloos in general, your first view halloo having led me a long way since I left you with hounds, drawing for a fox, on a fine hunting morning. On the use of your voice in the field, or covert, I should say, remember never to halloo far from the spot where the fox is viewed. You may be of real use if you enable a hunts- man to lay his hoimds on the last space which you saw occupied by the fox ; taking care, of course, to turn your horse's head, and w^ave your hand in the direction he is gone, to prevent their taking heel way. Notliing is more annoying than, after lifting hounds to a halloo, to find that your informant has viewed the fox a quarter of a mile off, nearer, very likely, to the place whence you started, than to him ; you have then to retrace your steps, with a very material loss of time, to say nothing of having disappointed or made fools of the hounds. With respect to drawing a covert, I believe that, although unquestionably best, to take a woodland up wind, it is of little importance which way hounds are thrown into a gorse, the chances of chopping a fox being more alarming than those of his getting too good a start. In small woods, or spinnies, it is not only a mistake to think that it is necessary to give hounds the wind, but it is positively wrong to draw otherwise than 142 THE NOBLE SCIENCE, down wind. You incur a terrible risk of eatclnng a fox nappin^^, which is an easier thing to do than " to catch a weasel asleep ;" and, moreover, it is ten to one that you force a fox, if not chopped, to break against his inclination.'''' I saw a beautiful find completely spoiled by this circumstance alone, towards the end of last year with a celebrated pack. With the idea of forcing a fox into a particular line of country, the hounds were thrown up wind, into a spinney : a certain find. By dint of noise, the fox was unkennelled without accident ; and finding it impossible to face the pack and field in his rear, was compelled to make a feint forward, in the eye of an equinoctial gale ; but, after half a mile of this fun, he, of course, took the first opportunity of making a retrograde movement, leading a gallant chase for miles down wind. The impulse of a pack, however, when enjoying a burst up wind, close to their fox, is that of " Vestigia nulla retrorsum." On this occasion, they never recovered the first check ; and, although they had a good run, the fox found security in the distant wood- land of the adjoining country, and the day was wanthig that satisfactory account of him, which must have been the result, had a contrary course been pursued in drawing. In this, as in many other things, " Ce n'est que ]q premier iKis qui coute." We are all, of course, anxious enough to get away on * It has been before remarked, that " if he will go, he will"— it is difficult to change the ])redetermined line of a fox, but easy enough to force him to break at a different point to that which he would spontaneously have chosen. THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 143 the best possible terms with a fox : and it is only fair towards hounds to get them away close at his brush ; but I doubt whether this is the best way to ensure a good run, or that a fox is so likely to face an extent of country, as he is when he has had a few minutes to make up his mind. There are numberless instances of foxes having taken very unusual lines, owing, as may be justly supposed, to having been thus pressed at first ; but, on such occasions, it generally happens that some kind of check occurs in the first five minutes, sfivinsf a fox some ground for venturing to make a bold coup for his life. He will then set his head straight, and make his point good for some known haunt, twelve, thirteen, or more miles distant, as the crow flies. I do not mean to say that I would give him a moment's law beyond a fair start from covert. Your object is to find, and fliirly hunt, or run him down. To kill a good fox, he must be lyrcssed all through the chase ; and his fate is most frequently decided by the pace of the first twenty minutes, most appropriately designated as '' the burst ;'' but it is ten to one that he heads back, if the chances are obviously much against him, and winds up his career in a ring. I have heard great complaints, of late seasons, of short running foxes in Leicestershire. I conceive that this is not because foxes are worse, though enclosures and other causes may be taken into account, but that hounds are better : — they are bred to run faster. What- ever may have been the pace of former days, I feel confident that it was not equal to the speed of the 144 TEIE NOBLE SCIENCE. present. Hounds, in such countries, burst their fox, and drive him to his shifts, before he has time to avail himself of his geography. They get well away with him from gorse, or small covert, and are never off his line. This is not generally the case from a larger covert ; hence the reputation of woodland foxes, which are said to be always the best. I have been told by some of the oldest and best sportsmen, that all the finest runs they can remember, have been when a fox has got a good start, and the scent has chanced to be good enough to allow hounds, in nautical phrase, to overhaul him, coming up with him, hand over hand, when he little expected them. It is then too late to return, or the gallant *' varmint" has been too far committed to retract, and is compelled to do, or die, at once. A good scent may be truly said to make a good fox. As to Mr. Smith's idea, that a fox must be a good judge of scent because he lives by hunting, and that he regulates his movements accordingly, it certainly might puzzle ingenuity to say too much of the wiliness or sagacity of the animal, whose cunning is proverbial ; but the supposition of their knowledge of a good scent is not, in my humble opinion, quite borne out by fact. It is true that they will take to a lane, or hard road, as will also the hare, and play other vagaries, seemingly with a notion of diminishing the scent ; but I am inclined to think, that the surface for their footinir, the difference of travelling over light or heavy ground, is their consideration ; or else why does a fox invariably bl THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 145 leave ploughed land, and take to grass, which, if he be anything of a philosopher, he must know will betray his steps in a tenfold degree ? I shall, hereafter, presume to offer an opinion upon the nature of scent. We must, for the present, return to the covert side, where I left- you— not as, I hope, " coffee-housing" amidst a group of idlers, who are, probably, conspicuous ornaments of an- other certain spot, known by the name of Fool's Corner — but on the tiptoe of expectation, intent upon observing the working of eighteen or twenty couples of effective foxhounds, and big with hope as to the success of their operations. Here the mention of the number of hounds requisite to constitute an effective pack, betrays me into what may seem like another brief digression, but which will not, I trust, appear out of place, as connected with the science in the field. The number kept in kennel must, of course, depend upon the country, and the number of hunting days per week. From fifty to sixty couples are, I believe, found sufiicient for four days a week, in most countries, although the kennel establish- ments in Leicestershire far exceed this number. Taking- one of the most complete, if not the most perfect, in the whole world, for an example of what is right, you will find that it is oftener with less, than with more than eighteen couples that Lord Forester and Mr. Goosey thread the vale of Belvoir. When the Father of the Science, the great Meynell, first went into Leicestershire, he never took out fewer than one hundred coitples of hounds, — a fact which I have ascertained from one who 10 146 TUE NOBLE SCIENCE. was in liis prime, as a fox-hunter, long before the close of the last century : who well knew the practice of those days, and was well acquainted with the circum- stances. One hundred couples were drawn for the hunting pack (leaving, I should imagine, but a small residue for the solace of the feeder, at home) ; and when the fixture was at Segg's Hill, six miles from Mr. Meynell's residence, it was thought necessary to despatch them there over night, not only that they might be in time for the rendezvous with the first rays of light, but in order to avoid the fiitigue of the journey ! Well may we expect to " live and learn," or learn while we live, when we find that, within the memory of many now being, and I trust, long to be, the science was thus still in its infancy. That Mr. Meynell lived to discover, and reform, the errors of this primitive state is well known ; the order of things, in the present day, being chiefly the result of his experience : but it is no less fact, that, for several seasons, he never fairly killed one brace of foxes above ground. Digging was then a common resource ; the spade and pickaxe were powerful auxiliaries of those days. The chase, which had comprehended unlimited extent, generally terminated in the bowels of the earth ; and whether the jaded object of many an hour's pursuit had sought sanctuary in a rabbit-burrow, or in a more legitimate refuge ; whether the process of extraction was of brief or of indefinite duration, — that man was held a recreant who would desert his post, or think about his *' domus et plciccns uxor," till he could render a posthu- THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 147 mous account of the fox which had afforded " the hunt- ing of that day." Some amusing stories are on record, of the supply of refreshments, and of the scenes which such occasions furnished. It must be remembered, that this '' beginning of their end" was not later, probably, than the hour of our own commencement ; but a party of our forefathers, in the act of besieouno^ a main earth, must have formed a humorous subject for the pencil of an artist. The practice of taking into the field a number of hounds, such as Somerville, in his day, censures as " That numerous pack, tliat crowd of stats, With which the vain profusion of the great Covers the lawn, and shakes the trembling copse," — has long been discontinued, for the very reasons described by the same poet.""'" Hounds should work in concert; eighteen or twenty couples are enough for any but very large woodlands ; they should spread well, so as to draw closely every quarter, but it is useless to think of hurry- ing over, or, as it is termed, letting them run through more than a certain portion at once. Nothing is more disheartening to fox preservers, and gamekeepers, than drawing over their foxes ; there are some days when a * " Pompous encumbrance ! a magnificence Useless, vexatious ! for the wily fox. Safe in the increasing number of his foes, Kens well the great advantage : shrinks behind, And slily creeps through the same beaten track. And hunts them, step by step ; then views escaped With inward ecstasy, the panting throng In their own footsteps puzzled, foiled, and lost." 10—2 148 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. fox win find himself, but there are as many others on which he will wait to be almost whipped out of his ken- nel. It is the huntsman's duty to draw every covert, to the full satisfaction of the proprietor ; and it is better, also, to take instructions quietly communicated by the parties authorized to offer them, as to the way in which it should be drawn. Thus, no plausible pretext will be left to account for a blank. When the huntsman is drawing one half, or division, of the covert, it is the duty of the whippers-in to stop all stragglers from the main body, and keep them, if possible, within the prescribed boun- dary; more especially where foxes are numerous, as it is most important to get the whole pack settled, at first, to one scent : but this exercise of authority requires judg- ment, and any interference, on the part of a novice, or any one unacquainted with the hounds, might be, as in most cases, highly impolitic. A couple or two, or a single hoiuid, may have come across and struck upon the scent of a fox which has shifted, unseen, across a ride. The scent in the stuff is too stale for them freely to own, and speak to it ; the ride is redolent only of the steam of horses, mingled, perhaps, with that of the Indian weed. They cast themselves, with wonted sagacity, at once across. They may be young hounds, in which the owner, or huntsman, has not implicit confidence enough to elicit a cheer ; but any injudicious " hark back," or premature cry of " ware riot," may stop the consumma- tion most devoutly to be wished, delaying, or altogether preventing, a pretty find. It is a terrible mistake, that THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 149 of raising a shout of '' ware hare," and riding after the culprit, however good the motive. The pack hear only a " hollabaloo ;" they can scarcely distinguish the in- tended rating from cheering ; those which would have remained neutral, join the row ; and, " save me from my friends," mentally ejaculates the huntsman. If a man be disposed to be useful with his whip, or his voice (and a good sportsman may be, occasionally, of much assistance with both), he must be under the guidance of one or two practical rules. When he sees young or old hounds persevering upon a scent, which others, notoriously of good character, refuse altogether to acknowledge, he will hardly err in stopping them. He is welcome to ride over any hound of mine actually chasing a hare in view and I will thank him for his pains, whatever he may have inflicted on the hound : but I had rather judgment was suspended upon a hound running the line of a hare ; it is a "non sequitur" that he may not be on the scent of a fox. We had a laughable instance of this about the end of last season : when drawing Batch Wood, with little or no reasonable hope of finding (having recently dis- turbed this good preserve for foxes), one hound chal- lenged near the outside of the northernmost quarter, where there was scarcely covering enough for an earwig ; I chanced to have placed myself there ; while the pack were drawing the opposite side. With one cheer to an old favourite, and one signal from the horn to his com- rades, we had instantly a crash which shook the few remaining leaves from off the oaks. While I was in full 150 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. enjoyment of the chorus of the whole body close at a fox in hollow covert, not caring to look for a view within, a farmer, one of the most knowing of those who do hnoii\ who had protested in the first instance against the reality of the find, rode up to me, almost breathless with haste, exclaiming, " Stop them, for heaven's sake ! and if I was in your place, sir, I would hang the whole pack. They are running hare, and nothing else ; I have seen her close before them these three rings that they have brought her round." Quietly expressing my full belief that his eyes had not deceived him as to the hare, I promised him, if he would remain a moment with me, to show him something else ; however improbable he might think it, that a fox should be, where nothing but a hare or rabbit was visible. I had scarcely spoken, before the gallant fellow broke over the open, with the pack at his brush, as I did not thinh, but hneiv, they had been for the pre- ceding five minutes. The farmer good humouredly remarked, that " seeing was not believing," and he pro- bably read a lesson that day, which may avail him, as a fox-hunter, for the rest of his time. If you see hounds, which you know are to be depended upon, running out of sight or hearing of others, and have not time or oppor- tunity of giving notice to huntsman or whippers in, you cannot do wrong in endeavouring to lift those which are upon no scent, with a " go hark cry, hark forward, for. ward hark !" capping them on, at the same time, to those that are on the line ; and, again, after viewing a fox a'way, you will never do otherwise than good in stopping. THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 151 or doing your best to stop, a single hound, or even two couples, whioh'may get a start too far in advance of the body. The pack will never relish a scent while there is anything between them and their fox upon the line, which is the reason for the irreparable mischief caused by sheep dogs, greyhounds, or any stray cur that may have coursed a fox during a run, causing a sudden vari- ation of scent, w]iich is often irrecoverable. As there are exceptions to every general rule, so are these cases instances of distinction from the general and ruling principle of non-intervention, on the part of the field. All are equally ready to admit, that "too many cooks must spoil the broth ;" but I am all for encouraging, on the part of those who wish thoroughly to participate in the sport, a desire to know what hounds are about, to learn, as there is, or should be, a reason for doing every- thing, the reason why everything is done. A quick find is essential to the spirit of the day, and, although it will not add to the steadiness of hounds to clap them at once upon a fox, without giving them the trouble of drawing for him, it is very desirable to find early, before hounds get so disgusted with drawing through a line of coverts, without a touch of the right scent, that loss of patience inclines them to the wrong, and they get into a humour to run anything. In Herts, and other countries where game preserves are neither few nor far between, and where there are often more hares than hounds in a spinney, the wonder is, not that any hounds should occasionally riot, but that any code 153 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. of discipline should have so thoroughly counteracted their natural propensities, as to render them so generally indifferent to the sight, or scent, of anything but that of fox to which they were entered. This, under the old system, was still more surprising, as it was the common custom, even in the best schools, to enter young hounds, in the first instance, to the scent of hare, with the idea of teaching them to stoop to a scent, no matter what. Upon the same principle would gamekeepers encourage young pointers to stand at lark. The correction which must follow, in order to eradicate the seeds which we have ourselves taken pains to implant, appears, to say the least of it, a most unreasonable tax upon instinct. If a hound never notices the scent of hare in chase, you cannot blame him if he chops one, or even pauses to share a dainty meal, quickly despatched, with a com- rade or two. For " Reason raise o'er instinct as we can, In this 'tis God that works, in that 'tis man." He would be a fool if he did not "take the good the gods provide" him, under his nose; but the whipper-in must be quick in the detection of such occurrences, must be active in forcing his w^ay instantly to the rescue of the victim, which rescue, with whip and rating voice, he must effect, making the hound feel conscious that he cannot, with impunity, perpe- trate any act of which he is ashamed. The best and steadiest of packs cannot be free entirely from hounds which will occasionally run riot, such hounds being THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 153 frequently most invaluable when once upon a fox. Any hound that does not instantly desist from running riot, when properly rated, should be caught np, if there be time (and it is seldom that this occurs during real business), and chastised on the spot. If it be expedient to punish a hound, it is folly to do it by halves. Couple his fore-legs under his neck, let him lie writhing in futile efforts to follow the pack, while the whipper-in remains to administer the lash behind. He is in no danger of bruises from the double thong, but he cannot escape a stroke of the lash that " bites to the quick." It must have been a curious sight to have seen Mr. Smith's twenty-five couples, " fifty in a row," tied to park palings (lasJiings must have been at a premium), to be flogged " till all hands were tired." Dr. Kate's feat of birching some fifty pairs of rebellious Etonians, one fine morning, w^as a joke to this ; they had it one by one. Pity that there is no omni-flagellatory steam-engine. It might be worth erecting such an apparatus, "for six weeks' " prac- tice, " from daybreak till the afternoon."'" On bad scent- ing days, when there is confusion of scent on ground stained with varieties of game, the best hounds may flash a little at hare ; but we are supposing nothing adverse — we are drawing upon a good hunting day ; not a pretty patch of gorse, though we have several ; but, as they are not the most common of our coverts, say Westbury, or any other moderate sized wood which may suggest itself to your fancy. See that old bitch how she feathers— how * Vide Diary of a Hvintsman, page 41. 154 TflE NOBLE SCIENCE. her stern vibrates with the quickened action of her pulses ; for a moment she ploughs the earth with her nostrils, she whimpers out a half-suppressed emotion, dashes a few yards forward, stoops again, and traverses around her. " Yoi, wind him ! have at him, old darling ! Yoi, touch on him ! Hey, wind him, old Governess ! Yoi, 2:)U8li him up !" A fox for a million. Onward she strikes, throws back her graceful neck, rears high her head, and, with a note of confidence, proclaims the joyful tidings of a find. Like hosts that rally round their standard, at the trumpet's call, come boundiug through the brake the merry throng ; the huntsman's cheer is responded to by a rapid succession of throats, " With a whole gamut filled with heavenly notes." It is a moment of intense, I had almost written, of pain- ful interest ; so nearly do extremes meet, so close is the conjunction between the most pleasurable sensations and those of an opposite character. While hope is mount- ing almost to delight, anxiety is bordering upon fear. The action has commenced, the huntsman's heart and soul are thrown amidst the pack, he has neither eyes nor ears for aught beside, all is right at present ; but any one of a hundred probable mischances may mar the tide of fortune. A few short, sharp, and shrill notes of the horn, alternating with a cheery " hoic ! hoic ! hoic, together, hoic !" fill up the pauses in this grand overture to the approaching opera. The huntsman is, as he always should be, literally with his hounds ; the second THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 155 whipper-in is in active attendance upon him, at certain distance in his rear, ready to put on any stragglers as they join, with a '' go hark cry, go hark !" in a tone of encouragement (not of reproach, for they cannot all be en masse at once in strong covert) ; there are twenty couples thundering through the stuff. Hark to yon piercing scream across the ride. The first whipper-in has viewed him over, and, waving his hand in the direc- tion of the fox's head, he is galloping, stealthily, to the corner by the gate-post, whence he can rely upon a view away. Heaven grant that no blundering idiot be out- side. Here come the pack, they have cleared the high wood ; look at them flying through the stubs ; see how they fling, how quick they turn, and how maintain the cry — now one, and then another, like a chime of bells ; and helter-skelter, down the muddy ride, come flounder- ing on " the field." " Cigars are thrown down in a hurry, And bridle-reins gather 'd up tight, See each is prepar'd for a scurry, And all are rcsolv'd to be right. Tally-ho ! cries a clod from a tree — Now I'll give you all leave to come on. And a terrible burst it will be, For right o'er a fine country he's gone." Hunting Song. The fox has not hung an instant, he has threaded only the quarter of the covert where he was found, where he was well found, and so well pressed, that it is too hot to hold him. Like a gallant fellow he has faced the open; without a turn he has resolved upon a run for his life ; 156 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. tlie field have behaved well, and like sportsmen, as they always will, with a little tact and management ; he has not been headed ; he has broken between the gateway, to which the whipper-in has ridden, and the oj^posite corner, where the horn of the master gives assurance that he is fairly away. It is a signal as well known to the hounds as to the huntsman ; they fly to a note never heard but for especial purposes ; one by which they never were de- ceived or disappointed. The second whipper-in and huntsman cheer them on to the edge of the covert, with, "forward, hark! forward, hark ! forward, away, away !" (I cannot attempt to decipher the intonation of different huntsmen, for to me there is nothing so unintelligible or difficult of construction as bad English, whether in phrases or whole sentences) ; but there is no useless repetition of view halloos without ; both whipper-in and master saw him break at the same instant ; in neither did a muscle move till he had almost cleared the field between his home and the lane which he has crossed beyond : then, hearing the echoing thunder of his enemies, as quickly as follows the peal upon the lightning's flash, a sign of intelligence passes between them, after one flourish of the horn, as much as to say, " That will do, they cannot be coming better or quicker after him."'*' And now, indeed, they come ; what a * I have commended silence upon such an occasion, but not as an in- variable rule. If hounds had been heard to dwell upon a doubtful scent, or turn, the whipper-in would have been instantly back in covert to carry them on ; but when they are coming on as well as they can, it is notoriously best to check impatience ; leave them alone— do not get their heads up ; they will bring it out, take it up, and carry it Avith them, twice as well, and quicker, by themselves. THE NOBLi: SCIENCE. 157 phalanx of spangled beauty ! with a simultaneous rush they top the fence, pour, like an avalanche, upon the plain, and settle to the scent. They are away !— " now my brave youths, Stripp'd for the chase, give all your souls to joy." Thanks for your courtesy and patience. Look at the pack ; see how they are racing for the lead : the young ones have it for pace, yet what a head they carry. How they skim across the pasture lands — there is a burning scent — ride over them who can ! But here, in our pro- vincial, the man who hunts only to ride, must and will be chafed and disappointed, though he may have abund- ance of fencing, and plenty of riding to hunt. It will now and then happen, that we cross parts of our coun- try in a manner satisfactory to the hardest Meltonian, or steeple-chaser ; but I am now attempting to describe a run, as it usually occurs, with neither more nor less than the average proportion of disadvantages. Kide as hard as you please; ride well and boldly, ride like men ; but try to ride like sportsmen. Above all, do not at- tempt to race with, or take the lead from, the hunts- man in his own line. He ought, in himself, to possess the ability, and it is unpardonable in the muster if he is not furnished with the means, of keeping as near to his hounds as he ought to be. I have known it the fashion to ride at more than one huntsman who had acquired such celebrity as a crack rider, that it soon became the only remnant of his reputation, all the requisites of his calling being merged in the comparatively superficial l58 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. accomplisliment of " cutting down " all who come near Iilm. A huntsman should have nerve and decision enough to act the part of leader upon every occasion. •He is not to take liberties with his horse, or take unne- cessary leaps in rivalry with others, whose presence may not be necessary, or their absence deplored, a moment after they have cried, Enough ; but he must resolutely charge, without flinching, all practicable impediments. If men observe a huntsman hesitating at the most diffi- cult and doubtful places, and willing to yield the prece- dence to others inclined to ascertain whether or not they are negotiable, they will soon take it for granted that he does not aspire to be first ; that he does not mind having the shine taken out of him ; and will make no scruple of getting between him and his hounds, at most critical moments. His personal determination should not be less than that for which our commanders, in both services, have been so conspicuous.''" His eye * Some of my old friends in the army will remember an often re- peated story of the difference between '' go along " and " come along." A fire-eating hero, in the late war, who was very fond of calling out " Go along, my line fellows, ;/o along !'' had been more than once repulsed in a certain attack. The assault being taken up by another officer of a diflferent mould, he, throwing himself first into the breach, cried, " Come along, my lads, come along !'' setting an example of vigour and determination which ensured success, and afforded a fine practical illus- tration of the distinction between following and leading. — Another in- stance, of a similar nature, I cannot refrain from quoting, as related to me by a very distinguished naval officer, an eye-witness of the occurrence. During a gale of wind, which had lasted so long that all hands on board were dead beat, it became necessary to shorten sail, and Captain, now Sir T. Hardy, gave the order fcr hands aloft to reef topsails. Worn out by previous exertions, not a man was found who would obey ; Avhcn the Captain, instantly doffing his hat, and unbuttoning the knees of the shorts worn in those days, himself ascended, and in the face of the roaring tempest, laid out along the yard, and ran out the earring. I hardly need THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 159 to country sliould prevent his getting pounded, for many a fox is lost, in the time consumed in effecting an exit from some particularly imaccommodating, per- haps impracticable, corner. But to return to the chase just commenced : — the huntsman is lying well with his hounds, his eye intent upon their every movement, taking everything as it comes in his line. We have cleared the few pastures interspersed in a plough coun- try, like the green oasis of the desert, here and there just enough to make hounds more sensible of the tran- sition to new sown arable. The pace is suddenly dimin- ished ; the sterns, which have been drooping low, are raised : the heads, which have been exalted, are low- ered. They will be at check in a moment : — now do not seize this opportunity of making up your lee-way ; do not repair the distance they have gained upon you by spurring up to them on their line. It is pretty theory, that of keeping your eye upon the leading hounds ; but it is not every one who knows what hounds are leading, even if they are near enough to distinguish ; for it is not always that the first couple are at all times leading, as, in the present instance, they have overshot the scent — they have thrown up — they are at fault. It has been twenty minutes' trimming pace ; those leading hounds have flashed towards the pond in the corner, and, having laved their sides, and lapped, stand, like other7yo\nig- sters, doubting how to recover the effect of having gone add, tliat lie was followed by as many of his crew as the duty could re- quire. — The records of these daring deeds do not argue much against my assumption as to the pre-eminence of the " blood which will tell." 160 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. too fast; the body is casting itself, and spreading round the field. The huntsman prudently leaves them to themselves. He well knows what has happened ; but he allows them to make their own cast first forward, till they, of their own accord, turn, when he will incline then quietly back to where they had overran the scent two hundred yards behind. See how old Sprightly and Flourish are working on the line ; they have almost puzzled it out amidst the horses, for it is there he went. One hundred and ninety-nine of the best fellows in England, of course utterly unconsciously, have come streaming on without a thought of pulling up, till they have fully attained their object of catching the hounds. They are charmed at being Vvith them once more ; are talking and laughing, attributing their ever having been further behind, at any moment, to an infernal start, and that confounded, quiet way, in which some persons get them out of covert to en- sure a start for themselves, while they were merely discussing the yeomanry races on the up-wind side, and must have heard if there had been half horn and halloo enough away. Vowing never to leave them an instant again, they kept moving as hounds move, or are moved, and as it is hopeless attempting to pick out a scent amongst the steam of cavalry, to say nothing of their trampling over it, the huntsman lifts them in a semicircular direction towards the point to which the fox was leaning, and towards which the old hounds THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 161 Lave been inclining. Look up the hedge green, — " hoic ! hoic ! to Handmaid." She has hit him off, with Eitual and Baneful ; she is running mute ; they are all at him again, as though he were just fresh found. And now is the scurry for the second heat. Hold hard, gentlemen, one moment ; let them get together — let them settle again ; but this is too much to expect. When a burst has lasted beyond ten minutes, the field become very orderly and select ; they sober down won- derfully if the scent be really good, and make a merit of what is akin to necessity, in the room which they allow the hounds ; but with second wind, gained just in the beginning of a really good thing, with a fair chance of distancing the second flight, who have only just come up, without any hope of a pull, where is the use of cry- ing, '' Hold hard" ? " Diim vivimus, vivamus," we must live with them while we can. Onward they push — some level with the leading hound, and the others clattering straight after them, in a manner which might drive them on to Highgate, where they not too steady to be capable of running far without a scent ; but there is no harm done as yet ; the majority of this first flight are as anxious to avoid mischief as the master or huntsman can be ; if it were hunting upon a cold scent they would be more manageable — allowance must be made for the intoxication of the burst. The hounds are flying up a hedge green, half a mile in length ; horses are again extended ; when, lo ! there is again a pause, not a check, it does not amount to that, nor does it last as long as 11 162 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. it takes to mention the circumstance ; but on that stile over which they have dashed, with half a dozen horses almost on their backs, a boy was seated when the fox approached it ; he, leaving the green, as soon as he saw the boy, instead of keeping straight on by the stile, jumped over to the right, still holding on a parallel course to that which he was steering. Hounds were pressed upon by horses, they had hardly room to turn, they have been ridden on beyond the line, but they are still scarcely twenty yards to the left of it ; and see, some couple and a half of tail hounds, which have never been off it, are carrying it on merrily, obliquely to the right. No whip is required to put them right ; they wheel, like pigeons, to the cry ; there is a general pro- test, on the part of the riders, against the folly just committed ; even those who consider hounds as bores, always in the way, allow them to get a little farther out of it ; they are once more fixed to the business be- fore them — they run the line of these as though they were tied to the fox, and they soon defy the speed of an Eclipse to interfere with them. " Now the fences made sldrters look blue, There was no time to crane or to creep, O'er the pastures like pigeons they flew. And the ground rode infernally deep. Oh ! my eyes, what a fall ! Are you hurt ? No, no, sir, I thank you, are you 1 But who, to enjoy such a spirt, Would be grudging an odd rib or two." Hunting Song. Thus they continue for ten minutes ; the succeeding THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 163 thirty are, if possible, still more enjoyable, thougli, perhaps, less in accordance with ultra notions of pace than the burst, being a combination of running and hunting- with a holding scent. It is very, very rarely, in the provincials (excepting, of course, par- ticular parts which may equal the best hunting coun- tries), that a scent, however good, will serv^e equally over every variety of land, intersected by lanes, with here and there a village, or, at least, a colony, whence emanate a tide of such screams as afford the most incon- testible proofs of a thorough non-acquiescence in the doctrines of Malthus. But there has been nothino^ like a check ; through good or ill report, the fox has held his way, has kept his head straight ; his line has laid through the centre of large fields, to the detriment of seeds, save where the surrounding hedge greens afford him 251'eferable footing. By taking to these, he occa- sionally makes closer work for the gallant pack, which turn at undiminished speed, winding with his every shift, true as the needle to the Pole. Who, in the ardour of the chase, can stop to examine the nature of grain ? '' How the devil," said the cockney, " could I tell turnips, unless they had boiled mutton in the middle of them?" "Ware wheat" is all well enough at any other time, and no one, truly interested in the sport, will wantonly commit an injury ; but now the farmers themselves are the first to charge pell mell " over wheat or what not." " Forward !" is the cry — foiward is the ruling impulse. The noses of the hounds seem supe- 11—2 164 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. ilor to all difficulties ; tliey do not dash and fling witli the impetuosity evinced on breakiug covert ; but what a head they carry — how they jjrc'ss / they are evidently gaining rapidly on the sinking fox ; he has not improved his advantage. He has been more than once viewed by sportsmen during the run ; but one cheer, one half-sup- pressed " Tally-ho ! forward, yonder he goes," has been the only token of recognition. There has been no attempt to cut him off, to lift the pack from scent to view, nor to lessen the distance between them, or in any way interfere with the sport. The huntsman will take every fair advantage of his fox ; but his business is not only to kill, but to hunt and kill him fairly. The idea of killing anything /air/?/ or unfairly, may excite a smile ; may be unintelligible to those who view what we term sport, as only the variety of certain means to the same end ; but there is as much difference, in this respect, in hunting, as there is between the family shot of the pot-hunter, into the brown of the covey, and the skilful selection of the marksman in the objects of his unerring aim. It may be a pretty boast to talk of having killed ninety-nine out of a hundred foxes ; but the question is, liovj they are killed — blood is essential to the courage of the pack ; but the mischief done by unfair attempts to attain it, far outweighs any benefit to be derived from the acquisition. It is no very difficult matter to ride down a half hunted fox, or even one that has never been pressed, if a man set about it as earnestly as I have seen some miscalled huntsmen. By the aid of a THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 165 few telegraphic signals, at difFerent points, added to a knowledge of country ; by riding alongside leading- hounds, lifting them on, without suffering them to feel a scent, leaving the body to follow as they best can, with the help of the whippers-in, and as many of the field as may consider their utility established by the acknowledged importance of their hunting whips ; by clapping round to the opposite side of a covert through which a fox has gone, in time to view him out, or per- haps meet him, the sanguinary object may be fully accomplished, and the scale of merit regulated by the show of noses on the kennel door. But can any ani- mals, possessing one tithe of the sagacity of foxhounds, be expected to make an effort to do for themselves what is always done for them ? — " Finis coronat opus," — and it is true, that there is no finish comparable to a good kill ; but the loss of a fox is infinitely preferable to his murder, which forms no part of " the Noble Sci- ence." Our fox, however, is worth a million of dead ones — forward again to the chase. He was viewed on yon hill amongst the haulm-cocks, toiling leisurely along, not as yet " with faltering steps and slow/' but with a measured gait, as though husbanding his re- sources for the way before him. For one moment he paused, and sate, with ears erect, listening to ascertain the proximity of his foes ; one sidelong glance behind, and onward, like a guilty thing, he moves — — '* Hah ! yet he flies, Nor yields to black despair." ]66 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. With redoubled energy he flies — he feels the press, the persevering stanchness, which galls more than the fleet- ness of the burst distressed him. He seems to know that every instant is of vital consequence. We are now streaming on, across the fallows and old clover lay, in a manner which elicits exclamations of delight. " What care we for grass, if we can run thus over plough ?" '' What a beautiful thing 1" exclaims an- other. — " The run of the season," cries a third. — " They deserve him, any how," says the huntsman, " for they are all doing their best for him." " We will kill him, as sure as he has a brush," shouts the master, in ecstasy of confidence ; " only pray give them room, gentlemen ; don't crowd upon them, if they slacken." " Luton Park is his point, depend on't," adds one who knows the line of every fox (and would be credited if he did not almost invariably jDredict the reverse of the one taken) ; " but, • no, confound the ploughs ! he must have been headed by those infernal plough-teams." " What business have they to plough on hunting days ?" exclaims young Kapid, with a blessing upon the causes of a check, just as he had got a lead, and had determined to keep it : sure enough, they have thrown up under the noses of the clod-breaking cattle. It is a moment of doubt, of no little confusion, for people will talk ; the ploughboys can scarcely manage their excited Dobbins ; the hounds are all sixes and sevens, and, amidst the general cry of " headed back to a certainty," and the unrestrained opinion as to the exact direction in which each man thinks he has infal- THE J^OBLE SCIENCE. 167 libly gone, the huntsman has enough to do to mahitain his composure and presence of mind. Now for his head-piece ; now for a moment's thought. The field is ten or fifteen acres in extent ; the furrow, five hundred yards in length. Here are the plough-teams, noiv causing confusion enough ; but where were they when the fox was at this point ? A moment's consideration will tell that they must have been on the other side of the field, " Did you see the fox ?" " No, I never zeed un." " No, because he was barely within your sight." Three ploughs, and their accompaniments, sufficiently account for a check on the line ; but do not hold back at once ; do not too readily take for granted that he has headed or changed his point — cast forward in the line we were running beyond the ploughs — the hounds have made good their own cast, to the right, and are flashing to the left, striving in vain for a particle of the scent so lately enjoyed — so suddenly dissipated. "Put 'em on,- Jem." Now quietly cast them o'er the brow. They have it : — " Yoick forward again, and again, Have at him, have at him, across the green plain." The check has scarcely occupied two minutes, afford- ing a moment of relief to the horses, and of merry interchange of " chaff"," to the men. " What a proper purl Lord Would-be has had, with Mr. Hasty almost upon him ! Are they either of them hurt ? — Not at all. Would-be was shook ; but he was up again, and soon in 16$ THE NOBLE SCTENCE. his place, like a well-bred one ; — Hasty has had another. What, two ! with Nonpareil ? his best horse — ay — but he pumped all the pufF out of him, racing with Charley, and riding at Burnam, in the first ten minutes. He will be up directly on his second horse, Marvellous ; would he were here now, to see this hit ;" and here he is, answering our '' would he were present," like Banquo's ghost, all over blood ; chuckling with delight, that this check has let him in for the rest of the fun. Some others will be indebted to the ploughs for their shave. Oh 1 oh 1 such a pun deserves to be smothered in the next ditch ; but there is no time for a laugh, if we could get one up for it; for there they go again, as if the devil was in 'em. Don't cross me ; I'm for the stile, and my horse rushes so, I can't hold him. — Ha ! ha ! he don't want much holding now, but fire away, there's lots of room at the fence; only you can't quite see what's on the other side, where I mean to be in a moment, please the Picts and old Pantaloon. Yoi 1 over we go ; all on the best horses that ever were crossed ; none of them in the least distressed ; pity that they should some of them differ in their own view of the case. Good heavens ! what a pace ! no fox can stand this ten minutes longer ; die he must, if he stays above ground : — he has lately passed those sheep, see how they remain all huddled in the corner. Into the park, by Jove. Yoi ! over the palings ; ride, Jem, and pull one down, to let some of them through, if you can ; they are topping them by sections, and will be all over without help. Some two THE JN'OBLB SCIENCE. 169 or three horses get over with a scramble ; but there is a lodge, not a hundred yards below : now look at 'em, all through the herd of deer ; confound your halloos ; hold your tongues, for heaven's sake, hold your tongues ; ''they have seen him from the house." "Well, never mind." I never want to see him again, or have him seen till he is in hand. If he is not headed, or lies down in one of the clumps, so that he can dodge back, and pro- tract the finish ; they will run into him handsomely, to a moral certainty; no horses will be too near them — just now across the grass. Look at the old hounds, how they press forward for the lead ; look at their bristles, how they are pointed ; they are running for him ; he will not face the country over the opposite paling; he threads the belt alongside : hark, what a crash is echoed by the fir-trees ; not a hound is mute ; those notes, shriller than the piercing octave of the fife, bespeak the breathless energy of the leading hounds; they are running him in view. He makes one last effort, exerts the remnant of his strength in speed, and, for a moment seems to gain upon the pack ; — but no, his race is run ; he doubles and avoids the leading couples as they fling at him ; misses their jaws, and breaks, in open view, across the plain, with dozens frantic for his blood ; in a mo- ment they are up with him — another turn ; in the next instant he is met — he is surrounded ; it is all up with him. — "Whoo-whoop ! he dies. Now gently, sir, gently ; do not be in too great haste to rescue his carcass ; let them kill him, and then let all who are coming up have 170 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. a chance of doing honour to, and having a share in, his obsequies. Not all the men; they will be here soon enough, as many as can come at all, and we are not in the habit of capping for field money ; but let every hound have a full view of the object of his pursuit. Let the huntsman, or any of the officials who chance to be first at the death, as soon as the fox is killed, place his foot firmly on his body, and with his voice, and the lash of his whip, save him from being broken up : there let him lie upon the ground, or throw him across the branch of some adjacent tree, while the whipper-in is cut- ting ofi" his mask, brush, and pads. If the kill take place in a wheat-field, pleasure-ground, or on any spot likely to suff'er from the influx of spectators, and trampling of horses, always remove the ceremony to the fittest place convenient. After a sharp, short, and decisive thing, in a muggy warm day, it is lucky if a pond be contiguous ; the hounds will do greater justice to the banquet after freely lapping, and it does not look well to be long in breaking up a fox. A pack that have finished the run properly, generally make clean work of the whole afiair. Do not keep them too long tantalized. There is a method, even in this part of the day's business. I have seen them in Ireland run into their fox, and finish him at once, as they would have done a rabbit they had pounced upon, without any one offering to dismount, even to ascertain the age or sex of the animal ; but this is a miserable finale ; the hounds which have fought hardest through the day, may have the least share in, pij^wirnvf'''^' THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 171 or be ignorant of, the conquest. On the other hand, if there be too much of funeral parade, or, rather, of triumph of victory, hounds may get weary of excitement, and indifferent to the prize. The loud baying of an anxious circle, restrained only by discipline from falling upon and rending him to atoms ; the flourish of whips, the sounding of horns, the screams of the huntsman, as he rears above his head the mangled remnant of their law- ful spoil, all form a scene which must be witnessed to be understood and appreciated. With a Tally-ho — Tally-ho — Tally ho! he is thrown into the midst of their gaping jaws, and torn asunder well-nigh ere he reaches earth. " Hey ! worry, worry ; hey ! tear him ;" and in one minute nothing is left of him, but some tougher morsel, which, borne about by some powerful and wary hounds, affords matter of contention and fierce debate. This is of short duration ; men turn towards each other with looks and sentiments of satis- faction ; all unite in praise of the pack, admitting that they have well found, well hunted, and well killed the fox of this day ; hoping that they may, and feeling sure that they will, do as well with the next. " Now the stragglers come in, one by one, Holla ! where, my dear fellow, were you 1 Bad luck, in the midst of the run, My poor little mare threw her shoe. But where was that gemman in pink. Who swore at his tail we should look. Not in the next parish, I think, For he never got over the brook." Hunting Song. This attempt at the description of a run, is intended 172 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. to convey an idea of the average sport wliicli may be obtained with a good pack of hounds in a provincial country, straight, from nine to twelve miles in distance ; time, from fifty-five minutes to an hour and ten minutes, supposing the scene of action to differ as widely as pos- sible from the metropolitan districts. Had it been laid in the most favourable parts, we must have given the hounds credit for completely beating off all but a very chosen few, in the burst ; and also for having had time to make their own cast, should they overrun or lose the scent by casualty — before the huntsman could come up to interfere with them. I am supposing, of course, a really good scent, when hounds will beat the best horse that ever was foaled. In this case, the huntsman (having been, if he has kept his proper place, as forward as any one could be, if not quite first) will be able to see how far they carry the scent ; and, in rendering his assist- ance, will not be tied down to precisely the same line of conduct which he was bound to pursue over a country where patience is his best auxiliary. There hounds may be working on the line, over soil which will not carry a scent, serving for a continuation of the pace which they have gone over the intervening patches of grass and hedge greens ; it would be the height of folly to lift them as often as they come to stooping ; there the whole chase consists in hunting and running by tarns, varying according to the luck of the fox's line ; but, in the deeper vale, such as that between Bramingham and Woburn, Hexton and PuUox Hill, Wrest Park, or any THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 173 of the line of country bounding Hertfordshire on the north, there are not the same reasons to account for the sudden loss of a good scent. A huntsman must be more alive to contingencies, and although there, I would far rather inculcate the principle of leaving them alone, than that of meddling with them too much ; he must be quicker in resolve, and may venture more in the part which he has himself to play. Hounds may throw up entirely upon fallow, or new-sown land ; they may not run a yard ; but when gently lifted over it, they set-to ^again, without the recurrence of another such mischance, till they are on better terms with their fox ; but if they throw up in the middle of a large grass field, when they have been running breast high, unless some large flock of sheep, or herd of cattle, have foiled the ground, it can very rarely happen that the fox is forward ; he cannot have vanished into air ; if his line is there, and they cannot own it, they cannot run him anywhere ; he is irrecoverably gone ; there is no reason to suppose that a burning scent has in a moment changed to no scent whatever ; although wonderful changes do occur, in this essential, within very short space of time : he must have turned so short, right or left, that the whole body have comj^letely overrun him. This is more probable when they are carrying a perfect head, than if, on a more moderate scent, some stragglers had been dwelling independently on the line ; and hounds, on such occasions, appear more at a nonplus — more in consternation at their failure. The huntsman 174 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. may make a brisk swinging cast, dovvn-wincl, unless the more likely points of country for a fox to make, present an obvious reason for the reverse. If he casts quickly, in a half circle forward, and completes the whole round, it is a hundred to one against hounds crossing the line without acknowledging it, if they are not too much hurried ; presuming that there is not any road, or great variety of ground, creating the difficulties to which we have supposed them liable in the upper country, where they might cross the line a dozen times ineffectually. It saves much time, where every moment is an object, if the pack can be divided ; one half casting in a contrary direction, with the master, or first whip, and meeting the huntsman to the rear, if neither should have suc- ceeded in hitting him forward : but always make the first cast sufficiently forward ; there is plenty of time to hold back, when it is certain that the fox has not held on, when fairly committed to a country. This observation does not, of course, apply to a check, up-wind, in the first ten minutes, or to the reasonable supposition, that the fox has been headed ; but if you cast back, in the first instance (according to a rule in beagling after a hare), should you fail, you are too late to make good anything forward, without lifting them, at a hand gallop, back again, in a manner conveying to the whole field the knowledge of your admission of a positive error. Should you then hit him forward, you will yourself feel, and have your pains rewarded by hearing, that if this had been done at once, it would have made all the dif- THE NOBLE SCIENCE, 175 ference to the ran ; whereas, if you get upon him ever so late, should he have headed back, no one can blame you for any time lost ; nor is it, indeed, of the same consequence; as he generally makes his point back whence he came, or is viewed by dozens of people, when he would have been unseen by any one, had he not returned. Moreover, when a fox does head com- pletely back, the cream of the thing is broken : men do not ride with the same zest, the last may be first, and vice versa; the sharpness, the edge of the affair, is blunted ; and although you may have very good sport, and kill in a way satisfactory enough to a master of hounds — "sitrgit amari aliquid" — in the description even of a good ring, it is a sort of reflection upon the business, and men forgive themselves more easily for missing any part of it. If, on the contrary, the fox is reported to have been viewed, holding on his course, as straight as could have been desired, there will be no end to the talk of the wonders which might have been en- acted ; nor can you forgive yourself, or even be forgiven, for doubting the bravery and stoutness of the fox. You have no right to suppose a fox beaten, unless the pace, and the time you have been running him, warrant the conclusion. If you fancy that he has taken refuge under ground, or in some outhouse, or rick yard, it will be time enough to search, and determine this point, after you have ascertained that he is not still showing his heels to you. He may have gone to the very mouth of a drain, may have passed under a barn, over a house. 170 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. to which points the hounds will run, and no further; but it does not absolutely follow that he is not progressing ; he may not have taken sanctuary, you may have a whip- per-in to see that he does not steal away, but still you should make a cast all round the premises before com- mencing a search. Hounds will bay, as a matter of course, at a drain, especially if they are in the habit of running to ground, and the fox has tried it ; but many a recovery has ultimately been made forward, after a most useless waste of time and labour, in the upturning of faggots, routing the gardens, poking under the laurels, &c., &c., every one swearing he can be nowhere else but there, because they remember a similar finish to some particular run ; probably, under totally different circumstances. It is laying a flattering unction to one's soul to account for a fox in any way, but that of being beaten by him, and we readily snatch at the idea of having done the next thing to killing ; but a huntsman must not only avoid dece|)tion towards others, he must guard against deceiving himself I knew an instance last year, where the master and huntsman were at issue, as to the fact of a fox having gone to ground. The former, Tvith not more than six couples, recovered and killed him, some way beyond the spot where the latter, with the majority of the field, were pottering at a rabbit-hole ; — the mas- ter, of course, having waived absolute opinion on the subject, leaving the huntsman to his discretion ; indulg- ing, at the same time, the exercise of his own. If, by the evidence of a terrier, in addition to that of the THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 17 J' liounds, there is no doubt of having run to ground, and you have decided upon digging, the sooner operations are commenced the better ; if you want blood, your hounds are entitled to him. If you think the earth too strong, it is best to move off at once, as recommended by Mr. Smith, leaving some one in pay to watch him out ; as is, I believe, invariably the custom. When he has been viewed safely out, it is desirable to do away, if pos- sible, with such a retreat : foxes seldom betake them- selves to one with which they were previously unac- quainted. It is astonishing how exactly generations will tread in the steps of their forefathers. A receptacle of this kind, which has baulked you once, will as surely prove a future source of annoyance. This, with the exception of main earths, which may occasionally be neglected, can generally be provided for. We have in the vale of Hexton, and Shilhngton, many very large drains in the chalky lands, extending the whole length of the field, for the purpose of carrying ojBf the torrents from the hills, which otherwise might alluviate the soil. Mr. Smith, in his glossary, calls a drain " Under ground, where foxes often run to." The word has much the same acceptation in our country ; and a terrible nuisance it has occasionally proved, marring the promise of the finest runs, shortly after a fox has betaken himself to the bottoms. It is next to impossible to dig out, unless a corps of sappers and miners were on the spot to excavate the land from one extremity to the other. These drains should each 12 178 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. be faced with an iron grating ; or, should this be con- sidered too troublesome or expensive, they may, at least, be guarded against the ingress of anything approaching to the size of a fox, by stakes driven perpendicularly in front of the entrance. To this proceeding it is not likely that the proprietor will raise any tenable ob- jection. Having in this chapter endeavoured to render an account of one fox, I shall not draw for a second ; pre- ferring to risk the imputation of being alow, of giving a short day, and going home too early. It never was my misfortune to witness a sham draw, for the sake of spinning out the day, with no desire to find ; nor can I conceive how any man can hunt twice with any esta- blishment, liable to the suspicion of such a practice, which is as unsportsmanlike as prejudicial to hounds, and the general interests of the concern. There are some people, it is true, who think it right to make out the day, till dark ;* who cannot trust themselves to their own resources, should their work be over long before their dinner-time, and who would think it a sin to have returned to kennel by two or three o'clock, whatever may have been the sport since throwing oif at eleven. Some people, by the same rule, will consider a ball but ill kept up should dancing cease before daylight ; * I Avas talking, not long since, to a very clever huntsman — one as keen as any of Lis fellows in enjoyment of the sport — on the subject of drawing for a second fox, after a good run and satisfactory kill. " That is," said he, "just what 1 call jmtting the beggar over the gentlemmi." The phrase struck me as having a degree of force fiiUy atoning for any want of elegance in ex- pression. THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 17^ others will, regardless of temperature, keep to certain days for the dispensing with, or commencement of, the enjoyment of a fire ; but I never yet could un- derstand the merit of being regulated by anything but natural inclination, upon rational principles, in these particulars. If all are merry, and none weary, or wishing to be gone, why mind the clock ? I can see no reason for curtailing the pleasures of the dance, though they should reach the meridian of the follow- ing day ; nor, by the same token, should it be pro- tracted one instant for the sake of being, what is called, kept up, though it had not endured an hour. The ther- mometer is a better guide than the almanac, as to fire and clothing ; you may be lounging alfresco at Christ- mas, and stirring up the sea-coal at midsummer. There is no rule for these things ; and when hounds have wound up their fox properly, in a run exceeding forty minutes, unless they are very short of work indeed, under any circumstances, I question the propriety of drawing again. It is far better to take them home satisfied, to leave off well, flushed with success ; or you may undo all that has been done. With regard to short days, I hold it far more advisable, on a day which has proved so decidedly adverse as to preclude all chance of sport, to retire at once, appointing an extra day in the same week, than to persevere without hope of any amendment in weather or scent, for want of which, hounds are getting every moment more disgusted. On the other hand, should the day be favourable, I 12—2 180 THE NOBLE SCIEN-CE. would draw as long as light lasted, rather than miss a chance of sport, should it not have been met with as early as is desirable. Let our huntsman now seek home, " with all. his blushing honours thick upon him." He has counted his hounds ; if any are missing, which the sound of the horn has not reclaimed, the second whipper-in must find them ; but they are all right, and have returned to their kennel, not jaded, drooping, and spiritless. Stea- dily as they have followed at the horses' heels, they have that condition which would have enabled them, had they been required, to perform exactly as well with an afternoon fox, as they have done with the hero of this morning ; not having been cowed, or unneces- sarily overworked, they acquire those lasting powers of endurance which will enable them to go through the longest day, and beat the stoutest fox that ever wore a brush. Mr. Smith, more than once, asserts his opinion, that " there are foxes which, when fit to go, can beat any hounds," This may be correct ; but, I think, some few huntsmen of my acquaintance will share my desire to meet with them — to let the mettle of each be fairly tried on a good scenting day. I have seen many packs of hounds which have not been a match for any good fox, when they have left their kennel in the morning, much less after an hour's work in covert. You may bring out twenty couples of well-bred, well-shaped, and, perhaps, if in good condition, good foxhounds : but they may be nj more like a pack of foxhounds than Plenipo 4=MJ-A:-i^.r. THE NOBLE SCIENCE, 181 was to a race-horse, when he started for the St. Leger — because they are not fit to go. The condition of hounds is everything ; the art of attaining it is no less difficult than that of training a horse. You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, nor can you, by the best condition, make bad hounds essentially better ; but, without the best condition, good hounds may be essentially bad, though their want of success will be attri- buted to any but the real and prevailing cause ; many bring out hounds in bad order, simply because they do not know how to get them into better ; others, from ill-judged economy, and want of proper method in the internal regulation of the kennel department. Some fail for want of work, others from the excess of it. In short, there is no end to the arguments bearing upon the state of the materiel upon which all sport depends ; but, as it may be incorrect to sum up a chapter devoted to a run, with an essay upon the condition which we supposed to be perfect at its commencement, we will leave the pack at their entrance to the kennel, and hereafter consider what the huntsman and his people have to do upon their return. [Hounds in Batli.l CHAPTER X. " De rebus cunctis et quibusdam aliis. System of Kennel — Baths — Feeding — Warmth — Diet — Ventilation — Oatmeal — Vegetables — Mangel-wurzel — Sago — Biscuit — Milk — Breeding— Walks — Sires and Dams — Generative Economy— Choice of Whelps —Naming — Rounding —Dividing Pack — Drafting— Cub- hunting — Going out in the Evening, an Old Practice — Entering Young Hounds — Killing Cubs— General Responsibility of Masters of Hounds. On approaching within earshot of the kennel, " the huntsman winds his horn," to sound the note of pre- paration. The signal is answered by the clamour of the pack within ; the division destined for the next day's hunting, which have been fed in the morning, and have not long returned from an airing, in charge of the feeder and helpers. Buckets of gruel are now trans- THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 183 ferred from the saddle-room cauldron, and all made ready in the stable department for the reception of, and immediate attendance upon, the horses ; while the feeder, with his ponderous ladle, is stirring up the broth, and busily providing for the ravenous appetites to which he has to administer. It was the invariable custom of the illustrious Meynell, to see himself to the feeding of the hounds, nor leave the kennel till all were comfort- ably reposing on their beds of clean wheat straw. This practice has been followed up by the Duke of Cleve- land, and other votaries of the science, who, by their personal attention to the system, have set most lauda- ble examples for imitation ; but it was with Mr. Mey- nell that the " system of kennel " originated ; and this attention on his part is worthy of all admiration, consi- dering that, in his day, it was much oftener after dark than with daylight that he returned from a chase of extent unknown in these days ; very frequently killing a Quorn fox in the neighbourhood of Belvoir Castle — a run which would now be considered a most extraor- dinary occurrence — foxes being, as I understand, unac- quainted with the line. Whether, however, it was by the last rays of the setting sun, or by " the lanthorn dimly burning," in wet or drought, heat or cold, he did not rejoin the gay circle which enjoyed his hospitality, till, in the kennel, all was settled to his heart's content. Wherever the master has the opportunity of doing like- wise no little benefit must result from the practice, even if it be unfair to suppose any actual disadvantage 184 THE NOBLE SCIENCE, arising from its omission. It must serve to keep up a thorougli acquaintance with his hounds, and with the whole practical part of his system, the theory of which should emanate from himself ; but all this is not to be recommended as a matter of duty, and performed as a penance ; it must depend entirely upon a man's motives for keeping hounds, his interest in all that concerns them, and his degree of enjoyment in the office. If " all beauty goes in at the mouth," so, may it be said, does all power. The feeding of hounds, as regards their condition, is one of the most essential proofs of a huntsman's skill in kennel. To preserve that even state of condition throughout the pack, so desirable, he must be well acquainted with the appetite of every hound. While some will feed with a voracity not ex- ceeded by animal kind, others will require enticing to their food. Mr. Meynell found the use of dry unboiled oatmeal succeed better than any other plan he had tried, with delicate hounds. He found that when once induced to take to it, they would eat it greedily, and that it was far more heartening than any other kind of aliment. Delicate hounds may generally be tempted with a little additional flesh, and with the thickest and best of the trough ; but they require to be watched — must not be fed all at once, but allowed to decline or return to their food according to inclination. As soon as the pack is in kennel, on returning from hunting, previously to being fed, every hound should be immersed in a warm bath of pot liquor ; the temperature should be kept up THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 185 by continual supplies from the boiling-house. One or two large tubs will serve for the purpose. The whip- pers-in, provided with muzzles for such as are refrac- tory, should plunge them in up to their necks, and detain them at least a minute or two, while the hunts- man is summoning to the feeding-trough such as have undergone the process of ablution. The advantage of pot liquor over hot water, is, that it induces them to lick themselves, and each other, all over ; and the healing properties of a dog's tongue are far superior to any other application, for wounds and sores. The relaxation of the warm bath, and the steaming evaporation which proceeds from their bodies, prevent stiffness, relieve pain from blows, and produce a state of enjoyable refreshment. Some hounds appear so to relish the proceeding that they wait with apparent anxiety for their turn. Two large scrubbing-brushes may be well employed at the same time, in cleansing them from the accumulated mud and dirt, as it is not till they are thoroughly clean that cuts, bruises, wounds, thorns, &c., &c., can be properly at- tended to. Friar's balsam is useful enough as a healing application to a green wound, which it may be necessary to bind up ; but, for all cuts or strains of more than ordinary severity, the sovereign remedy, hot water, will be found to answer, beyond all others, in allaying inflammation ; not only preventing the increase of evil, but, in many instances, serving in itself for a cure. In mentioning its wonderful effect upon lameness in horses, I should have added the fact, that if broken knees are 18G THE NOBLE SCIENCE. diligently fomented till a whitish film, or slour/h/" super- venes, it is rarely that they are blemished. For hounds shaken in the shoulders, or otherwise injured in work, there is nothing to equal a warm bath on the simple plan which I give at the head of this chapter, not as an ori- ginal invention, or as being very uncommon ; but because, in my visits to different kennels this summer, I have found none so provided. It consists of a w^ooden contrivance, in shape such as represented in the preceding sketch, in breadth capable of admitting a couple of hounds abreast, with two slight movable bars of iron cross- ing the top, to prevent an exit or change of position. Hounds may stand thus, on the day after hunting, or, if necessary, before their rest on their return, for any given time ; and unless too suddenly exposed impro- perly to cold air, are not more liable afterwards to cold or rheumatism. It is absurd to suppose that hounds will be more hardy, and less liable to the effects of bad weather, if kept cold in their kennel. The warmer and more comfortable they are kept within doors, the better can they battle with the ele- ments without. It is, beyond doubt, a great principle freely to admit " The nitrous air and purifying breeze," whether in a kennel or a palace ; but there are proper times for such a circulation, in both. We open the • " Slough— The part that separates from a foul sore." — Johnson. " At the next dressing, I found a slough come away with the dressings, which was the sordes." — Wiseman. THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 187 windows and doors of our chambers, but not during the period of their occupation, in the hunting season ; nor should the zephyrs of the northern blast be playing uncontrolled over the slumbering bodies of hounds, worn out with the toil and heat of chase. They huddle all together on their litter, courting, by every means in their power, the warmth by which all nature is revived and nourished. No kennel is perfect without the means of warm ventilation, which may easily be supplied by flues, where the copper of the boiling-house is contig- uous, as it generally is, to the lodging-houses. As soon as the hounds emerge reeking from their baths, they should be fed. Some have been of opinion, that they should first be made comfortable on their beds ; but I am inclined to think, that the sooner they are supplied with the support which exhaustion from fatigue so much demands, the better ; they are then turned, for a brief space, into their airing yard, and then consigned to their dormitory for the night, to be disturbed only by once being driven off their beds to stretch them- selves. Their food, though warm, should not be hot, or it may have a prejudicial effect upon their noses ; as it is reasonable to suppose that the delicate sense of smell may be affected by the act of constantly inhal- ing the steaming fumes, so grateful when in less imme- diate contact with their olfactory nerves. The idea of barleymea], or, indeed, of any substitute for the best old oatmeal that can be procured at any price, has long been exploded in kennels of any pretension ; nor will 188 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. greaves, or any other nastiness, be found admissible in place of good horse or cow-flesh. Good old meal, such as may be bought at Cork, at an average of £15 per ton, will boil into a consistency very much resembling good rice pudding. This, broken up and thinned with broth, to which is added flesh which has been boiled to shreds, in quantities varying, of course, with the system of re- spective kennels, and the exigencies of the pack at the time being, forms the best and most nutritious diet for hounds in work which has yet been discovered. During summer months, some variety, and divers experiments, may be made with impunity ; but, in the season, it is not safe materially to alter the regimen which expe- rience has proved to answer. Wheat flour may be sparingly mixed with oatmeal, as a measure of eco- nomy, being generally cheaper; but wheat, although furnishing the ''staff of life" for man, will not afford the nutriment to hounds which they derive from the best old oatmeal. The better it is in quality, the more it increases in boiling, and the farther it goes. The best time for laying in a stock is a little before harvest, when none but old meal can be had in the market. In- stead of being thrown loose, as is frequently the case, like a heap of ashes in a dust-hole, it should be packed in large bins, secured, by tin or iron bindings, from attacks of rats and mice, and trodden down into a solid mass, in which its qualities will be preserved during the whole of its consumption. If oat meal could be managed like that of wheat, barley, or other grain, there would be THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 189 little difficulty in obtaining it in perfection; but, as particular grinding stones are necessary, in the first instance, and the meal has then to be submitted to a delicate process of kiln-drying, there are few places in England to be depended upon for a supply. The Scotch is said to be excellent; and I can speak, not only from my own experience of the last seven years, but from the report of at least a dozen different kennels, as to the merits of the Irish. The great difference which diet will effect, in the appearance and condition of hounds, renders this point worthy of consideration. The Roman gladiators imagined themselves injured by the slightest deviation, in one meal, from the regimen prescribed ; feeders of fighting cocks are no less strict in their notions of the qualities of food ; and let any man, who fancies that a good bellyful of victuals is all that can be needed for hounds, try, for one fortnight, the eftect of a change from oatmeal to barley meal of the best kind, or from good oatmeal to inferior; he will need no further illustration of the proverb, that "the proof of the pudding is in the eating," as far as can be judged by effects, which, in dumb animals, are the only attestations of its excellence. When you see that, in addition to the fulness of muscle, and general appear- ance of health and condition in a hound, " His glossy skin, In lights or shades by Nature's pencil drawn, Keflects the various tints—" you may judge that there is nothing amiss in the home 190 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. department ; but, if you see him scratching a staring coat which is nearly threadbare, if not quite out at elbows, eagerly dashing, on his way to covert, at every pool to take a drink, which, by hounds of a better regulated ynenage, would be disdained at such an hour of the morning, rely upon it, that "There's something rotten in the state of Denmark." Most huntsmen prefer feeding hounds precisely the same all the year round, to making any change, varying only the quantity ; but, during the heat of summer, less of flesh and more of vegetable diet must tend to cool the blood. Potatoes, and any greens coming under the denomination of garden stuff, may be boiled with the meal ; but potatoes are less to be recommended, as being the most difiicult of digestion. They have been used to great extent in some kennels, and would prove a great saving of meal, could they be pronounced unob- jectionable. Ccibbage and lettuce may act as alteratives ; but the best of all vegetable matter of that kind which I ever tried, was mangel-wurzel. This root will boil down to a thick jelly, and form a very agreeable and wholesome addition to the broth. I have no doubt that it would answer as well also for hounds in work. By an application from a most respectable mealman, Mr. Crampern, of Jermyn Street, I was induced to make a trial of sago, which he imagined, and I believe still con- siders, a most important discovery as an article of food for hounds. Its cheapness would be a great recom- THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 191 mendation ; but, instead of the nutritious properties we expected to find in the jelly which it will produce, it disagreed with hounds, and the experiment proved alto- gether a failure. From the said Mr. Crampern, to whom I was recommended by Mr. H. Combe, I have had great quantities of superior Dantzic biscuit, for summer use ; not as being less expensive than oatmeal, for the price is about the same, but for the sake of variety, and some saving in the stock of old meal. Well soaked in water, and then broken up with equal quantities of meal, it will be found highly useful, even to the end of cub-hunting. Milk is an invaluable article of kennel consumption, and one or two cows are greatly advantageous, if not neces- sary, to the establishment. In the spring, when there are dozens of litters of puppies at the same time, — all of which should be well kept, indeed forced, like young foals, with abundant sustenance, — milk will avail, when nothing else would serve the purpose. No bitch should be allowed to suckle more than four puppies. If you are strong in numbers, and can afford to lose the ser- vices of two for one of bitches whelping early, it is easy so to arrange as to have wet-nurses ready for the pro- geny of those which you are most anxious to rear ; and this plan is far preferable to the attempt of bringing up by hand, or introducing mongrels as foster-mothers. In selecting walks, it is certainly a great point to get puppies out, where they will be well fed ; but it is of still greater consequence to ensure their having liberty. What cruel instances occur, of hounds coming in from 192 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. walk, with feet like the brood of ducks with which they had been inclined to gambol, and therefore tied up, or, at least, confined in some narrow space, to keep them out of mischief This confinement is utterly ruinous to their shape ; by bearing perpetually on the foot, it becomes elongated ; legs, which would have been fault- less, grow crooked ; and the whole symmetry of a fine young hound is destroyed by contraction of the scope which he requires for the development of his daily increasing faculties. Mr. Meynell was so particular with regard to walks, that he would not hesitate to send his young hounds some hundred miles from Quorn, and quarter several couples upon friends in Sussex, or in any other counties where they would be sure of meeting with the treatment upon which their maturity depended. It is a fortunate circumstance in any country, where gentlemen are disposed to receive such proteges at their seats. The disadvantages of a walk in a town, are more than proportionate to the advantage of making them familiar with all those objects of which hounds, on first entering upon the world, are apt to be shy. By being exercised in couples, after their return to kennel, along the public roads and through streets, they will soon conquer any fear of carriages, droves, &c., and lose altogether that mauvaise Jionte which is a defect rather than an appertainment of their nature. Unless your reli- ance is upon drafts from other kennels, nothing is more essentia] to having a good pack of hounds, than a pro- per care of the whelps, and the parents from which they THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 193 are bred. The bitches should be carefully chosen, and should not only be such as are most distinguished in the field, but such as are strongest and best propor- tioned, with large ribs and flanks. Never breed from a faulty hound, be his performance ever so good ; nor from the best shaped hound, addicted to any incorri- gible propensities, which are hereditary. The best time for coupling hounds is in January or February, and not later than March ; they will then litter in a good time in spring ; — if bitches litter in winter, it is very difficult to bring up the whelps, the cold being adverse to their thriving and well doing. In selecting dogs to breed from, the ancient and generally received opinion was, that the descendants of an old dog would prove dull and heavy. I know not whether this is borne out by fact, as I have seen most promising stock of seven-year- old stallions ; but it is, perhaps, better that the sires should not be above five years old. It is affirmed by many who profess to have experience in generative economy, that in any number of successive litters bred from one bitch, there will be at least one puppy bearing some resemblance to the sire of her first. If this be true, how careful should we be in the choice of the dogs by which we seek to perpetuate the excellences of our best bitches ; and there is no room to doubt the credibility of sucli theory, when we know that durnb- madness, and many other evils, will descend through generations. The strongest proof, however, which I can call to mind; in support of the opinion that the 13 194 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. female, when once, is for ever impregnated with a hke- ness of whatever may have "stamped an image of him- self," is the case of the cross between a quagga, or zebra, and a mare. The first produce was exactly what might have been expected, a striped kind of mule. The expe- riment was not repeated ; but the mare was, in the next season, put to a well-bred horse. I am stating nothing beyond a fact with which I am well acquainted, in saying that this next, and all succeeding foals by different horses, were all, more or less, affected by the stripes of the quagga. Here was no fancied peculiarity — no indistinct resem- blance of action or manner, but ocular demonstration of certain plain and indelible signs, of stripes peculiar to one animal, affording incontestible evidence of his blood. "Were it not foreign to our purpose to pursue the sub- ject, I could adduce some curiously interesting accounts of similar traits, beyond the canine species. It is, per- haps, very fortunate that such indisputable marks as the spots of a leopard, or the stripes of a zebra, are not more common to animal kind, whereby the revelation of some genealogical novelties might be apprehended. The first litter of puppies which a bitch brings, are supposed to be inferior to her second or third ; but there is no rule for this. As soon as she has littered, those whelps intended to be kept should be immediately selected, and the rest put out of the way (or to wet- nurse, if desirable to preserve them all). There is some difficulty in choosing at such a time ; the general opinion is in favour of the lightest, that they will grow up the THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 195 best. It was an old custom to take all the whelps away, having determined what number to keep, and settle the choice on those which the bitch carried first back to the place where she had littered. Another plan was to take those which were last pupped ; but all this must be matter of chance. As soon as they can see, they should have milk given them to lap ; and, at two months old, they should be weaned, keeping them wholly from the bitch. At three months old, they are fit to go to walk ; and, at ten months old, they should return, to commence their education in the kennel. If they are named before going to walk, it saves trouble on their return, and pre- vents their adoption of any ridiculous names, which the fanciful, rather than sporting taste of their guardians, may accord to them. The operation of rounding their ears should be performed early in the spring, that they may be thoroughly healed before being subjected to the annoyance of heat or flies. After a short period of exer- cise, like an awkward squad of recruits by themselves, they will be fit to join the main body, and very shortly, after the end of hunting, should accompany the pack in couples. By the time for entering them, they should be as handy as old hounds in obedience ; this can only be effected by constantly practising them abroad, accus- toming them to horses, to the voice of the huntsman, and gradually initiating them in the discipline essential to steadiness, which tempers their gaiety, without de- stroying the force of their animal spirits. Whether the pack is divided into dogs and bitches, separate, or not, 13—2 196 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. must depend upon the caprice of their owner. A mixed pack is now generally supposed to answer best. The largest of each may be sized, so as to form two com- plete packs, suitable to all parts of the country. Dogs are apt to be less flashy, and wdll add to the steadiness of the bitches, and the lively little ladies will contribute to the dash of the dogs. Such division of the young hounds need not, at all events, be made before the com- mencement of regular hunting. But we have, as yet, only just got all the young hounds for the year's entry into kennel. The master has now to determine which are to be put forward, and make his first draft. If he can afibrd to be fastidious, there will, in all probability, be not more than one hound out of every five submitted to inspection, on coming in from walk, that he will wish to put forward, even supposing the breeding to have been successful. The distemper will make sad havoc with the litters. A huntsman should attend to any that are within his reach ; but the majority must take their chance. No specific has yet been discovered, and the treatment must be adapted to the difierent stages of the disorder. Vaccination was, at one time, pronounced infallible, and was tried, I believe, with great success, one year, by Sir John Cope ; but after- experiments served only to prove its fallacy. Like other epidemics, its ravages are more generally felt in some seasons than in others. In one spring, out of thirty-five couples of puppies sent to walk, I had only thirteen returned to kennel, and this fatality was almost universal. In THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 197 the next, the loss was altogether as trifling. The most promising young hounds, and the strongest (much as depends upon strength of constitution), will not tho- roughly recover the effects of distemper, if subjected to its most virulent attack, without the greatest care. Younger, that is, late or backward hounds, which have got over it, under better circumstances, will be more precocious. If ten couples are required for the entry, at least sixteen couples may be put forward after the first draft. It will then be good luck if ten couples stand the test. Although the average may not exceed one in five, certainly not more than one in four, it not unfre- quently occurs, that one w^hole litter may have claims to the highest consideration.* Upon the real merits of an entry, it is, of course, impossible, or, at least, pre- mature, to pass any opinion beyond that w^hich can be determined by the eye, with regard to appearance, till their qualifications have been fairly submitted to the ordeal of CUB-HUNTING. Some countries have the advantage of great tracts of woodland, independently of corn lands, in which hunt- ing might be pursued all the year round. In Bedford- shire and Northamptonshire it is necessary only to suspend operations till the cubs are somewhat bigger * An extraordinary instance of such luck occurred in the Oakley pack. Five couples of one litter, the produce of a bitch called Rosalind (pre- sented by me to Lord Tavistock on account of her blood), by his Grasper, all proved unexceptionable, and were all most effective through the season. 198 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. than rabbits, instead of waiting, as is our fate, in Herts, for the progress of harvest. Such woodlands are immensely in favour of a huntsman, affording him abundant opportunity for making young hounds ; indeed, leaving no excuse for unsteadiness. Mr. Smith, in recommendino^ cub-huntinof of an even- ing, instead of at dawn of day, says, that he is " not aware that this plan has ever been adopted by any other person ;" still he is *' bold enough to assert that it is a good one." I can make bold to recommend it to those who prefer sunset to sunrise, as having been successfully practised, from time immemorial, in the establishments at Wakefield and Brocklesby, by the present Lord Yar- borough, for the number of years he has been master of hounds ; by his father, and grandfather before him ; by the Dukes of Grafton, and others innumerable. I mention these names (as it would be unfair to adopt any suggestions from the pages of a contemporary writer, without due acknowledgement of the source whence they are derived), merely to prove that I am indebted only to such high authorities for this, with other valuable hints ; and in addressing myself to em- bryo masters of hounds, some of whom may not be physically equal to the fatigue, or in any respect uj) to the trouble of courting the first blush of Aurora, I should have advised such a proceeding, as a custom more consonant with their habits, and by no means uncommon. As the practice, however, cannot be called general, it is no matter of surprise that many should THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 199^ be unacquainted with the circumstance. I started with confessing my inability to advance " anything new under the sun ;" and, certainly, had I not postponed my own publication, with the deferential view of ascer- taining what might be forthcoming in Mr. Smith's, I should not have propounded as a novelty, what, like most other information now to be gleaned on the subject, turns out to be as old as the hills. Professing to date all my own hints on the improvement in the science from the time of Mr. Meynell, up to the present; to ground them upon the long experience of others, added to such slight stock of my own, as enables me to ad- venture a few ideas upon the best mode of hunting the country to which I have the honour to belong ; if I am not to be deterred from my task by the consciousness of my own insufficiency, I am not to be scared from my purpose, by the conviction that all which is worth knowing has long been known. Contented if the reflected Lustre of a borrowed light should shed its influence over my humble efforts, I have persevered in the arrangement of that collection of facts which forms the basis of the theory I would promulgate. To return from the lack of any new light, to cub-hunting in the dark, or in those hours of shfii.de consecrated to love-sick poets, and to ** maids that love the moon," I conceive that one reason why it has not been common to take the pack out on an evening, is, that in most countries, where cub-hunting is necessarily delayed till September, it would be dark an hour after there could be sufficient 200 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. dew. If it be cool, rainy weather, any hour in the day will answer the purpose equally. There is little dew, or moisture, on the surface of the earth before sun-set, which, on the first of September, takes place about a quarter before seven. It is true, that if you find your fox at five o'clock, every half-hour becomes more favourable, instead of the reverse, which is generally the case in the morning ; but you have no drag up to a fox ; you will probably be longer in finding, and may have to whip off", for fear of being actually benighted, and losing your hounds ; whereas, in the morning, you care not how many hours they run, so long as they can stick to him, being often in covert from daybreak till long after noon ; and it is thus that you will be able to arrive at an opinion as to the stoutness of your entry. It must be very agreeable when woodlands are handy to the kennel, as it need not in any way discompose the order of things. Lord Yarborough assures me that, so far from finding inconvenience in the practice, he has himself, for the last fifteen years, preferred it to morning work. It will be, occasionally, delightful amusement as a change from partridge-shooting in Herts ; and it will be far better that any master of hounds, who intends to govern supreme, should attend on such occasions, than that he should altogether neglect the cub-hunting ; but, for my own part, " Hail ! gentle dawn— mild blushing goddess, hail ! the pack awak'd, Their matins chant :— nor brook my long delay." THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 201 I have before alluded to what appears to me the obvious absurdity of ancient usage, that of entering foxhounds to hare. I have since deeply considered the point in all its bearings, as something which could not have found acceptance in the mind of Mr. Meynell, unless grounded upon some rational principle. He discontinued it, but he must have had reason for ever having once inclined to it ; and the only defence I can find of such a doc- trine, the only argument m its favour, is, that young hounds were first to be shown what they were not to hunt. It seems to me, that when hounds are not only shown their game, but cheered on, and encouraged to follow it, their nature will be stronger than the reason- ing instinct, which must tell them to eschew forbidden fruit, once tasted and enjoyed. High-bred foxhounds, beyond all doubt, prefer the scent of fox to any other. When I had dwarf foxhounds as harriers, they would, when settled to a fox, run through any number of hares without noticing the scent or sight of them, and, on the same day, would afterwards hunt hare like beagles. It is quite evident that you may trust very much to the reason- ing instinct of the animal hound, and that upon throwing young hounds into a covert full of riot, it is far better to leave them entirely alone, to let them dash off with what- ever scent they may, than to commence rating them in a manner which may well make them wonder what you brought them there for. " Never mind them, let them find it out," were the words of one of the best sports- men of the day ; " they will soon learn that they are 202 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. wrong." The old hounds, it is to be hoped, will not join them ; but this allowance to the young ones — this letting them have their fling, is very different from cheering them on to the scent you would have them disre- regard. It is well to let them find out the difference between the scent upon which they can, without difficulty, strike, and that for which they have to hunt ; between that to which their nature and instinct will direct them, and that to which they should be encouraged, by all possible means, even to the mobbing of a cub, for the sake of blooding them. Whippers-in cannot be too cautious in rating young hounds, on first entering ; if a young hound be seen taking a scent by himself, throwing his tongue, and following it eagerly, in a different direction from the rest of the pack, it does not follow that he is running riot. You must ascertain that he is not running fox, before cor- recting him. Too often, as soon as he is seen skirting from the main body, as it seems to the whipper-in, off he dashes through the stuff to cut the culprit in two, with a " Garraway, would yer ? licy ! ivould ye V enough to frighten him out of his skin. All the while the hound has been on the scent of a fox, and says to himself — "Oh, ho ! very well, if this is the fun, hang me if ever I try for an- other." Do not condemn a hound too soon, if he be slack at entering ; many very good hounds are, what is called, very backward in coming forward, and are very tardy in exhibiting any signs of the future excellence they are des- tined ultimately to display. I remember one particularly good bitch, in Mr. Sebright's pack, Whisper (by the War- THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 203 wlcksliire Champion, out of their Welcome), that never left the huntsman's heels for the whole of one season, and part of the next. Mr. Sebright properly forebore to draft her, on account of her blood ; her errors being solely of omission ; and she proved one of the best of her year. A young hound that cannot run up with the pack at first, will not improve in pace : unless you have reason to suppose that his condition can be amended, let him go to those who do not mind being troubled with the slows. Determined skirters, and those over-free with their tongues, termed babblers, are irreclaimable. Draft freely for all vices which cannot be palliated. A hound may improve in beauty, and you cannot always afford to draft for colour, or for any very trifling imperfections in shape ; he may come off some bad habits, but he will never come on, if naturally slow; — he may learn to speak, if he has a detestable habit of running mute (an evil so well described by Mr. Smith), or to keep silence when he has nothing to say. If you are fearful of diminishing your numbers, remember that such drafting is only weeding your garden ; it does not impair your strength, but adds to your efficiency. It is far better to have sixteen couples of effective hounds in the field than two-and-twenty, with six couples detracting from the merits, and spoiling the appearance of the rest. Two heads may be better than one ; you may consult your huntsman on such occasions : his interest ought to be the same as your own ; and he should be, to a certain extent, an executive party ; but when once you have 204 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. determined upon any particular measure, — for instance, have issued jouvjiat for the drafting of a hound ; — if you take a real pride in, and mean to be answerable for, birth, parentage, and education of the pack, let no remonstrance, no entreaties, cause you to revoke. If your order be sufficient it should suffice that you have so ordered. You may be cautious, but you must be inflexible. The line so often quoted, as to have been almost Anglicized, must be your ruling principle : — " Sic volo, sic jubeo— Stet pro ratione, voluntas." In cub-hunting, when you have the power of stopping hounds, never suffer them to go away with an old fox. If you do have a good run, and kill him, it is unfair towards j^our supporters to anticipate sport which they cannot be expected to share ; and, if you have no run, you only make a useless attempt, militating against the purpose of the day, which is devoted to the education and improvement of young hounds. After brushing about in thick covert (one of the chief objects in this woodland work being to teach hounds to face the stuff", and draw for a fox through the thickest underwood), should a young fox break, there can be no objection to a scurry in the open ; it is, indeed, necessary, before regular hunting, to enable you to judge of the pace of young hounds, and how they run together. Some little fun in the open is also as needful as the work in covert, to practise hounds in getting away quick to horn and lialloo. It is a magnificent sight to see from thirty to THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 205 forty couples, all together; and the turning up of a full- grown young fox, after a merry brush across the coun- try, on some fine morning early in October, makes a desirable sensation upon the pack, of which you will find they have retained a lively impression, when next required to '' come away, away." Where you have not the advantage of large woodland, cub-hunting is often as completely stopped by drought as the regular hunt- ing is, subsequently, by frost. A good ground-rain in September and October, makes all the difference. It is folly to put hounds on scent when the ground is hard as iron, as it only serves long enough to send them home lamed and shaken all over. In the season of 1828-29, if I remember right, so long did we lack moisture that no hounds could take the field for regular hunting till the 17th of November. The Oakley Club met, as was the custom, in the first week of that month, at the Cock, at Eaton Socon ; but the most agreeable sequel to those dinners was, on the following morning, neces- sarily adjourned, sine die; the deep holding clay of the capital country about Eoxton spinneys being of a con- sistency too hard for the finest of young English gen- tlemen of that day, however well inclined they might have been, with those of the present, for " going it like bricks."'" Such times and seasons try the patience of masters of hounds, anxious for their credit ; but as old Wise, of Southampton, was wont to observe, *' There's a deal of luck in all these things." If you are balked * Vide song — " The fine young English gentleman,"— last verse. 20 G THE NOBLE SCIENCE. of your cub-liunting you must not be dispirited, but endeavour to make up for it as soon as you can. We cannot command success, but may all try to deserve it. It is too common, in many countries, for the sake of the noses, which all count in the return of killed upon the kennel door, to make wanton waste of cubs, where cir- cumstances are favourable to "getting hold of them." There is, afterwards, a cry of scarcity of foxes. If you kill one of a litter, it suffices to disperse the rest ; they want no further notice to quit ; but, when first dis- turbed, they ring the changes so frequently, that, by the time it is whoo-whoop with the first of the family, the rest are half beaten, and it is easy enough to take advantage of them. Very frequently a detachment of the pack is at the same moment disposing of another in a similar manner. Your county must be very full of foxes to afford such prodigality. The best plan is to visit every part of the county (excepting some parti- cular pet places) before November ; you may then be able to render an account of every litter. I may, here- after, offer some remarks upon the nature of foxes, their preservation, &c., with opinions on the manage- ment of country, which does not necessarily form a part of the duties devolving entirely upon a master of hounds. With the end of cub-hunting he is prepared for public service, and must remember that, for better or worse, he is responsible for all appertaining to the establishment. If he is to have any of the merit, to enjoy any share of credit for what is well done, he is THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 207 equally liable to blame for any and for all defects. It is very certain that, whatever may be a man's own qua- lifications for the office of a master of hounds, to that level will he bring his establishment. If he commence with an indifferent pack of hounds, and possess, in himself, the elements of the science essential to their well-being, he will 7'aise them till they arrive at his own standard of perfection.* If, on the contrary, he has less capacity for the undertaking, he will reduce things to his own calibre. Wealth and station may pre-eminently qualify one individual in a county, in these respects, for such office, and he may, with proper public spirit, con- sent to assume the government, without the slightest practical knowledge of his duties. Still, upon him will depend the efficiency of the whole concern. It will be no excuse to say, that want of sport is not his fault, that it is in his hounds or servants. It is his fault, and his only, if they are not what they should be. It has been most truly said, that " a little knowledge is a dangerous thing." A man may commit a fatal error in unlimited exercise of absolute authority, if he presume too much upon an undue estimate of his own judgment ; but as, according to the military regulation for the use of discretionary power, we are told to act " according to conscience, the best of our understanding, and the custom of war in the like cases," so will no man err * Having, however, thus raised them, he must never relax — never think he has finished a good work, or be tempted to excLiim ^^ opns exegi" — of that which is never entirely exactum. Many have retrograded, from too firm a reliance on their own footing. 208 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. if he take for his guide the leading theory, and act according to the most approved practice of those whose rule has passed into a law, applying each principle, as he best may, to the circumstances of his own peculiar case. r CHAPTER XI. "'* I pedes quo te rapiunt et aurse." HOR. Thus on the air depend the hunter's hopes.'' SOMERVILLE. Uncertainty of Scent— Signs and Indications — Mr. Smith's Theory dis- puted — Arguments in Proof of Scent coming from Body and Breath of the Animal, and not from Touch of Pad alone — Exemplified by Case in Point — Old Wells and the Oakley — Effect of Dew upon Scent — Ascent of Dew versus Descent— Experimental Philosophy— Dr. Dufay and M. Muschenbrock— Eesults of Experiments — Mr. Smith upon " Metal'" Of all glorious uncertainties none is greater than that of scent — the one great thing needful in hunting, next to the animal to be hunted. Without scent there can be no sport with dogs, except for those who can 14 210 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. substitute the amusement of coursing for sport. There are as many signs and indications of good or bad scent as there are prognostics as to changes of weather, and they are about as much to be depended upon. By many certain symptoms we form well-founded expecta- tions of a downfall, which are often realized ; but anticipations of rain are not unfrequently as unsub- stantial as the clouds which had a share in their crea- tion. Thus it is with scent, which may be termed *' constant only in inconstancy." When hounds roll upon the grass; when, in drawing covert, they whip their sterns so that each appears crimson-pointed ; when the dew hangs on the thorn;''" when gossamer is floating on the surface of the ground ; when there are harsh, drying winds, or frequent storms ; — under any of these, or a hundred other adverse circumstances, we do not hesitate to pronounce the impossibility of any chance of scent, and it is not often that we find ourselves agreeably de- ceived ; but still, the exceptions are so numerous as to set at nought anything like invariable rule. Even in gossamer — even in storms (which I take to be more cer- tainly fatal to scent than any other state of weather), under a burning sun, or amidst flakes of falling snow, instances are not wanting of scent lying breast high. Philosophy is at fault in any attempt to define the causes ; it is useless to speculate on probabilities, or * " When the dew hangs on the thorn, The huntsman may put up his horn." Old Proverb. THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 211 take an J tiling for granted, when we know that scent may vary with the fleeting moments— that it changes with the soil, and that no one can speak positively to the point till a fox is found, and hounds have had a fair chance of settling to a scent, if it exist. It is to be remarked, that when hounds go soberly to covert, with their mouths fast closed, instead of staring about them, and showing disposition to frolic — when, in the place of boisterous winds and lowering storms, w^e have high clouds with cool and gentle zephers — when no white frost has rendered the surface of the earth treacherous and adhesive — above all, when the quicksilver in the barometer is on the ascendant, we may fairly hope for scent ; but we must not be too confident — not unduly elated by such auspices, or dejected by the reverse. The sine qua non of scent must be considered, more or Jess, a matter of chance ; but it may not be uninteresting to consider how, and in what manner, it is yielded by the fox in chase. I have been led into a notice of this sub- ject by the propagation of such an idea, as that the scent is derived, not from the body or breath, but from the pad alone. Mr Smith has industriously endeavoured to prove such assertion by the very means which, in my humble opinion, afford the strongest confirmation of the contrary. There is, perhaps, no greater mistake throughout the whole "Diary of a Huntsman." In expressing my most unqualified rejection of such hypo- thesis, it will be necessary to follow closely the line of argument adduced in its support. Mr. Smith com- 14—2 212 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. mences lii.s observations on scent, after the account of a famous run which he attributes to the circumstance of a fox having luckily found the earth stopped that he had tried at starting. He proceeds to say, '' It will, pro- bably, be noticed, that, in the above run, the scent was good, which, of course, a fox must be aware of, as he lives by hunting ; and this was, prohohly, the cause of liis trying to go to ground." I have before alluded to what appears to me another most mistaken notion, or, at all events, one which is not so supported as to have a claim to general credence. I then stated some reasons for believing a fox (in choice of ground, &c.) to be totally unconscious of the scent which he leaves. I think it nothing extraordinary that a fox, disturbed by a " roar in his kennel," should seek the sanctuary of his earth, without pausing to consider whether the scent was bad enough to admit of his trusting his precious car- cass to the open air. Possibly, wliile taking his siesta, he might have dreamed of a good scent — might have had a night-mare, from visions of former cub-hunting in darkness ; but if he were so wonderful a product of his species, tliat upon his conquest the huntsman could exclaim, " Vcni, vidi, vici " — " Now, I don't care if I never kill another fox !" — it is surely matter of surprise that, with his information concerning the state of tlie scent, he had not also acquired a hint as touching any obstructions to his free entrance at the front door of his family mansion, during his temporary absence at his suburban villa. "Yet this one would have gone to THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 213 ground, five minutes after being found, if he could." Why, if he would not, wiiere is the use of an earth- stopper ? It would have been far more remarkable, had he attempted to go to ground at the end oi fifttj minutes, as a fox, when thus heated, will frequently refuse an open earth ; but, when first found, his point is almost invariably to the head of earths, which, of course, are stopped. It maij, very probably, be imagined, if not noticed, that the scent was good ; for it is no impro- bable conclusion, relating to a run of sixteen miles ; but tliatafux must, of course, be aware of this circumstance, is to say, that, " Who drives fat oxen, must himself be fat." It may be fact within the experience of Mr. Smith, ^^ that on many days, v/hen hounds cannot find, and on which days the scent has been proved to be capital, that foxes are under ground ;" though I am at a loss to guess how he reconciles this opinion with that given in his chapter on Earth-stopping, wherein he says, that " most foxes almost always laij under ground, in had iveather particidarly ;' and I must say, that, according to all I have ever heard or seen, blank days have been only to be apprehended in the worst weather; after blustering nights, succeeded by bad mornings, when there has been little chance of a fox having en- countered the roughness of the night, and as little pros- pect of sport, if found. The idea of his being above ground, in bad scenting weather, and out of the way, in good, is truly laughable to us, because, in our country, 214 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. the result Is diametrically opposite. With us, it is, " better day, better deed," and we never make so sure of finding as upon a day most propitious for the pur- pose. Moreover, such an assertion is, at best, most illogical, as it goes to prove, that what we have sup- posed a good hunting day, is, in plain Eiiglish, a bad one. If a fox be wanting upon a good scenting day, it is far more probable that the weather was favourable for his nocturnal rambles, and that the earth-stopper, instead of being in bed, did his duty in barring him out before his return home, and did not, in sea phrase, batten him down under hatches. A fox, which has been more than once hunted, need not wind anything, to fancy some- thing in the wind, on finding no admittance, even ou business, in his own threshold. His knowledge of scent, like that of Hudibras, enables him to " smell a rat," and he may frequently show that he is " up to snuff," by making himself scarce ; may leave his lodg- ing in the scrubs, to lie in clover, or on beds of down. But to come to the question of body scent — Mr. Smith says, that a fox " will lay " (lie, I suppose the printer means, unless he thinks the fox is layiny again in a mare's nest) till hounds " almost tread on him," "which is one 2orooJ\ that the scent does not come from the body or breath of the animal, but from the touch; and, by his layincj quiet in his kennel, the scent does not exude from under him, that is, from the ground he Icujs upon, &c." Why— leave a ferret, a pole- cat, or any other animal of the kind, in a state of quiescence, he emits no scent ; THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 215 excite him, but for an instant, it is then " no7i redolet sed oletj' then that his, smell may be designated by a harsher term. It is precisely the same with a fox re- posing in unconfined space. The air around him is, then not impregnated with the effluvia from his body, which betray the proximity of some luckless captive, doomed in chains to waste his sweetness on an out- house. It is not till he is roused, that his fuming vapours rise, " And v/ith the ambient air eiitangKng mix." Now, as to " the most convincing and satisfactory proof" of this most extraordinary doctrine, I must have recourse to the Diary itself, page 192 : — " But the most convincing and satisfactory proof that the scent does come from the touch of the animal, is, that when the ground carries, after a frost, and there is even a burn- ing scent on turf, and sound hard ground, until the hounds get on a fallow, or ploughed ground, when they will feel the scent for a few ixices only, and it will entirely go until they are held across the plough-field ; and when they are again on turf, or sound ground, or going through the fence, they will hit off the scent immediately, as the foot is clean and touches the ground, which is accounted for by the foxes' feet gathering earth, as soon as they tread on the ploughed ground, which, on being pressed, adheres to the bottom of the feet (which is called carrying), consequently prevents the feet from touching the ground, until this, 216 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. which forms a clog, and is sticking to the feet, is worn off by a few steps on the sound ground, after leaving the ploughed land." I have been compelled to quote the whole of this long-winded sentence, pausing only at its first round period, that I may not, according to a prevailing fashion of the day, by halving of the text, appear guilty of a wilful perversion of its meaning. Having sifted it, and measured it by inches, feet, and paces, " Till one, with moderate haste, might count an hundred," the only inference at which the limited powers of my comprehension have been enabled to arrive, is this — that it is a sentence of excommunication — a total ejection of the body of the fox from communion with the air. But how is this supported ? We are reminded of the fact, which all must admit, that when the ground is in such a state that a pedestrian might carry off nearly enough land upon his shoes, to entitle him to a vote for the county, that the feet of a fox, or Jiounds, are in like manner encumbered. It is also evident (for I do not, by any means, deny that there is, in proportion, as much scent in the pad as in any other part) that when a fox takes with him, instead of leaving behind, those portions of the earth immediately subjected to contact with that matter which he, "Through the network of his skin, perspires ;" there must be far less scent than when there is the effect of contagion from the earth, to add to the in- THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 217 fection of the air ; but because many hounds require to be Ufted over ground that carries, does it prove that there is no scent, "from the body or breath of the animal, but from the touch?" On the contrary, unless it is pretended that every particle of scent is lost on such occasions, it goes to prove, that the only scent with which many other hounds can, and do, persevere (hounds, I mean, which are not constantly lifted), not- withstanding the clogs which prevent the feet of the fox from touching the ground, must be in the air. Mr. Smith proceeds to say, that " another ]yvoof, that the scent by which the fox is hunted, does not come from the body but from the touch, is, that when hounds are running across an open country, downs, and such like, in very windy weather, it cannot be supposed that the scent would remain stationary, but that it would be scattered by the wind, and that it arises from the touch, that is, the i^ad of the fox touching the ground." This, again, to my erring judgment, seems to prove the reverse of his own proposition. If the scent de23ended onli/ upon those parts of the soil, or herbage, which had been touched, is it likely that it would be carried so far from these particular substances, as to serve twenty yards wide of the line, which is frequently the case ? Who has not seen, if he be an observer, hounds runnintr harder upon the other side of a hedge-row, not the side on which the fox passed, than those which are actu- ally on the line ? Does not this prove, that the particles of scent which have emanated from the body of the ani- 218 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. mal, have been floating on the air — that if long grass, or bushes, appear to yield strengthening evidence of the touch, it is because " To every shrub the warm effluvia cling, Hang on the grass, impregnate earth and skies." My firm beli-ef is, that there is always a pad scent — always a certain degree of scent from the pad, retained by all ground, more or less susceptible of the impression — that the duration of this scent depends upon the kind of soil, and its evaporations. Were it not for this scent, there would often be none whatever, which is actually the case when the ground is foiled by a flock of sheep. But this is only the scent to which hounds are reduced when there is no other — when that which they seek to find floating in the air, is " dispersed, or rarified, by the meridian sun's intenser heat ;" — it is the scent which serves them to hunt, but not to run. They can plough the ground with their noses, and potter on the line, and on the line only, with the scent of the pad. The scent with which they run, breast high, with heads erect, is that which pervades the air some eighteen inches above the surface of the earth ; — the scent which improves while " the panting chase grows warmer as he flies ;" — it is the same which floats above the bodies of the birds, and enables the pointer, instead of stooping for his game, to stand in a more exalted attitude, with his head and stern at right angles. Should any one, for the sake of argument, inquire, why, if the scent be chiefly in the air, it does not serve equally along a hard road ? I should THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 219 attribute the difficulties occasioned by Mac Adam, quite as much to the loss of impending vapour, as to the want of retaining power in the surface, and consequent diminution of pad scent. Moreover, hounds will very often ^y along a road, and, in the month of March, when the whole country has been in a pulverized con- dition, they have held the ultra pace, enveloped in clouds of dust. Any one who has observed stag-hounds following the deer cart, which has preceded them some ten minutes, will have little doubt of a scent from a body which has never been nearer in contact with the earth upon which they tread, than the bottom of the vehicle ; and I should be sorry to find myself in the skin of a fox, which might be conveyed in a wheel- barrow over a country, if a good pack of hounds had to make the most of any scent they might find uncon- nected with the touch. It is very commonly, and justly, remarked, that when all the field (and probably the hoi^ses themselves also) are sensible of the smell of a fox, little scent can be expected for hounds : the fact is, that there is then not sufficient weight of atmosphere to condense the volatile particles exuded from his body ; instead of remaining motionless, they are too quickly refined, and soar aloft. If all this be not absolutely logical proof that the scent borne upon the breezes does not owe its existence entirely and solely to " the touch, that is, the i^ad of the fox touching the ground, it must, I think, go far to upset the theory of any one who will maintain, that if the fox had touched nothing. 220 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. and could have been suspended in mid-air, be would have left no other than visible signs of his identity. But to come now to "the most convincing and satisfac- tory proofs" on my side of the question : — Is it only that eagerness of excitement, which will occasionally elicit a whimper from young hounds? — Is it the confident anticipation of what is awaiting them on the other side of a river, which causes the oldest hounds in the pack to throw their tongues with joy, when stemming the current of some rapid stream ? or is it tliat they greedily inhale the scent, nowhere more strong than where the " fuming vapours rise, And hang upon the gently purling brook ]" Surely, there must be little enough of touch,, or pad scent, in the middle of the water ; yet with what avidity will terriers and spaniels follow upon the scent of a rat, or water-bird, across a river. I have been dwelHng, like an old southern hound, upon the subject ; have been minute, perhaps, even to prolixity in detail ; but I shall be excused by all who bear in mind, that if — " brevis esse laboro, Obscurus fio ;" and that it is not enough to say, that, amongst all highest extant authorities,* I have found none dissenting * Mr. Bell, Professor of Zoology at King's College, says, " The fox has a subcaudal gland, which secietes an extremely fetid substance." — Clo- quet, in the French Encydopanlia, says, " In the vicinity of the posterior parts of the dog [tribe, to which foxes belong], are two small pear-shaped receptacles, from the inside of which a thick unctuous matter exudes, of a fetid odour, which escapes through an opening in their margin, by the assistance of several clusters of muscular fibres, in which these receptacles are enveloped." The same author, in speaking of the fat of these animals, says, " In general it is nearly fluid, and, like the rest of the animal's body, possesses an almost insupportable fetid odour." THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 221 from my view of the case, unless I also adduce some- thing, in shape of fact, to serve for the groundwork of my own argument, and the foundation of such support. I will, however, inflict only one more instance upon the reader, in proof that the touch has neither more nor less to do with the scent than I have already represented, and that scent docs, instead of" does not, come from the body." One instance, such as the following, is alone suf- ficiently suitable to my purpose ; it was related to me, very recently, by Lord Tavistock hinjself : — It not unfrequently happens, in parts of the Oakley country, that the meadows are completely inundated by the irrigations of old Ouse, when that winding river, svvoUen by winter torrents, pays small deference to the banks which form the prescribed boundaries of its course. It is not in depth, but in extent, that these floods offer any impediments to those wlio like to see where they ride, however indifferent they may be to the number of fathoms deep over which they are rowed. This coverlid, although it may comprise some acres on each side of the stream, is nothino- more than a flowing sheet of water, thrown loosely off the bed of the river, for the benefit of the alluvial soil within its pre- cincts. It never has been, and, I trust, never will be, any impediment to fox-hunting in that country, which, taking it all in all, is inferior to none in Great Britain, according to the opinion of those well qualified to pass sentence upon its merits ; but be this as it may, upon 9 9-:> THE NOBLE SCIENCE. the occasion to which I alhide, the fox haviiio- mn down towards the river, instead of crossing, held on in a con- tinuous line along the meadows, for a space of two miles at the very ka^t, being all the way mid-deep in water. He was never obliged to swim, but was able to maintain a wonderful pace for any animal half-seas over ; and well might such an event have been literally termed an aquatic expedition, at the instigation, and in honour of the name of such a huntsman as old WeJh. Never was he nearer being lyumped out than in this splashing chase ; such was the pace of hounds, and such the head they carried, that, as he went o'er water like the wind, he had barely enough within himself for spouting ; but, turning half round in his saddle, he was just capable of giving vent to an exclamation, indi- cative of his opinion, as touching that scent of which he had not known the touch. " It's in the h'air, my lord, it's all in the h'alr." Now, under the circum- stances, and considering that by no possibility could any ideas of currant-jelly, at that moment, have been running riot within his brain, the aspiration of the element was very pardonable, a " trifle light as air," to which it gave the emphasis — and, badinage apart, that simple speech is, to my mind ("jealous" of the truth of doctrine), a " confirmation strong, As proof of holy writ." If, after this, any one will pretend to say that such a scent, of which there are every-day instances, arises THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 223 from " the pad of the fox touching the gi'ound," I have done ; with him I resign all contest, and shall be con- tented to leave him " alone in his glory." I would willingly forbear any further notice of the axioms contained in Mr. Smith's Diary; but as my attention, and that of the sporting world, has been evoked by their publication, I cannot allow to pass for gospel, stated opinions upon most interesting questions, hitherto treated hypothetically, even by the most scien- tific inquirers, more especially when Mr. Smith's dictum happens to be at variance with the best established and generally received opinions. It is necessary to make extract, literatim et verhatim, of one other half of a sen- tence : — '* It is thought, by some, that the reason why foxes are not oftener killed late in the day, after a hard and long run when it is nearly dark, that it is owing to their strength recovering as their natural time for exer- cise comes on ; but the more probable cause for hounds not killing their fox oftener than they do at this time is, that as night comes on in the winter, the wind gets much colder, and the damp air, or rather the dew, which falls (and does not rise, as some suppose, on any flat surface ; for instance, the top of a gate will be covered with water by the dew, when the under side is perfectly dry), and it would depress the scent, and prevent its expansion." — Now, I am not going to break a lance with the genius who can advance so very self-evident a proposition, as that a fox, after a hard and long run, recovers his strength about his natural time for exer- 224 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. cise, like the appetite of an alderman at the sound oi' the dinner-bell ! Mr. Smith, himself, does not lean to such an opinion. I will not ask, whether it may, or may not, be probable that some packs are, at such a time, so much more tired than the fox, that they are inclining towards their natural rest ; neither will I split straws in considering whether the " W conjoined to the parenthesis, has reference to the dew, or the gate top ; for the present, my purpose, like that of the Hosicrucian, is principally with the dew. The Encyclopcedia Britannica, which is, I believe, generally taken as tolerable authority on such matters, after relating the most remarkable experiments of pro- fessors of the Ptoyal Academy of Science, at Paris — Doctor Dufay and M. Muschenbrock, the former of whom vigorously maintained the ascent, and the latter offered some show of contention for the descent of the dew — concludes, that " it must still remain dubious, whe- ther the dew rises or falls." How unlucky for the En- cyclopaedia, that it should have been published in a day when no Mr. Smith existed, who could for ever have determined the question ; then would it have had no need of committing itself to the theories of these " learned Thebans." The Diarij would have afforded a ready and concise solution of the difficulty. Con- sidering, however, that I am one of the great majority of those who do certainly "suppose" that the dew rises ; moreover, remaining firmly convinced that such is the fact ; the only apology I can offer for not yielding TIIE NOBLE SCIENCE. 225 implicitly to Mr. Smith's positive assertion, that it falls, will be found in the work to which I have alluded ; and as every one who condescends to read this, may not be fortified with such a volume at his elbow, I will make brief extracts of that which bears immediately upon the point. Dr. Dufay '' supposed, that, if the dew ascended, it must wet a body placed low down, sooner than one placed in a higher situation ; and if a number of bodies were placed in this manner, the lowermost would be wetted first ; and the rest, in like manner, up to the top." No very unnatural supposition this, for any Frenchman or Englishman to have made ; but let us see how sets the Doctor about the work of proving his hypothesis. He probably knew little enough of a five- barred gate ; at all events, it did not occur to him ; per- haps he might not have satisfied himself with it if it had ; so, " to determine this, he placed two ladders against one another, meeting at their tops, spreading wide asunder at the bottom, and so tall as to reach thirty-two feet high. To the several steps of these he fastened large squares of glass, like the panes of win- dows, placing them in such a manner that they should not overshade one another. On the trial, it appeared exactly as Dr. Dufay had apprehended. The lowest surface of the lowest piece of glass was first wetted ; then the upper, then the lower surface of the pane next above it, and so on till all the pieces were wetted to the top. Hence it appeared plain to him, that the dew 15 226 THE NOBLE SCIENCE, consisted of the vapours ascending from the earth during the night-time, which, being condensed by the coldness of the atmosphere, are prevented from being dissipated, as in the day-time, by the sun's heat." We are told of other experiments, the result of which " was quite conformable to his expectations." On the other hand, we find that " M. Mushenbrock, who embraced the contrary opinion, thought he had in- validated all Dr. Dufay's proofs, by repeating his expe- riments, with the same success, on a plane covered with sheet lead. But to this Dr. Dufay replied, that there was no occasion for supposing the vapour to rise through the lead, nor from that very spot ; but that, as it arose from the adjoining open ground, the continual fluctu- ation of the air could not but spread it abroad, and carry it thither in its ascent." " Who shall decide, when doctors disagree V From the combination of all circumstances, which it would be tedious to enumerate, not a doubt is left upon my own mind, that the dew is an exhalation from the earth, occasioned by the warmth of the sun. We see little, if any, dew in cloudy weather ; but always the most after the hottest days ; and, as a matter of course, in the mornings preceding the hottest days, from the accumulation through the night. The first appearance, and the greatest collection of dew, is, invariably, observ- able upon water-meadows, and on the surface of damp ground most liable to such exhalation ; if it descended, THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 227 why should it not fall equally upon the most arid soil ? But I am willing to admit that there are instances of the total absence of dew after the hottest days ; in short, I do not pretend to the proof of my position, or offer more than my own inference from observation upon a point which has puzzled philosophers. All I mean to say is, that the top of a gate may be wet with dew, and the under side dry, without any proof that some under- current of air did not assist the rapid ascent of the dew, till, after attaining a certain elevation, it could make a deposit upon the gate-top. At all events, I will take upon myself to say, that dew, whether it rises or falls, can have no prejudicial effect upon scent. If dew is to be taken as an excuse for the loss of an afternoon fox, there can be little use in cub-hunting of an evening, or in turning out in the middle of the night solely with the hope of avaiHng ourselves of its moisture. I must not be supposed, in these comments upon The Diarij of a Huntsman, to be actuated by any desire of detracting from its manifold merits. In the notice which I must necessarily take of a contemporary authority, it would be misplaced courtesy towards the writer, injustice to my own work, and to the purpose to which it is devoted, if I shrank from contesting opinions to which I could not conscientiously subscribe. Totally divested of any invidious and unworthy feel- ing, utterly regardless of the channel through which any new ideas might flow, looking to the interests of " the 15—2 228 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. Noble Science/' and to the practical utility of any infor- mation upon the subject, I halted in the course of my own task, and scanned the Diary, in the hope of finding that supply of novelty already before the public, which I felt myself unable to communicate. Of a verity, that novelty have I found in divers shapes ; but such novelty is useless if it be past man's understanding. I say this in a general sense, because I cannot impute to myself a more than common share of isolated stupidity, in being unable to discover the meaning of phrases, which I find equally unintelligible to others. It is not my intention to make allusion to any discre- pancies unconnected with the immediate subject of my own consideration ; but having had occasion to differ, most materially, from the Diary upon the nature of scent, which forms the burden of this chapter, I cannot conclude the disquisition without reference to one of those novelties which I have pronounced to be utterly beyond comprehension. The fifth chapter of this Diary of a Huntsman, professes to be a Glossary of " Hunting Terms ;" the preceding chapter having offered an explanation of " Huntsman's Language." Casting my eye over these valuable elucidations, being attracted to the article of " Moving Scent" (page 125), I was struck by the appear- ance of a word, which, as pertaining to the vocabulary of a sportsman, or being applicable to hounds, " showed strangely to my sight." — " Aletal" — ''When hounds are veiy fresh, and fly for a short distance on a wrong scent, THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 229 or without one, it is called all metal." Now what kind of 7)ietal is here meant, the writer alone can explain. To call a hound as good as gold, is no uncommon ex- pression ; but neither to this precious commodity, nor to silver, platina, tin, iron, lead, or copper, can this flying on a wrong scent, have either direct, or indirect affinity, unless in connection with the fact, that metals of all kinds are almost impervious to the effect of dew. Can it be that they have too much brass, or, after all, is this metal the predominant material, and is the compo- sition of the article I am now remarking on — a mixture of Mr. Smith's own composition f Nimrod addressed a letter to the Editor of Bell's Life, complaining bitterly of the manner in which his writings have been distorted, in consequence of his not having the opportunity of cor- recting the errors of the press. It is possible that this Glossary may have been sub- jected to a similar disadvantage ; I did not hesitate upon the 2)^1711(1 facie evidence of the robbery and mur- der committed upon the body of the word, Tally-ho ! to give a verdict against some poor devil of a printer ; and w^ell knowing that these functionaries are not always particular to a T, I had no doubt that the word cover, which occurs so frequently (a word which I had never seen in sporting sense, unless with regard to a certaii? description of horses), was intended to be read, covert. This idea is borne out by the Glossary, which, instead of Dr. Johnson's definition of the word, cover, " anything that is laid over another," describes a cover, as "any 230 THE NOBLE SCIEXC'E. wood, &0., which will hold a fox." It is merely doub- ling the extension of such an allowance, to lead us to the supposition, that, amidst the dross of the printing- house, this '* mctaV may have been confounded with the mettle which may occasion hounds, when very fresli, to " fly for a short distance on a wrong scent." The substitution of a T, for an A, and the addition of an E, might seem of little moment to any one not conversant with the laws of scent or accent ; but with regard to a Glossary, purporting to be an explanation of hunting terms, it is rather too much to expect that all will rea- dily accord to an opaque hodij that which is ascribable only to the spirit. CX- '^^■^ CHAPTER XII. Nihil est ab omni, Parte beatum." Hon. lUe terrarum mihi jn-ceter onmes, Angulus ridet." Id. Hunting from Home— M. F. H. in his own Country — Presents — The Late Mr. Hanbury— Popularity— Satisfaction— Plights of Country— Sup- port of Hunting — Errors of Custom — Remedies— Difficulty of Pie- formation — Earth- Stopping— Mr. Smitli's Plan — Game-keepers — Habits of Foxes — Importance of Rural Amusement— Decline of Shooting — ISTew Game Bill— Fox-hunting the only Resource — Esti- mate of Expenses. It is highly important to the interests of the Noble Science, that every man, blessed with the means of pro- moting the sport of fox-hunting, should endeavour so to do, to the utmost of his power, in his own country. 232 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. Happy is it for him who is located in the provincials, if his domestic comforts are such, that he considers nothing could compensate for the loss of them ; still happier, if he thinks that hunting from home is every- thing — that fox-hunting, all over the world, must be, and is, fox-hunting all the world over — that there is no country so bad that it may not be made better, by a proper direction of energy towards the amelioration of any defects capable of improvement. A bad country may be made worse, by a bad establishment of hounds, &c., or better, by a good one. If farmers, or landowners, are hostile, they may be propitiated. You cannot gather up all the flints, level the lanes, or alter the nature of the soil, as to its scenting capabilities ; but you may labour advantageously in devoting some pains to the organization and well-being of the Hunting Club; may be instrumental in directing the use of its funds to the general benefit, and in promoting that social intercourse under which it will assuredly flourish, — with- out which it will as certainly decay. If aU men, pos- sessing more or less influence in the county, will but pull together— if each will consider the common cause identified with his own — if they will remember that a benefit or an injury to one part of the country, has its corresponding efiect upon another — if each will contri- bute his quota towards the advancement of all the good, and the reconciliation of any bad feeling existing in his neighbourhood, there can, in no part of England, THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 253 be any serious difficulty in tlie prosecution of a diver- sion, the taste for which is born and bred with the occu- pants ; a sport to which those are by nature incHned, upon whose countenance it very materially depends. But all this esprit de corps is still more, if possible, incumbent upon the master of the hounds in the coun- try, for tlie time being. It is always desirable that he should be able to found some claim to support upon his property and influence in the county ; for an itine- rant professor will never (however he may entitle him- self to the good- will of those amongst whom he may be naturalized) command the respect which is generally so freely accorded to him who has, as it were, a birth- right in the cause. The feeling with which a master of hounds should regard the country he has undertaken to hunt, should partake largely of the character, and be scarcely inferior to that, which constitutes the love of our country in a more comprehensive sense. It should be a modification of the purest patriotism ; the good of the country should be the mainspring of all his actions, the focus in which all that he does should centre. He should do his utmost to promote the breed of horses and the growth of crops, and cherish every friendly relation with the agricultural part of the community. By thus ingratiat- ing himself with his neighbours, he will add a zest to the interest which they are disposed to feel in the pros- perity of the whole concern. Not only his friends, in 234 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. liis own station of life, but the respectable yeomen, inn- keepers, and tradesmen, all take delight in rearing a young hound, and returning him in condition to do credit to his walk. The farmer will say, that he has lost some scores of fowls by the foxes ; but he will add, in the same breath, that foxes have kept down his enemies, the rabbits, and that he does not grudge the value of fowls, averaging about eighteen pence a piece, considering all that there is to set against such losses to the score of the hunting. When farmers are satisfied that there is every desire to avoid wilful damage, they are seldom so churlish as to grumble at that which is accidental, I may say incidental, to the sport in which they may largely participate. If you once commence a system of regular compensation, however desirable it may be in individual cases, the yearly accumulation of such demands would ultimately balance the account of the national debt. It would, perhaps, require as much as would maintain the hunting establishment, to satisfy claims for damage, supported by sufficient evidence, against the foxes ; but as it is well known that the fox is held responsible for everything less than a jackass, which may be " lost, stolen, or strayed," the depredations of dogs and vermin, and also of still more systematic thieves, might be committed with impunity, under the shelter of the indemnifying fund provided by the Hunt. It is, indeed, hard, that Widow Thrifty should sustain the loss of a whole brood of turkeys, or that the pains THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 235 or gains of industry should be, in the remotest degree, deteriorated; when they are not improved by " those ijleasures, for the weak too strong, Too costly for the poor f but where there is good management, these things will not be. The surplus funds of a Hunt Club, increased by the casual donations of the sojourners of a season, wherever such exist, cannot be better applied than in redressing, in a quiet way, such actual grievances.* The late Mr. Hanbury, whose name will ever be respected, as a master of hounds for many years in the Puckeridge country, handed down the custom of making occasional presents to farmers, or their wives, which has since been followed up with good effect. It is not that the value of your gifts may bear proportion to the loss, real or imaginary, set down to your account ; but they are duly flattered by a token of your consideration. Mr. Han- bury 's business, as head of a great brewery, enabled him, at no great sacrifice, to keep many in entire good- humour, by acceptable cadeaux of brown stout. Having omitted, upon some occasion, the transmission of one of these, with his wonted regularity, to a certain quarter. * Tt is not very often that a Hunt Club has the means, if it have the inclination, to attend to these points ; but still, as it is "Nunkey pays for all," pay he must. It will not do to turn a deaf ear to just grounds of complaint. I think that my predecessor had once a sum, amounting to three figures, to pay for injury done to ewes in the lambing time ; and I have constantly had fines of from £\Q to £20 at the same season. I was glad, last spring, to compound, for £18, with one farmer, for the frolic of one couple of young hounds, just leaving their walk. 23G THE NOBLE SCIENCE. he received an anonymous reminder to the following effect : — " How can you expect that the foxes will thrive, If they have no porter to keep them alive V* If popularity be not invariably the consequence atten- dant upon a just, a wise, and good government, it is absolutely necessary to the ruler of that microcosm of which we are treating. A master of hounds can have no durable prospect of success, unless he carries with him the voice of the whole country confided to him. In the earlier part of this work, I endeavoured to point out some essentials in his conduct, and some few parti- culars relative to his government in the field. In thus attempting to describe, according to the result of obser- vation, some of the principal features of his character as the leader of a hunt, which should afford no show of reason for being denounced by any, but should boast the strongest claim to the right of being upheld by all, I am impelled by the conviction, that many evils and difiiculties have arisen solely from a neglect of duties, apparently trivial in themselves, but which are, in rea- lity, component parts of the machinery by which the whole system is regulated. If a man's devotion to everything connected directly, or indirectly, with the office, proceed originally from a sense of duty to the * Of late years, in Hertfordshire, the establishment of a Poultry Fund, chiefly maintained by contributions from visitors and non-subscribers who hunt, has been highly eff'cctivc, the fund being under the management of the secretary of the Hunt, who is at the pains to investigate all claims and make due compensation for THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 237 particular country to which he has dedicated his ser- vices, it will soon resolve itself into a matter of choice and preference. It must be, indeed, a very bad coun- try with which a man is not more than satisfied, if his general success in affording satisfaction to others, and the average of the sport, have been such as to exceed his expectations. If things go well — if he have had runs from all quarters — if the retrospect of the past, the aspect of the present, and the prospect of the future, are encouraging — if, in short, where all cannot, in the nature of things, wear one perpetual tint of couleur de rose, the blue devils have been effectually scared by the squadron of scarlet; — instead of envying the supposi- titious advantages of other countries, he may be well inclined to run his race, if not with the complacency, with the contentment of the happy pastor, who " Ne'er had changed, nor wished to change his place." It behoves every master of hounds to regard, with a jealous eye, everything approaching to an infraction upon the rights of his country — rights which he is bound to hand down, inviolate, to his successor. It would be well, were there in existence some code of laws, in which the rights of country, and all apper- trdning to their tenure (taking the ''mospro lege'), were more clearly defined, considering that, notwithstand- ing the apparent simplicity of their adjustment, more disputes have arisen, and more occasion for discord has been allowed to exist, than is altogether consonant with 238 THE NOBLE SCIENCK. that spirit of harmony which should prevail, and ever be maintained, between two neighbouring Hunts, It appeared that, upon a great controversy which occupied so much of the attention of the sporting world last sea- Ron, public opinion was very much, almost entirely, on one side, in favour of the retention of country by the party to whom it had been conceded, without reservation ; but upon the ''audi alteram ^)rtrie?n" principle, and taking into account the quarter from whence the attempt at recovery proceeded, it is only justice to sup- pose, that such claims, however difficult to establish, were founded on the fairest grounds. A similar diffe- ence, but of less notoriety, has, since then, occurred in another district. In this case, again, the right, according to the opinion of competent judo^es, seems to have been easily determined ; but if once such questions are agi- tated — if doubts are once admitted within the range of argument, it is no easy matter, "tantas componere Utes." However amicably such disputes may have commenced, bad blood is rapidly engendered, and open rupture too soon succeeds to the coolness occasioned by protracted litigation, which must terminate to the dissatisfaction of one competitor, if not of both. Something after th® manner of racing rules, as matter of reference, might be advantageous to those called upon to arbitrate in such cases. Possession is said to comprise nine points of the law ; but this will not hold good in fox-hunting, unless a better title to the occupation of the country is suffi- ciently manifest. Our Hertfordshire country is, in all THE NOBLE SCIENCE, 239 conscience, large enough, and as much as any hounds could hunt fairly, in four days per week ; but till the year 1835, it had, for upwards of twenty years, been enriched by a considerable slice of Bedfordshire, of which we had remained during the whole of that period in undisturbed possession, and of which we should natu- rally have been most tenacious. As soon, however, as this portion became needful to the Oakley Hunt, it was reclaimed by them upon the due advance of proof, that our right had been never otherwise established than as a right on sufferance ; the grant having been originally made under cover of a distinct stipulation, that it might, at any time, be resumed at pleasure. The validity of this claim was beyond dispute ; and much that is dis- agreeable would probably be spared, if all concessions were guarded by such restrictions, or formally and finally consigned by a deed of gift, wherever there is the remotest possibility of any misunderstanding of the wide distinction between " meum et tuimi." There can be no harm, but, on the contrary, much good, in the feeling of give and take, which may enable the master of one country to offer, as an accommodation, or con- cede to the request of another, the permission to draw any particular covert upon certain occasions, attended with advantage to the one, and devoid of prejudice to the other ; but from such circumstances as these it will not do to found a precedent. It is highly necessary that the nature of such grant should be highly under- stood at the time, or the lapse of a very few years may 240 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. convert such parts of territory into debateable ground ; those which are dejure, will not be found de facto the possessors ; — the memory of the oldest sportsman, who remembers perfectly that such coverts were drawn by such a pack (without any knowledge on his part of the contingencies), is cited as authority ; and they are compelled either to abandon their claim, or, at best, compound for a neutrality. All this might easily be obviated, by a proper understanding of the rights of country upon its first establishment, and by the pre- servation of written testimony to this effect, amidst the archives of the Hunt. I have said, that the master of hounds should be held deeply responsible for the preservation of the rights committed to him ; but more than that it is unfair to ex- pect. It is too generally the case, that in addition to all the materiel for hunting a coantry, he has also to find the country to be hunted. The whole management and keeping up of the country is suffered to devolve upon him. " Horses sound, hounds healthy, Earths well stopped, and foxes plenty," are indispensable requisites, " ivhich nobody can deny ;" but after finding effective horses, and hounds, &c., the master has also, literally, to find every fox, in the most comprehensive sense of the word ; and why is tliis ? Why, because, simply because, " what is everybody's business, is nobody's ;" because every one likes to know that the country is kept uj), and no one cares how this THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 241 is brought to pass. A liberal subscription to the hounds is thought to include everything that can be required, from the body of the country, towards the maintenance of fox-hunting ; more particularly, when the rights of country are firmly established upon such foundations, as the hearty concurrence of the landed proprietors, and their expressed resolution to preserve foxes, according to their ability. And, pray, will some one ask, is not that enough ? Does not such a system work well, and what more would you have ? Granting that the system does work well — with all my desire to leave well alone, with all my anti-revolutionary principles, I would be reformer enough to wish a total change in the funda- mental parts of the constitution of many hunting coun- tries. If such a jubilee could be accorded to some provincials, as was most prudently given for three years to Leicestershire, when, finding, from the scarcity of foxes, that the country was almost worn out, Mr. Meynell removed the whole of his establishment, pro tempore, to the borders of Huntingdonshire and Bed- fordshire — hunting the countries in occupation of Lord Fitzwilliam, and the Cambridgeshire— then might such reformations be securely effected ; but under no other than such circumstances, would it be prudent to ven- ture upon anything of the kind, or attempt to disturb the existing stability of things, wholly dependent upon the sufferance of so many conflicting interests. Though last of the requisites enumerated in the doggrel dis- tich I have quoted, — the " foxes plenty," is by no 16 242 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. means the least of the bargain. No one, who had enjoyed that plenty, would like to brave any alterations which might be calculated to affect (however tempora- rily), the existence of such an essential. " 'Tis better far to bear tlie ills we have, Than fly to others which we know not of ;" and, perhaps, it is as immaterial to the master of the hounds, as to any one of his constituents, that he should " hold a candle to the devil ;" or, to use another vulgarism, *' pay through the nose" for everything, lliese demands come within calculation of the expenses of the country ; they are nothing new, nor can they be matters with which any one can be unacquainted, on taking office. It is less, therefore, on behalf of masters of hounds, than as a matter worthy the consideration of any himt, about to commence de novo, or having the power of improving the usual order of things, that I have alluded to defects in the management of countries, and have expressed a desire for change of system. In offering a show of reason for such a wish, it will be right to point out a few of the present evils, which appear to me chiefly to require new enactments, and for such a task I may not be perhaps, altogether, un- qualified, considering that in Hertfordshire they have been allowed to increase, and arrive at an extent, which lias, I believe, no parallel in any other country. In so doing, inasmuch as I cannot contemplate the prospect of any change in my own time (nor could I countenance THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 243 the hazard of such an undertaking, were it more feasi- ble than it is), I must be acquitted of any other motive than that of arousing the attention of those whom it may concern, to the importance of the subject. It is money which forms the sinews of war — it is the " money makes the mare to go." Without money, hunting must fail ; and if there be in all countries more or less difficulty in the provision of adequate funds for its support, it is so much the more necessary to guard against the entail of any unnecessary expenditure. Of the two principal evils of the present system, to which I allude, the one is the natural consequence of the other. In the first place, I condemn the fixed price set upon each day's amusem.ent, the extravagance of the terms upon which hounds leave their kennel, as likely to operate, at some time or other, seriously against bye days ; and as an increase of contingent expense, which, might well be spared. Secondly, I assert that, with all the good-will and support of the nobility, squirearchy, and yeomanry, which is nowhere more liberally bestowed than in Herts,''' the master of hounds in this, or any other country similarly circumstanced, is virtually at the mercy of gamekeepers and earth-stoppers. For every fox that is found, from one end of the country to the other, the sum of one sovereign is booked, * The Marquis of Salisbury, who never hunts, munificently gives .£200 ; and Lord Verulani, who is also content to leave the representation of his former prowess in the field to his sons, £100 to the hounds ; besides the utmost exertion of all the patronage and support which their extensive possessions afford. IG— 2 244 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. allowed, and regularly paid. The fees of earth-stoppers, from half-a-crown, to ten or fifteen shillings, according to the number of stops within the provhice of each, amount, on the average, to four pounds per diem. Thus, supposing that the sport is limited to the finding of one fox, we start with an expense of five pounds, as the smallest tax upon the day — independent of all the inevitable v/ear and tear. So long as these subordinates have as much interest in foxes, as farmers have in their stock or any kind of property, it is not to be wondered that the animal abounds ; and it is equally clear that it would be better that they should cost two sovereigns each, than that the stock should be diminished, seeing that there is no medium ; that they either are or are not ; that they are altogether preserved, or utterly destroyed ; as there is no such thing as modification in the forms of vul- pecide. But, at the same time, in face of the fact, that most of the great game-preservers have as much, or far more pleasure in the possession of foxes, than of game in their coverts, it appears somewhat absurd that they should be compelled to become parties to the purchase of them, from the very servants whose duty it is to protect them. The master stipulates with his keeper no less for the protection of the fox, than of the pheasant, and yet allows an extraordinary premium to be paid ; a prize to be directly awarded to him for the fulfilment of that, in default of which he should, and generally would, be discharged. In countries where so unsportsmanlike a THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 245 practice Is permitted, as that of capping for the death of a fox, it is notorious, that a kill is not unfrequently accomplished by a little more mobbing than might otherwise be held defensible. In like manner, where there is a proportionate interest in his life, an earth will be accidentally left open, or drawn, after it has been stopped by the keeper, whose next fee may depend upon his rescue.* This has been the case, where the earth- stoppmg is not performed by the gamekeeper ; as the stopper, who would, for such an occurrence, forfeit his ticket, would be the only loser ; but without entering, at the present moment, into the separate consideration of matters connected with the earth stopping, and viewing only the reprehensible parts in the effects of the anomalies I have described, it is evident that they are the result of a want of foresight ; an absence of due consideration in those with whom they originated, rather than of any organization of wrong principles. Keflection upon the policy of these regulations, brings * The view halloos of tliis fraternity must be regarded witli caution, at the time when a fox is sinking within the precincts of tlieir range ; more especially if the run has been a ring, and the fox has led the chase back to the domain whence he was routed, and where he will repay the trouble of a keeper in doing his utmost to mislead the hounds, that he may live to fight another day. At the same time that the said keeper is venting curses upon his depredations, and invoking his destruction by all the powers of earth or air. It is a new feature in the records of fox-hunt- ing—this accusing gamekeepers of an over tenderness towards the wily animal ; but did not a shower of gold procure for Jupiter free access to the brazen towers of the secluded Danae 1 One fox may live to be worth his weight to his guardians. Once, and only once, within my memory, the experiment of a bagman was hazarded in a place of unenviable notoriety for blanks ; but the trick was, as usual, too palpable ; hounds disdained the alien carcass easily subdued, and the speculation failed. 24 G THE NOBLE SCIENCE. US back to the homely proverb with which 1 commenced my notice of them. " What is everybody's business, is nobody's." The master of the hounds is left precisely in the situation of a county member, who is fain to receive some votes, as favours yielded to his personal influence. He has to propitiate and allay the hastily imbibed prejudices of one man ; to conciliate and soothe the wounded dignity of another ; to admit, without reference to the realities of the case, that he was too much on the north, and too little on the south side of the country, in the preceding season ; to pro- mise hecatombs of heads and brushes, as trophies in revenge for peafowls, and all other birds, wild or domestic, taken from house or tree-tops ; to grant to Mr. Boreham the privilege of coursing ; and to Mr. Doubtful, that of shooting, ad Uhitum, over his property, in consideration of their zeal for Jus iDeculiar sport, towards the furtherance of which no private sacrifices, on his part, must be spared. To a certain extent, this is all very well. The manager of the hounds must be, ostensibly, the manager of the country. He alone must be responsible for all errors of omission or com- mission ; for the whole conduct and proceedings of the hunt ; but still his attention should be as little as possible distracted from the multitude of concerns which necessarily fall to his share, by being called to the constant consideration of atiliirs which should require no regulation on his part. There is q\iite enough of by-play, quite enough of work behind the THE NOBLE SCIEXCE. 247 scenes, little dreamed of by those who, upon the close of one season, await only its I'esults in the next. If a master of hounds had nothing whatever to do with the sport, further than that of providing what belongs to him, of the means necessary to its enjoyment, the country might still be sufficiently indebted to him. If he properly performs his duty to the utmost that can reasonably be expected of him — if all in his department be " done well, and as it should be done," he may, with the truth and modesty, and in the words of Othello, say — " I have done the State some service, and they know it ; No more of that." The remedies which I would suggest, for all that is objec- tionable in the administration of general affairs, affecting the commonwealth of the hunt, may be comprehended in a few words ; — I would not entirely abolish rewards to keepers, by way of encouragement, in shape of douceurs at Christmas, or at the end of the season ; but I would have no regular charge for finds, nor even regular charges for earth-stopping, excepting in coverts expressly hired for the purposes of the hunt. There, such payments might be a part of the wages of those employed; but I would have the preservation of the foxes, and the stopping of the earths for hunting, matters entirely dependent upon their respective pro- prietors. I would have every lord of a domain, make a point of enforcing his determination to contribute, gratuitously, all in his power to the noble sport. In- 248 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. stead of aDy regular bill, amounting to from ten to fif- teen poimds, to be presented by a keeper, as the price of his forbearance, in permitting the existence of ani- mals considered obnoxious to game, and, in reality, destructive to the rabbits, which are his perquisites, I would have five pounds the maximum of remuneration. Such a sum might be adequate compensation to any good servant, for the trouble of doing his duty, and would be received merely as a token of approbation of the manner in which he had discharged it, when the success of his endeavours entitled him to such consider- ation. There can be no reason why under-keepers, or other labourers, might not as well undertake the earth- stopping, on account of their regular employer, as on that of recompense from a separate body. The feasts might still be continued, for it is a good custom, that of assembling together all who are in any way subservient to the interests of fox-hunting, and aftording them a jollification, from which they will not separate without having imbibed a larger flow of those kindly feelings towards the common cause which it is intended to promote. It has been always the custom in Herts, to hold two of these revels, one on each side of the county ; the huntsman presiding : they are attended by all the gamekeepers, earth-stoppers, et hoc genus omne, of the districts ; the annual expense of both seldom exceeds thirty pounds ; and they tend to implant, and keep alive, sentiments most desirable to cherish. But this is not all ; according to the present " custom of the THE NOBLE SCIENCE, 249 country/' the object of these meetings is, a regular audit, a systematic settlement of accounts. The only difference between these, and the generality of such meetings on business, is this, that here each guest, instead of disbursing, is prepared with a stated demand for certain dues, to be then and there received, previous to participation in the cheer provided for him by his debtor. After a rigid scrutiny of all claims, by the huntsman, who is the chancellor of exchequer on these occasions, two hundred and fifty pounds is the least which can be set down, in round numbers, as the sum which passes through his hands in distribution ; and it is well, then, if he succeeds in giving satisfaction to the majority. Here is a distinct charge upon the country, averaging from two hundred and seventy, to three hundred pounds per annum, for the finding of foxes only ; not one shilling for the hire of an acre ; not one sixpence towards compensation for damages ; but every farthing as a bonus upon the mere preserva- tion of animals, which would otherwise be destroyed as vermin. Although I have heard of no other country where a fox is better worth his weight in gold, I find that, in some others, it is customary to give as much as half a sovereign for each find. This, though not alto- gether a sovereign remedy, is meeting the evil half way, and the reduction in the sum total would, of course, be commensurate. But in how many more countries, ay, and in the midst of game preserves, do foxes swarm, where nothing in shape of a reward is given ; where 250 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. fees, or feasts, are unheard of; and blank days equally unknown ? Nothing is so difficult to uproot, or set aside, as long-standing abuse. Nothing more incontro- vertible than the answer, that such always has been the case. There is an old and true story of some fine old English gentleman, who, having long borne with the caprice and misbehaviour of an old andT long-favoured domestic, on finding his patience quite exhausted (the good servant being transformed into a hard master), informed him that the time had arrived when it was desirable to part. " Part !" cried the knight of the nap- kin, " and pray where may your honour be going then ?" Such would be the feeling of our out-of-door ministers, upon any hint as to the abolition of rights sanctified, in their eyes, by custom. " Where then," would they say, " where then might we be going to hunt V Rash, indeed, would be the attempt of any man to stem the tide of long-indulged venality ; to pull a hornet's nest about his ears ; and bitterly might he feel the stings which vindictive malice might inflict upon him. Nothing but the combined energy of the whole county, — a deter- mined resolution to shake off the incubus of such a thraldom, — could place a hunt in a proper position, in relation to its dependencies ; and, even then, some time might be required for a reaction from the staggering efiects of a suspension of the stipendiary system. Where such rules have been estabhshed, all that remains for a master of hounds, subjected to their dominion, is to guard against their increase ; to consider THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 251 the sacrifice of the requisite sum as a necessary evil ; in short, to make the best of a bad bargain. Having cited Hertfordshire, as eminently under the influence of an extravagance in expenditure, I am bound to state, that in no other country can the subscription be better con- ducted. Not only is a liberal sum subscribed on paper, but (what is not always the same thing) it is most regularly paid. The payment is guaranteed by a few spirited members of the club, and by the indefatigable exertions of another, who kindly undertakes the oflSce of secretary to this committee, the funds are forth- coming when due. In addition to a subscription of £1450 towards the hounds (the actual expenses of which I will hereafter transcribe), £100 are given by the club towards the expenses of the country ; and all casual contributions are applied to the same purpose. It is especially incumbent upon me to avow, that in no quarter of the globe can a master of hounds be more generously supported than in this our provincial. It is not against effects so much as causes, therefore, that I inveigh, in denouncing the principle of high pay- ment for that which should, and might, have been obtained gratis, at the origin of the hunt. And when we consider that the same money might be better diverted into other channels ; that two or three hundred pounds are no trifle in the calculation of expenses ; it is well to warn the novice, anxious only for the end, and reckless as to the means, against sowing the seed which, when once rooted, cannot easily be exterminated. " Prill cipiis obsta, sero medicina paratur." liUli THE NOBLE SCIENCE. With regard to earth-stopping, in the abstract, as nothing is more mortifying than running constantly to ground, it is obvious that where earths exist as numerous as in Herts, and many other countries, no expense can be spared in the labour of stopping them, till the arrival of that Utopian sera, when all such mat- ters shall be undertaken by the owner or occupier of the soil : but setting aside any difficulties, as to the proper attention to these earths, I am satisfied that they are evils even when efficiently attended to. I have considered Mr, Smith's plan of doing away with them entirely by stopping them for the season, in all its bear- ings, since he was good enough, verbally, to commu- nicate the notion to me, and since I have seen the same in print ; I believe that he is entitled to all the merit of the idea, and I am convinced that it must answer beyond all other methods yet proposed or practised. I have listened to diversities of opinion upon tbis subject, for even in this all are not unanimous. Some contend, that the foxes, accustomed to lie under ground, would, in severe weather, find exposure to the cold too much for them, and would altogether shift their quarters, if tbey did not fall victims to the want of shelter ; but why should they be more sensible of cold than their brethren, which are, what is called, stub-bred — strangers to subterranean enjoyment, " For that delight they never knew, And, therefore, never missed 1" If they are left tolerably quiet, that is, not routed out THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 253 of their turn (for no covert likely to show sport should be drawn too often), I should not fear their changing quarters because they are obliged permanently to put up with some snug warm kennel above ground. Foxes have a feline attachment to their homes ; and, with that wonderful instinct which directs the return of dog-s, in a manner wholly unaccountable, any given distances to the places whence they have been removed, foxes are known regularly to retrace their steps ; like other ferce naturd, they become naturalized on the spots where they are bred, and are generally to be found within the scope of their native regions. In the spring, when anxious to pay their devoirs to the fair, dog-foxes do not consider the absence of a railroad as any impedi- ment to their nocturnal visits ; but, Leander like, they will dare the space of flood or field, in their travels towards the object of their affections. It is then that runs occur unheard of at any other time ; and it is for- tunate that bold Reynard does not invariably pay the forfeit of his life for his gallantry, for seasoned foxes are no less necessary to sport than seasoned hounds. The cubs of the year, however vigorous, have not sufficient knowledge of the world to face any extent of country. For this reason, the plan of closing the earths in Octo- ber, and keeping them fast till the breeding season (when they must be opened, as you cannot change the nature or propensities of the animal), is also to be recommended, as foxes would acquire a greater habit of locomotion, be more frequently disturbed, and, '2') A THE NOBLE SCIENCE. therefore, necessarily more acquainted with country. This plan would also obviate the risk of an occurrence which, it is to be feared, is only too frequent, that of stopping foxes under ground, by the laziness of the earth-stopper — who, upon a dark winter's morning, will not quit his bed— till the fox has returned to ground with his breakfast. Moreover, foxes are notoriously indo- lent, if not forced by hunger to exertion ; they are not nice as to the freshness of their viands, rather approv- ing, like some other foul feeders, of the high goiU, or odour, of decomposition ; and when the pantry below is well stored^ they are (especially in blustering weather) in no haste to emerge into the blessings of daylight. If compelled to the practice of that which was a military offence in garrison, the constant " lying out o' nights," they must be perpetually on the qui vive. In short, I can discover, amongst the many advantages, not one single objection to the obligations thus imposed upon foxes, to adapt their habits in accordance to our wishes, excepting the difficulty of carrying the project into ex- ecution. After obtaining the consent of all proprietors, and making some composition with the earth-stoppers for the loss of their vocation, the process of smoking out, and then securing the earths, must occupy no inconsiderable portion of time and labour ; nor could these operations be safely committed to any but most re- sponsible persons, if, indeed, they could be at all effected without the personal suporintendance of huntsman or whipper-in, at the time when they are busily engaged 1 I THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 255 in cub-hunting, &c. Where a great end is to be gained, the trouble attending the means of accomphshment must not be considered ; the stopping of a whole country is proved to be practicable beyond a question, Mr. Smith being himself evidence of the fact, and as I have before said, it is an example, doubtless, worthy of imitation. I must, however, take leave to differ from him once more, when he says, '' that if every earth in the country was done away with, it would be a benefit to fox-hunting, even as respects the breeding of foxes ; for the vixens would breed above ground in furze, or would find drains which no one knows of," &c. Admitting the possibility, which I am much disposed to question, that the whole vulpine race would so far forego their nature as to breed entirely above ground, instead of drawing out every rabbit-burrow, or hole of any kind, or setting themselves again to the work of excavation on their own account ; the alternative of ''finding drains which no one Jcnoivs of," would be ten times more prejudicial to sport, than all the evils which could possibly result from the regular earths. Foxes would constantly lie there ; the drains to which I have before alluded, as requiring gratings, or stakes, to oppose the ingress of foxes, are objectionable enough, when they are known, and "a drain ichich no one knows of,'' &c., must prove an incon- ceivable nuisance. It is certainly to be regretted that, where earths are known, every vulpecide may know, to a certainty, when to trap a fox ; but it is no less true, that the main earths are the salvation of the many who 256 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. are too deep for their enemies. Unless coverts are well guarded, a litter of cubs is, probably, nowliere so safe from molestation as within, the bowels of the earth, where even those bred above ground are often removed, by the vixen, when she may flee thither for sanctuary. We must, therefore, weigh well the pros and cons, before deciding upon the demolition of such places of refuo^e. I had serious thouo-hts of attachino^ to the hunting establishment, an earth-stopper for a whole district, independent entirely of the local professors in this department ; but here, again, the difficulty presented itself of reforming (even when that term is synonymous with the improvement of) things that have been. By dispensing with the services, it would unadvisedly pro- voke the hostility, of a whole body, too well acquainted with the power of working mischief; but where the expense of an extra servant is no object, it would be very desirable to have an active supervisor, responsible for the proper performance of their duties. With regard to gamekeepers, and the manner in which they are supposed to be concerned in the destruc- tion of foxes, I have already shown the interest which they have in their preservation ; nor do I believe that this interest would be decreased, were they moderately rewarded, instead of immoderately overpaid for their pains. Many of the cleverest and most successful in their calling, have a spice of the true spirit within them, a lurking passion for the cry of hounds, a feeling of enjoyment in the sight of them, which is evinced by the THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 257 desperate fight they will make over the country upon their rough hobbies, whenever they have opportunity. Still, an aversion to foxes is born with the majority of the craft, notwithstanding the now well-established and indisputable fact, that pheasants and foxes will flourish abundantly together. " Lapis et agnis quanta sortito ohtigit* Tecum raihi discordia est." This is exactly descriptive of the sort of innate feeling with which a thorough-bred gamekeeper regards a fox ; and it cannot be denied, that there are times and sea- sons when " Mr. Reynolds" tries his patience. Some affirm that the cunning rogue will watch the incubation of hen pheasants, deferring the slaughter of the old bird till the repast is enriched, not only by poached eggs, but by the callow brood, just ready to break the bondage of the shell. No fox-hunter — I may say, no sportsman — will grudge the little loss which they may occasion, of a few birds, which might have served for the diversion of some one man. The direction of one doubly-perforated piece of iron, cannot stand in competition with the sport of hundreds on horseback ; but this is not to the point, or, as the keeper himself would say, " neither here nor there ;" — "f/e gustihus non est disputandum ;' — we must not quarrel with a man's taste, if he be determined to protect every head of his game from all invaders. I would * " ov£i \vKoi rt Km apvig bf^iofpova 9vn6v ixovaiv, dXXa KaKcc (pf)ot'tov