Wise Saws 165 



always did, by the voice of such a man as old Luke, 

 huntsman to the late Duke of Richmond, and 

 Lord Egremont. 



To be perfect, a huntsman should possess the 

 following qualifications : health, memory, decision, 

 temper, and patience, a good ear, voice, and 

 sight, courage and spirits, perseverance and activity ; 

 and with these he will soon make a bad pack a 

 good one : if quick, he will make a slow pack 

 quick ; if slow, he will make a quick pack slow. 

 But first, to become a good one, he must have a 

 fair chance, and should not be interfered with by 

 any one after he leaves the place of meeting ; 

 previous to which, on all occasions, it would be 

 best if the master of the hounds was to arrange 

 with him which covers should be drawn first, etc. 

 It rarely happens that two men think exactly alike, 

 and unless he is capable of judging for himself after 

 the above arrangement (which had much better be 

 made overnight) the master is to blame in keeping 

 him ; for if he is capable, the master is to blame for 

 interfering ; for, consequently, the man will be ever 

 thinking — what does master think ? and will not 

 gain that independence of thought and action so 

 necessary on most occasions to be a match for a 

 fox. . . . 



It is necessary for a huntsman to be thoroughly 

 acquainted with the nature of the animal he is 

 hunting, and also that he hunts with ; for he will 

 learn more from them than from the whole world 

 besides. From the fox he will learn cunning ; and 

 from an old hound, sagacity. In short, he will do 

 well when in chase to consider what he would do 

 was he himself the fox he is hunting ; thereby he 

 will always anticipate a check, and cast his hounds 

 the way he should have gone had he been the fox, — 



