24 THE HUNTING FIELD 



Corbet coming on him unawares ; " thank you, sir," 

 repeated he, " but my hounds will do that quite as 

 well without you" 



How different to the language of a certain duke 

 under similar circumstances ! " Who the hell are 

 you, sir?" exclaimed his grace, coming on an un- 

 fortunate wight, hat in hand, capping' the hounds. 



" And who the hell are you ? " replied the stranger, 

 a captain in the sea service. 



"They commonly call me the Duke of ," 



rejoined his grace, adding, "Now, sir, there are the 

 hounds, hunt them, and be d d to you." 



Talking of sailors, reminds us of an amusing 

 account given by Nimrod of a certain nautical M.P. 

 and ex-master of foxhounds' mode of addressing a 

 constituent in the field. " Come here, you ten-pound 

 radical rascal and open this gate." Here is another. 

 A few years back an action was brought by a sailor 

 against a captain of a merchant-man, for ill-usage, 

 when it appearing to be but the second time of 

 "asking," the judge was curious to know Jack's 

 reasons for sailing again with so inhuman a captain. 



"Why, please your honour," said Jack, hitching 

 up his trousers, " I war'nt for sailin with him again, 

 but I couldn't help it ; the captain has such winning 

 ways with him" 



" Winning ways," observed his lordship, " what do 

 you mean by winning ways?" "Why, please my 

 Lord," resumed Jack, " the captain comes alongside 

 me, on the quay, slaps me on the back and says, 

 * What ! Jack, you ill-looking, blear-eyed, squinting 

 scoundrel, arn't you going to sail along with me ? ' " 

 Jack couldn't resist so touching an appeal. 



Beckford gives an amusing account of a Master, 

 whose blowings up combined the " suaviter in modo " 

 with the "fortiter in re" 



"An acquaintance of mine," writes he, "a good 

 sportsman, but a very warm one, when he sees the 



