30 THE HUNTING FIELD 



of a first-rate establishment, to Mr. Delme Ratcliffe, 

 when about to take the Hertfordshire hounds : 

 "Remember, however," added his lordship, after 

 going through a recapitulation of the hundreds 

 "Remember, however, that, after all this, you will 

 never have your hand out of your pocket, and must 

 always have a guinea in it." 



Decision is an indispensable requisite both for 

 "Master" and huntsman. It should be quick as 

 thought; and when once taken, adhered to, unless 

 very cogent reasons appear to the contrary. On this 

 point, perhaps, we cannot do better than quote 

 Colonel Cook. "To hunt a country, and to make 

 the most of it, so as to give general satisfaction, 

 requires some consideration. Supposing you have a 

 thorough knowledge of it, use your own judgment, 

 and never be led by others, for you will find they 

 have most commonly some selfish motives, and will 

 often mislead you. It is a common case," says he, 

 "for a Master of hounds to be requested to draw 

 such and such a covert, 1 merely because it may 

 happen to accommodate some of the gentlemen out, 

 by lying on their way home ; now if an acquiescence 

 in this should cause no inconvenience or material 

 alteration in the arrangements made for the day, it 

 may be all very well to do what you can to oblige 

 any particular person or set of men out ; but it should 

 nevertheless be remembered by all the field, that as 

 people are in the habit of coming great distances in 

 every direction, to the point where the hounds meet 

 in the morning, by thus acceding to the wishes of a 

 few you are likely to inconvenience many ; besides 

 the probability of occasioning yourself, servants, 

 hounds, and horses (should the draw be from home 

 instead of towards it) to remain out late in a wet 

 December night, without even the moon or stars 

 to guide you. Some men will mislead you to avoid 

 1 This chap puts in a " t." Printers Devil. 



