THE HUNTSMAN 43 



leaves the meet, has something else to do than 

 receive and exchange the compliments of the 

 morning, talk of the weather, the state of the country, 

 or the filth of the roads. He should be running 

 over the day's work in his mind's eye, thinking what 

 he did when he was last at the cover he is now going 

 to draw, considering what is the difference in the day, 

 and a hundred other things, " too numerous to insert 

 in a handbill," as the auctioneers say. Young 

 gentlemen in jackets, and, indeed, middle-aged ones 

 in new scarlet coats, must not, therefore, take it amiss 

 if Huntsmen become strangely monosyllabic after 

 leaving the meet, nor must they set them down as 

 grumpey and ill-natured if they don't laugh at their 

 wit. 



With the reader's permission we will take another 

 slice of Smith rather fatter, too, than the last. 

 " That a Huntsman should be a good rider," says he, 

 "is proved by every check the hounds come to when 

 he is away ; for even when he is present he will have 

 enough to do to prevent over-riding ; but unless he 

 can ride at head, and see the very spot on which they 

 throw up, he will be puzzled to know who of those 

 up to apply to, and must often use his own judgment ; 

 in short, the greatest use he can be of, when on a 

 good scent, is to prevent men doing mischief; 

 therefore he must have nerve to ride well up, and 

 equal to any man in the kingdom ; for, unless he 

 can be forward enough to look men in the face and 

 request them to hold hard, he may ride behind and 

 call after them till he is hoarse, and they will not 

 turn their heads, probably believing that jealousy 

 alone is the cause, and they go the faster for it ; but, 

 if he is in his place, none but a madman will do 

 mischief if requested to pull up : even the hard 

 riders from the universities (that is, if they can stop 

 their horses) will do so." 



Some Huntsmen are far greater fidgets about their 



