HUNTSMAN 25 



and it makes up for many deficiencies when men 

 know that if sport is to be got, he will try^ at all 

 events ; but every huntsman who has any head 

 knows pretty well by the middle of the season 

 where to put his hand on a fox (if there is one 

 in the country), unless by accident it has been 

 moved. If not, he is not half a huntsman. 



Huntsmen, and men who keep hounds, are very 

 apt to express themselves warmly on discovering 

 that a fox has been injured, or if they think there 

 has been an attempt to poison one, owing to his 

 being mangy. But, if possible, they had better 

 not express their thoughts, unless they can prove 

 it and bring it home to the man, for nothing pro- 

 vokes a gentleman so much who does not hunt 

 as to have it even hinted that his servants destroy 

 foxes. It is a sort of reflection on a man's dignity 

 to suppose that his servants would commit an 

 act of this sort contrary to the master's wish. If 

 there are grounds for suspicion, they had better 

 not be stated openly, but represented by the 

 master of the hounds, or some intimate friend of 

 the gentleman, to whom every act of courtesy is 

 due. Depend upon it, it is a mistaken notion 

 that any man can be bullied into a thing of this 

 sort ; for although he may apparently give way 

 to the wishes of numbers, yet no man forgets that 

 he has been treated harshly. 



