286 THE IMAGE OF WAE 



such-like, when hounds run past them, seem to me 

 to prove this, as does the fact that during a whole 

 season I have never once been asked any question as 

 to our sport by any native encountered on my home- 

 ward way. It is true that in England the question is 

 often not scientific : " How many 'ave ye cotched, 

 sir ? " being a common form of interrogatory ; but 

 it shows an interest taken in the thing. I missed, 

 too, the cheery " Good morning" of the English yokel 

 on my way to the meet ; nor do I think, if I lived half 

 a century north of the Tweed, I should get used 

 to the detestable habit of the Scottish cottager of 

 bolting and shutting the door at the sight of a 

 stranger. Especially annoying is this trick if one 

 happens to want to ask the way. 



It is this detachment of the Scottish _2^Ze&5 from 

 fox - hunting which produces the result that most 

 hunt - servants and even hunting grooms in the 

 country are of English origin. 



But I must add that it gives one great advantage 

 to the chase — there is no holloaing. Oh ! thrice 

 blessed country, no holloaing ! 



Mr Pomponius Ego, the reader will remember, 

 projected an essay " On Holloas " — I never heard 

 that it was given to a grateful posterity. I have 

 even some recollection of something of that sort in 

 a book called The Syiaffie Papers; but though a 

 decade and a half has passed since that was written, 

 I cannot flatter the author thereof that he has reduced 

 the number of holloas by one per season. Which 

 of us, however limited may be our hunting experience, 

 but can recollect runs spoilt by clamorous yokels, and 

 even, I regret to say, members of the field ? Well, 

 unless my experience is wrongly founded on a thing 



