THE LATE DUKE OF R 151 



I remember to have heard an odd anecdote of the 



late Duke of R , who was very popular in his 



neighbourhood : A butcher at Lyndhurst, a lover of 

 the sport, as often as he heard the hounds return from 

 hunting, came out to meet them, and never failed to 

 ask the duke, " What sport he had ? " " Very good, 

 I thank you, honest friend." " Has your grace killed a 

 fox ?" "No : we have had a good run, but we have not 

 killed." "Pshaw!" cried the butcher, looking archly, and 

 pointing at him with his finger. This was so constantly 

 repeated, that the duke, when he had not killed a fox, 

 was used to say, that he was afraid to meet the butcher. 



You ask, Why the huntsman is to draw so quietly ? 

 and, Why up the wind ? With regard to his draw- 

 ing quietly, that may depend on the kind of cover 

 before him, and also on the season of the year. If 

 your covers be small, or such from which a fox cannot 

 break unseen, then noise can do no hurt ; if you draw 

 at a late hour, and when there is no drag, then the 

 more the cover is disturbed the better — the more 

 likely you are to find. Late in the season, foxes are 

 wild, particularly in covers that are often hunted. If 

 you do not draw quietly, he will sometimes get too 

 much the start of you. When you have any suspicion 

 of this, send on a whipper-in to the opposite side of 

 the cover, before you throw in your hounds. With 

 regard to the drawing up the wind — that is much 

 more material. You never fail to give the wind to a 

 pointer and setter — why not to a hound? 1 Besides, 



P It is quite right to draw up wind all large woodlands, but small 

 coverts should be drawn down wind, otherwise foxes are very likely 



