iHeu iul)o ?l>unt, aiitJ tijcir iitcultan'tic^. 55 



section of the hunting field, provided they are kept 

 under proper control ; for if they get a gallop, have 

 some big places to jump, and are well carried, they 

 are usually highly satisfied with themselves, their 

 horses, and their surroundings. If, on the other 

 hand, scent should be unpropitious, and hounds 

 cannot run, they generally — to give them their due 

 — bear their disappointments with quite as much 

 resignation as others who do not lose anything in 

 comparison to the exciting exploits they have been 

 deprived of indulging in. The}' are also, for the 

 most part, men who come out to be amused, and 

 not to criticise either the performances of huntsman 

 or hounds ; and if others (particularly such whose 

 opinions from the position they may occupy will 

 carry weight) would similarly abstain from doing 

 so without ver}' good reason, many a young hunts- 

 man or promising whipper-in would gain heart as 

 well as knowledge by experience, instead of probably 

 losing the former (and possibly his place, too), owing 

 to some hasty criticisms, thoughtlessly made, but 

 eagerly repeated by the smaller fry of the ''field," who 

 proudly re-utter my lord Tom Noddy's unweighed 

 sentences as the matured opinions of their august 

 selves. And thus the ill-fated Tom or Charley is 

 prematurely stamped as a failure, whereas the origin 

 of the imputation of want of skill, or what not, might 



