52 FIELD MASTERS AND HUNTSMEN, 



was the good order established there by long years 

 of salutary if autocratic rule. 



But from what I have observed in other countries 

 I take the case I have mentioned to be a very ex- 

 ceptional one ; and in crowded countries there can 

 be no doubt of the utility of the Field Master. 

 Those who go out hunting, unless they have tried 

 to hunt hounds themselves, or are at least on very 

 intimate terms with huntsmen and understand their 

 feelings, have little idea how many things occur 

 during a day's hunting to exasperate almost beyond 

 endurance the M.F.H. who hunts his own hounds. 

 The professional is not so badly off, for he always 

 has a Master or some one in authority to check the 

 ardour of the field and keep folk in order ; and this 

 will be the answer to a statement I have heard, 

 viz., that professional huntsmen keep their tempers 

 better than amateurs. 



It has, I am afraid, been pretty frequently stated 

 that men who take hounds take on also a bad temper 

 and the use of profane language ! 



"The difference between an amateur and a pro- 

 fessional huntsman," sententiously remarked a friend 

 who is given to philosophising on most subjects, "is 

 that the one swears at you, whereas, as a rule, the 

 other does not. For I can see no reason why an 

 amateur who has natural abilities and a real liking 

 for the job should not make as good, or even a better, 

 huntsman than a professional, provided he gives 

 himself up entirely to the work, as some of them 

 practically do. His education must serve him in 

 many ways, for he will have studied all that has 



