58 FIELD MASTERS AND HUNTSMEN, 



not like to " turn round and damn the field " ; but the 

 professional has a Master who is not infrequently 

 quite ready to do that for him, so let the huntsman 

 keep his eyes on the pack, and not divide his attention 

 between the hounds and over-eager horsemen as the 

 amateur is often compelled to do. 



Of all positions that can be imagined likely to affect 

 the temper, that of Master and Huntsman is, I am sure, 

 most calculated to do so, and those who carp most 

 when the " talking " has been pretty decisive are 

 invariably those who know very little about the 

 management of a country or the many chances that 

 may spoil a run or a whole day's sport. 



"Bad language and abuse 

 I never, never use," 



said the Captain of H.M.S. Pinafore; and, of course, 

 the language of the bargee should never soil the 

 lips of a gentleman. Still, it is very hard to " sit 

 and continue to smile" when, through ignorance or 

 vanity, some member of his field presses hounds over 

 the line, heads the fox, or commits some other 

 enormity ; and is he to remain dumb if he sees the 

 best hound in the pack rolled over by the heels of a 

 kicker, or jumped upon at a fence? Of course, the 

 ideal huntsman should have a smiling face and a 

 cheery word for every one save under most excep- 

 tional circumstances, and it certainly gives more 

 pleasure to hunt with such a 7'ara avis if he can be 

 found, than with one who goeth forth to war with 

 gloom upon his brow, and a tongue ready to find 

 fault with everything and everybody. 



