THE WHIPPER-IN 83 



Yet these are the sort of days on which Hunts- 

 men Whippers-in have to exercise their talent, and 

 upon which hasty and thoughtless men ground 

 their opinions. Many people prefer finding fault to 

 praising. They think it shows acuteness on their 

 part. 



Again, another disadvantage some Huntsmen 

 Whippers-in labour under, is having the pack assigned 

 under difficult circumstances. Many Gentlemen - 

 Huntsmen can manoeuvre a pack about Salisbury 

 Plain, who would yet be uncommonly glad to get rid 

 of them if they got into the "Crick " country. 1 Then 

 the Huntsman Whipper-in gets them until the diffi- 

 culties are past. 



We are all great judges of hunting ; horses and 

 hunting everybody understands ; and the appearance 

 of the Huntsman Whipper-in, in the character of 

 Huntsman, of course throws wide the gates of critical 

 observation. We have many a laugh in our widely- 

 made sleeve at the contrariety of opinion about the 

 same man, and the oracular decision with which each 

 is delivered. If the Master is a favourite with the 

 speaker, then he is the man, and poor Tom isn't fit to 

 hold a candle to him ; but if the Master doesn't stand 

 "A 1," as they say at Lloyd's, then Tom is the man, 

 and the speaker only hopes the Master may not 

 return on this side of Christmas. In hunting, as in 

 other things, the medium is seldom hit ; allowances 

 are never made ; a man is either a demon or a demi- 

 god. What one fool says another repeats, and that is 

 what they call " public opinion " — " They say." How 

 disgusting it is to hear some fellows prating about 

 Huntsmen and Whips. Monkey boys in jackets even 

 think themselves qualified to give an opinion. 



Mr. Davis, the celebrated animal painter, and 

 brother to her Majesty's Huntsman, commenced an 

 admirable work a few years since, called the "Hunter's 

 1 The most strongly fenced part of Northamptonshire. 



