THE LIFE OF A SPOllTSMAN 



and with a sort of intuitive knowledtro of tlic usual lines in 

 which his foxes ran, to an extent not hitherto witnessed by liini. 

 And the following rather curiously drawn portrait of him was 

 giv^en to him by a friend. 



' It is in the field that Mr. Musters shines. Birds, we arc 

 told, cannot conceive with beasts, nor lish with fowl, but dogs, 

 to an extent, certainly conceive with men, and some persons 

 have a peculiar method of making their wishes known to them. 

 At the head of these is Mr. Musters. In command of hounds 

 I never saw him equalled, and he certainly handles them with 

 a master's hand. Every art has its peculiar terms, and his 

 language and method in the field are most appropriate. In fact, 

 he may be said to suit the action to the word, and the word to 

 the action, with the greatest possible effect. By temperament 

 of constitution, also, he is particularly fitted for a huntsman ; 

 for, being never fatigued, he is always cheery and gay. To sum 

 up all, althourjli a gentleman, he is a huntsman. Nature quali- 

 fied him for the task, and without this, it is in vain to attempt 

 it. As Ion saj's — 



"What's t)ie ^ay Dolphin -when ho quits the Avaves, 

 And bounds upon the slioie ? "' ' 



But a singular instance of his powers over the wills and 

 affections of his hounds was related to our hero by one who had 

 long hunted with him ; and what renders the circumstance 

 still more extraordinary, is the fact that Mr. Musters does not 

 feed his own hounds in kennel, as most huntsmen (servants) 

 do. ' His hounds were on their road to sleep out, previously 

 to the next day's hunting, the fixture being a distant one, and 

 he himself was likewise on his road to dine and sleep at a 

 friend's house. It happened that, as his own house was four 

 miles from the kennel from which the hounds had started, he 

 did not travel in their line for a certain portion of the road : 

 but, knowing that he must cross it at a certain point, he pushed 

 on his hack, to enable him to get ahead of them. When, 

 however, they came into that part of the road over which he 

 had just gone before them, despite of the endeavours of the 

 whip to restrain them, every hound in the pack started off, and 

 overtook him in the space of a mile. Neither could their joy 

 on reaching him be restrained ; they surrounded his horse, and 



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