52 Recollections of the Vine Hunt. 



and seldom fixed more than one day at a time. Even 

 when hunting with him, you could not always learn the 

 next day's meet till late in the day. It depended on the 

 work done, and the number of hounds which happened 

 to be cut by flints, whether he would hunt twice or 

 three times in that week, and whether on the hills or in 

 the vale. They did very little in cub-hunting, nor was 

 that little conducted in a manner beneficial to the 

 hounds; in the dryest and hottest morning in Sep- 

 tember, Mr. Chute would leave a half-beaten cub in 

 cover, to go after an old fox over a country quite 

 unfit for riding. Often, when regular hunting began 

 in the last week of October, they had not killed more 

 than two brace of foxes. No doubt his hounds would 

 have been steadier and better if his entry had been 

 allowed to kill a reasonable number of cubs, and had 

 not been taken staring over an open country before 

 they had learned to trust to their noses in cover. Mr. 

 Chute's country was amply sufficient for his number 

 of hunting days, and was well stocked with old foxes. 

 A blank was rare, and most of the foxes that he killed 

 were after good runs, and were well deserved by 

 hounds. I think he usually killed from fifteen to 

 eighteen brace in a season, and the hounds were not 

 often long out of blood. Halfcrowns were collected 

 for the men whenever a fox was killed after a fair 

 run. The men wore round hats, and long scarlet 

 coats, which could lap over and defend their knees 

 against wet or cold. The huntsman carried a small 

 twisted bugle, slung over his shoulder by a strap — a 

 more melodious instrument, but less convenient, than 

 the straight horn usually carried at the saddle-bow. 

 It is not heard so far off", is less easily handled when 



