The Men. 55 



according to the new system, in which the huntsman 

 walks almost silently through the cover, with every 

 hound in sight, covering only the small space between 

 him and the whippers-in, on each side of him; but 

 according to the old system of leaving hounds to find 

 the fox by themselves, trusting them to draw wide,* 

 allowing them plenty of time for the operation, and 

 frequently speaking to them loudly and cheerily, that 

 they may always know where their huntsman is, and 

 have no fear of being left behind. George's accuracy 

 of ear secured him from ever being mistaken in en- 

 couraging a hound, though his pack in general was 

 far from being steady from riot. To see these hounds 

 spread themselves into all the angles and recesses 

 of Great Dean, or of Sandford wood, find their fox 

 in some remote corner, and get together like a flock 

 of starlings, was as satisfactory a thing, in its way, 



* Mr. Codrington, who hunted the Old Berkshire country about 

 the year 1820, carried this style of drawing a wood to an extreme. 

 People were surprised to see how long he would remain in one 

 spot, in the middle of a strong cover, while his hounds were 

 spreading far and wide round him. He trained his horses to 

 stand perfectly still, so that he might be sure to hear any distant 

 challenge ; but he had acquired a ludicrous habit of continuing 

 this training after it had ceased to be required, and was often to 

 be heard expostulating with his horse in this manner : ' Whoo ! 

 stand still, you brute ; be quiet, can't you ? ' — when the animal 

 had not moved a muscle. Mr. Codrington hunted his hounds 

 himself ; and though too heavy to ride well up to them, was es- 

 teemed a first-rate judge of hunting. His pack was by far the 

 most unsizeable I ever saw, containing specimens of almost 

 the largest and the smallest possible foxhounds. So long as 

 they ran and worked well together, about which he was very 

 particular, he did not object to this disparity of size ; but perhaps 

 rather prided himself on being able to get animals so dissimilar 

 in appearance to pack perfectly well together. 



