56 Recollections of the Vine Htmt. 



as a sportsman could witness. But as soon as they 

 began to run across a country, little dependance 

 could be placed on George : not so much, I think, 

 from any deficiency in clearness of head, or in know- 

 ledge of the habits of the fox, as from the fatal 

 fact that, when hounds ran hard, he was seldom with 

 them. On the hills, this might have been chiefly the 

 fault of his horses ; in the vale, it was caused by his 

 wretched style of riding, getting off and leading 

 his horse over the most ordinary fences. Now, a 

 huntsman who is not habitually with his hounds 

 cannot hope to keep them long on good terms with 

 their fox. Whatever other good qualities he may 

 possess must be neutralised by this one defect. Such 

 a man may, perhaps, occasionally recover a lost fox 

 by a wide cast, and may show talent and judgment 

 in so doing ; but though he may thus get them out of 

 difficulties^ he cannot perform the rnore important 

 office of keeping them f'oin getting into difficulties : 

 he cannot give them immediate assistance at the mo- 

 ment when it could be most easily rendered, and 

 would be most effectual. Moreover, if neither master 

 nor huntsman is sufficiently forward to keep the field 

 in order, further mischief is sure to ensue. Ignorant 

 or over-eager horsemen press on, and carry the hounds 

 beyond the point where the scent had failed ; the 

 huntsman comes up in total ignorance how far the 

 hounds had made it good, which way they were lean- 

 ing, how far they had probably been overridden ; 

 whether there had been anything ahead likely to 

 turn the fox; ignorant, in short, of every circum- 

 stance which might have directed him in making his 

 cast. From such causes it often happened that the 



