Mr. Wardes Hounds. 97 



was Neverd, a name which became a proHfic source 

 of jest : he was called '■ 'NcwQr-right! and * Never-r/<?'^ ; 

 but whatever wit there might have been in these 

 appellations, there certainly was very little truth in 

 them. He was right quite as often as could be ex- 

 pected of any man in so difficult a country ; and those 

 who taunted him with being too fond of trying back 

 seemed ta be incapable of observing the fact that, 

 three times out of four, especially in the forest, the 

 fox actually was behind him * Nor was he a bad 

 rider : he had not the quickness of a young man, but 

 he was always going steadily somewhere among the 

 first flight of horsemen, and was generally with his 

 hounds as soon as he was wanted. Mr. Warde's 

 system of hunting did not admit of taking hounds in 

 hand very quickly, while the close hunting nature of 

 the hounds ensured to huntsmen the advantage of 

 knowing exactly how far they had made it good ; so 

 that, on the whole, I do not think the sport ever 

 suffered from the huntsman not being forward enough ; 

 while, whenever the pace became serious, and the fences 

 were severe, Neverd was sure to be much closer to the 

 hounds than most of those who laughed at him. 



* Few men knew more about foxhunting in general, or the 

 Craven country in particular, than my uncle, Fulwar Fowle of 

 Kintbury, from whom, more than from any other person, I 

 learned what little I ever knew on the subject. If he had heard 

 any one speak a word in disparagement of that country, he would 

 probably have turned on him with a flat contradiction ; but I 

 once heard him say bitterly, when put out of temper by some 

 short running foxes : ' There are only two things that a true-bred 

 Berkshire fox thinks of, from the moment he is found to the 

 moment he is killed, and those are, how he can get behind 

 you, and, where he can go to ground' 



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