232 RECORDS OF THE CHASE 



a means of communication with sylvan pastimes, I 

 should choose the vicinity of Didcot, Steventon, 

 Farringdon, Shrivenham, Swindon, or even as far as 

 Chippenham, to that around Slough, Twyford, or 

 Reading. To indulge in those favouritisms, it would 

 scarcely ever be possible to regain the London terminus 

 before 8. 30. p.m., an hour sadly too late to be accom- 

 panied by a hunter, if his condition is regarded with 

 ordinary attention. 



I can quite enter into the difficulty of finding an 

 efficient servant to take charge of two or three hunters 

 uncontrolled by his master's daily inspection. Two 

 horses are quite as much as a man can do justice to, 

 having to go to covert twice or thrice in the week. In 

 a general way, a man who keeps a couple of hunters 

 experiences more difficulty in meeting with a good ser- 

 vant to perform the duty of taking charge of them than 

 he does in filling any other vocation in which domestic 

 servants are employed. A person who keeps a large 

 stud necessarily employs an efficient groom, who has 

 authority over the helpers and ought to have sufficient 

 experience in the treatment of hunters on their return 

 from the chase to be able to adopt all ordinary 

 remedies in the event of casual accidents. Such men 

 are not very numerous : when they are met with they 

 require high wages : and, moreover, they do not like to 

 work single-handed, in which they are correct, for a 

 hunter cannot be dressed, when he returns from the 

 field, with the requisite expedition unless two men, or 

 a man and boy, be employed. In small establishments 

 the assistance of a gardener or other odd man may he 

 called in with advantage. 



Gentlemen who hunt from London must, in my 

 humble opinion, find it most convenient and econom- 

 ical to keep their horses in the country ; for their horses 

 will certainly come out oftener than when harassed by 

 frequent journeys on the rail. Much, I am ready to 

 admit, depends on the temper of the animal ; but it is 

 the great length of time he must be on his legs which 



