274 RECORDS OF THE CHASE 



up their task after a year or two's probation. A man 

 must either be possessed of very ample funds and some 

 zeal for the good cause, or a vast deal of zeal backed by 

 a liberal subscription ; and considering the immense 

 number of persons who are daily in the habit of meeting 

 hounds during the winter season, there is no justifiable 

 reason why subscriptions should not be liberal in the 

 extreme. Gentlemen who fairly consider the matter, 

 whether they live in London, Cheltenham, Leamington, 

 or any other place, ought to bear in mind the heavy 

 expenses and responsibilities in which a master of 

 hounds involves himself, and when participating m the 

 amusements should at least contribute to the expenses. 



The appointments of nearly every pack of hounds are 

 advertised. It is a notice, or, in fact, an invitation to 

 join them, and it was introduced when the popularity 

 of fox-hunting was rising. The first intimation of the 

 kind that I have been able to discover was about forty 

 years ago, when the publishers of newspapers were de- 

 sirous to charge masters of hounds for the insertion 

 which they are now glad to give as an essential piece of 

 intelligence. 



It is a question which I have frequently heard dis- 

 cussed whether the slow hoimds of ancient days did not 

 afford more sport than the speedy ones of the present. 

 Here it must be observed that the speed of a single 

 hound does not decide the speed of the pack. It is the 

 head they carry, and their quickness in turning with 

 the scent or recovering it when lost, which constitute 

 the pace. This is, no doubt, a subject on which it 

 is rather hazardous to express an opinion ; but those of 

 the present day are decidedly best adapted for our 

 purposes. The number of foxes killed by any particu- 

 lar pack of hounds affords no criterion of the sport they 

 have enjoyed. I cannot subscribe to the opinion that a 

 slow hound shall be capable of hunting a colder scent 

 than a fast one. Perhaps speed may inculcate the idea 

 of impetuosity, and thus if a fast hound will not take 

 time to feel for and make out a cold scent, he may be 



