NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 131 



more than half a dozen packs in the whole world. On the contrary, 

 every encouragement should be given to resident noblemen and gentle- 

 men to hunt their own countries, whether good or bad, the beneficial 

 effects of which are so powerfully felt in their neighbourhood. 



Having spoken of the hounds, the huntsman necessarily follows. But 

 my notice of the Duke of Buccleuch's huntsman in the field will be 

 brief; for if, as Livy said of Cicero, " Cicero's panegyrist, should be a 

 Cicero," Williamson's should, for the same reason, be a Williamson. He 

 may have his faults, (and where is human nature found perfect ?) but, 

 inasmuch as experience is said to make even a fool wise, it is next to a 

 physical impossibility, that a man possessed of an understanding so natu- 

 rally clear, a man of such quick apprehension, and so clear-sighted a dis- 

 cerner of circumstances, as one hour's conversation with Williamson 

 plainly shows him to be— it is, I repeat, next to a physical impossibility 

 that, at the end of thirty-two years experience of hunting, he is not a 

 master of his art. There are peculiarities in his system which have been 

 noticed, and to which I may slightly allude. He has been described as 

 a slack drawer of his covers, '' not going into them, as he should do, 

 with his hounds;" and he has also been blamed for always drawing 

 down wind. With respect to the first charge, if hounds will draw with- 

 out it, it is a cruel practice to ride horses into thick gorse covers, as the 

 appearance of their knees and legs too plainly shows on the morrow. 

 The question then is— Does Williamson find his foxes as often as he 

 ought to find them, or does he draw over them ? As far as my experi- 

 ence went, there was no lack of foxes on foot ; and as he seldom kills 

 less than fifty brace of them in the season, and sometimes more, his coun- 

 try must be well peopled with them indeed if he draws over many. 



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