ETIQUETTE 19 



not used, that the whole field go hunting in fear 

 and trembling, more afraid of doing wrong than 

 anything else. Their enjoyment, therefore, must 

 be of a very poor nature, and they move more 

 like a funeral procession than an assemblage of 

 jolly good fellows all round. The M.F.H. forgets 

 within five minutes that he has ever spoken, but 

 not so the unfortunate sportsmen who have been 

 unpleasantly shouted at and blown up. These 

 go home very much damped in their ardour and 

 love of the game, in some cases nursing animosity 

 against the M.F.H. ; whilst the latter, having 

 thought no more about it, goes home in ignorance 

 of their feelings, and of their having a grievance 

 against him ; and then proceeds to give fresh 

 people the same dose on the other three hunting- 

 days of the week." 



These trenchant observations may well be laid 

 to heart by such M.F.H. as are apt to forget what 

 is due to others in the heat of the moment and 

 the excitement of the chase. 



The late Sir Charles Slingsby was a very 

 silent, and particularly courteous man, and yet 

 he kept the huge fields that frequently came out 

 with him — such w^as his fame, that riders came 

 from far and near to see if report really spoke 

 truly of the sport that he showed, and I have 

 counted as many as two hundred scarlet coats out 

 on one day — in perfect order, and one gentle 

 rebuke from him produced more effect than the 

 shouting-scolding mentioned above often does. 

 On one occasion w^hen hunting at Ribston, the 

 late Captain Leslie, who then rode very hard, had 

 been rather trying in the way he kept jumping 

 close to the hounds when they were puzzling out 

 an indifferent scent, and at last he jumped a fence 



