1UI)IN(; TO [iOMNDS :359 



mounted on horses equal to can/y fifteen stone. This only applies 

 to galloping ; but if they come to fencing, the heavy man has it 

 hollow. The heavy man says, "I viust get horses to carry me '"' ; 

 the very light man says, " those which can carry no one else will do 

 for me " ; and thus he is too often defeated. To this must be added, 

 in favour of the heavy man, that strength in the rider, as well as in 

 the horse, is necessary in getting a horse across a stiff and deep 

 country where the fences are large and frequent. — " The gentleman 

 rode very w^ell," said Buckle the jockey, of a gentleman rider 

 opposed to him in a race, " but he tired before hh hnrse " : and this 

 applies to the very light man over a country. 



Biding to hounds, like most other things, has undergone a 

 revolution in the march of time. Some years back, the best man 

 was he, who, after never being near the hounds for nineteen miles 

 (supposing them to run so far), came up to them at the twentieth, 

 and got the brush, which he carried home in triumph under the 

 front of his bridle. The best man now is he who goes best through 

 the best part of the run, even should he be " dead beat " at the last. 

 As to riding, or asking for the brush, a man would as soon ask for 

 the scalp of the huntsman's head in the regular hunting countries as 

 for the brush of a fox. I once did see, and in one of the crack 

 counties, a man ride over a fence into the middle of hounds as they 

 were in the act of worrying their fox ; and on the owner of them 

 asking him why he did so, he replied that he wanted the brush. 

 " You shall have the brush, sir," said the master of the pack, " and 

 let it serve you' for the rest of your life. Take off that red coat 

 when you get home, and never come a-hunting again." 



There are many men, particularly those whose hunting has been 

 confined to ploughed and light-scenting countries, who can form but 

 a faint idea of the speed of hounds in those countries which are 

 capable of holding what is called a burning, or, more properly, a 

 lasting scent, such as will enable hounds to I'ltii. straight. The 

 circumstance, however, which I am about to mention, at the same 

 time that it will show the pace which hounds under certain circum- 

 stances are able to maintain, will warrant the assertioiis I have 

 made as to the difficulty of seeing a run when the pace is very quick, 



