THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 59 



has a right to think, much less to express an opmion. 

 This, with some reservations, should be the creed of the 

 whipper-in,* but, at the same time, he may console him- 

 self with the reflection that he is no less necessary to 

 the sport than the highest in office ; moreover, that the 

 success of the day, the getting well away with a fox, and 

 avoiding a change, or the triumphant finish, may very 

 frequently be attributed entirely to his exertions, and 

 that by attaining to excellence in his calling, he has 

 rendered himself one of the most useful and deserving 

 members of the community. 



No one could ever have seen old Tom Ball, formerly 

 whipper-in to Lord Tavistock, without feehng that he 

 must have been born a whipper-in. George Mountford 

 would readily admit that, but for Tom, many and many 

 a fox might have escaped his skill, which fell a victim to 

 old Ball's sagacity, his knowledge of the animal, and 

 his line. Patiently would he sit by a covert side, where, 

 by his own hue, he had arrived about as soon as the 

 sinking fox; there would he view, perhaps, a brace or 

 more away, without the motion of a muscle, till his 

 practised eye would recognise the hvmted fox, and then 

 would bhthe Echo and other wood nymphs be startled 

 by the scream which would resound his knell, and, like 



* " '2,0V \eyeiv, ifiov ToXfiav" — It is yours to speak, it is mine to bear. 

 Such must be his motto. 



