THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 55 



upon the efficiency of the ^Yhippers-in. The huntsman 

 is at this time endeavouring to attach every hound to 

 himself, and will encourage all (particularly the young 

 hounds) as they are driven up to him by his assistants. A 

 sensible and intelligent whipper-in will very soon acquire 

 some notion of the peculiar tempers and dispositions of 

 different hounds, so essential in a huntsman ; and will 

 not require to be perpetually cautioned against the 

 indiscriminate administration of punishment. For one 

 hound a word may suffice, while others may require as 

 much payment as lawyers before they do anything. 

 With these it must necessarily be not only a word, but 

 '' a word and a blow, and the blow first ;" but nothing- 

 annoys me more than to see a cut made at a hound, in 

 the midst of others guiltless of the cause. It is ten to 

 one but the lash, intended for Vagabond or Guilty, will 

 descend upon Manager or Blameless, and render others 

 shy, to no purpose. The difficulty consists in contriv- 

 ing to awe the resolute, without breaking the spirit of 

 the timid. One of the best hounds I ever saw had been 

 so completely cowed in Leicestershire, that he was use- 

 less till he had changed his owner and country. I have 

 said enough to prove that the task of a whipper-in is not 

 one that can be achieved by every groom who can ride 

 and crack a whip, but that, like every branch of the 

 science, it is regulated upon certain principles. His 

 part in the campaign may be designated as that of an 

 active and zealous partisan. He must exercise his judg- 

 ment when left to his own discretion, but to all com- 



