140 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 



I can write), cannot, I believe, be committed to paper ; 

 but the "tally-ho!" the visible sign, or intelligence, of 

 the sight of a fox, has been the subject of ingenious 

 speculation as to the uncle derivaturf Whether it has 

 its origin in the Norman taillis haiit, "high coppice;" 

 or whether, as some assert with equal confidence, aa 

 taillis, "to the coppice ;" or whether it is derived from 

 the plain English tall ho ! as a salute to that conspi- 

 cuous and distinguished part of the animal called the 

 brush, is a matter of no moment to the sportsman, 

 whatever it may be to the etymologist. My only object, 

 in this digressive allusion to the word, is to express my 

 hope and belief that I have not mis-spelt it. I conceive 

 that nothing but a misprint, and a repetition of the same 

 diabolical error of the press, can have given us so much 

 of tally-0, as I find in Mr. Smith's valuable Diary of a 

 Huntsman, which 1 have seen since the previous chapter 

 went to press. We hear tye-ho ! for the deer ; so- ho ! 

 for the hare ; to-ho ! to the pointer, &c., &c. Sail-ho ! 

 is the cry from the mast head when a vessel is in sight. 

 The interjection "ho !" being, as I take it, an exclama- 

 tion indicative of surprise, and, at the same time, 

 signifying the presence of an object. In Mr. Smith's 

 glossary of hunting terms, we n.re told that "//ooi" is 

 ^' the view halloo, when talhj-O is not heard, or ivheti 

 hounds are at a check, and it is desirable to get thcni on ;" 

 and, in explanation of tally-0 itself, that, " if desirable 

 to halloo it loudly, it should be pronounced, ta, a-le, o," 

 meaning, beyond doubt, ta, a, le-ho ! for we must expect 



