THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 141 



to hear of 'ounds, and 'orsci, in the dialect of the cock- 

 ney, ivho 'ammers an 'ach along an 'ard road to hint at 

 Ilepping, from a man who would thus clip the Queen's 

 English, and rob the dear old tallj^-ho of the expressive 

 aspirate which was familiar to our infancy. To return 

 to halloos in general, your first view halloo having led 

 me a long way since I left you with hounds, drawing for 

 a fox, on a fine hunting morning. On the use of your 

 voice in the field, or covert, I should say, remember 

 never to halloo far from the spot where the fox is 

 viewed. You may be of real use if you enable a hunts- 

 man to lay his hoimds on the last space which you saw 

 occupied by the fox ; taking care, of course, to turn your 

 horse's head, and w^ave your hand in the direction he is 

 gone, to prevent their taking heel way. Notliing is more 

 annoying than, after lifting hounds to a halloo, to find 

 that your informant has viewed the fox a quarter of a 

 mile off, nearer, very likely, to the place whence you 

 started, than to him ; you have then to retrace your 

 steps, with a very material loss of time, to say nothing 

 of having disappointed or made fools of the hounds. 



With respect to drawing a covert, I believe that, 

 although unquestionably best, to take a woodland up 

 wind, it is of little importance which way hounds are 

 thrown into a gorse, the chances of chopping a fox 

 being more alarming than those of his getting too good 

 a start. In small woods, or spinnies, it is not only a 

 mistake to think that it is necessary to give hounds the 

 wind, but it is positively wrong to draw otherwise than 



