170 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 



a chance of doing honour to, and having a share in, his 

 obsequies. Not all the men; they will be here soon 

 enough, as many as can come at all, and we are not in 

 the habit of capping for field money ; but let every 

 hound have a full view of the object of his pursuit. 

 Let the huntsman, or any of the officials who chance to 

 be first at the death, as soon as the fox is killed, place 

 his foot firmly on his body, and with his voice, and the 

 lash of his whip, save him from being broken up : there 

 let him lie upon the ground, or throw him across the 

 branch of some adjacent tree, while the whipper-in is cut- 

 ting ofi" his mask, brush, and pads. If the kill take place 

 in a wheat-field, pleasure-ground, or on any spot likely 

 to suff'er from the influx of spectators, and trampling of 

 horses, always remove the ceremony to the fittest place 

 convenient. After a sharp, short, and decisive thing, in 

 a muggy warm day, it is lucky if a pond be contiguous ; 

 the hounds will do greater justice to the banquet after 

 freely lapping, and it does not look well to be long in 

 breaking up a fox. A pack that have finished the run 

 properly, generally make clean work of the whole afiair. 

 Do not keep them too long tantalized. There is a 

 method, even in this part of the day's business. I have 

 seen them in Ireland run into their fox, and finish him 

 at once, as they would have done a rabbit they had 

 pounced upon, without any one offering to dismount, 

 even to ascertain the age or sex of the animal ; but this 

 is a miserable finale ; the hounds which have fought 

 hardest through the day, may have the least share in, 



