104 UNASKED ADVICE. 



a certain amount of philosophy to gaze unmoved upon 

 the same, remembering to console oneself with the reflec- 

 tion that everything consumable fetches a better price in 

 a populous neighbourhood than in an empty one, and 

 that the damage and demand are caused by the same 

 institution. And here I may as well observe that the 

 damage done by foxhunters is not to any great extent 

 the act of those who ride to hounds. It is caused chiefly 

 by muffs, townspeople, retired tradesmen, &c., who don't 

 know one crop from another, and who pull down a fence 

 instead of jumping it ; and in the crack countries by the 

 second horsemen. These last really are mischievous in 

 the extreme : as to shutting a gate or keeping in a 

 furrow, unless for their own convenience, they would as 

 soon think of flying. And it is too much to expect of 

 anyone that he will put up with wilful damage. 



A great deal of sport is spoiled by the field. Where 

 the master is energetic and understands his work, he will 

 not allow the fox to he headed by hard riders who 

 would, if permitted, in their extreme anxiety for a start, 

 creep on to the very spot where a good fox would go 

 from. In the same way he will not allow the covert to 

 be surrounded by people to whom a start is no object. 

 But the plans of the most knowing master may be un- 

 avoidably thrown over, in the earliest stage of the day's 

 proceedings. He may collect all the field who are 

 present, on parade as it were, into the desired corner ; 

 he may place his whips most artistically ; yet how can he 

 prevent Tomkins (who is always late) from coming 

 scuttling up on his hack, just as the fox is on foot, and 

 meeting that well-meaning animal face to face ? or how 

 can he see through the black bullfinch that conceals 

 Lady Julia Gadabout and her latest admirer from the 



