REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN. 103 



what I gave for them. If a master of hounds is a 

 good judge of horse-flesh, he gets one pull in his fa- 

 vour by the purchase of clever young horses out of 

 condition, in summer, for his men ; it is, I think, the 

 only pull he gets. Oatmeal I got very good from 

 Oakley Mill, but of course not old. Lord Tavistock 

 had a stock of old meal in hand ; but with a view, I 

 suppose, at that time, to keep up the price of agri- 

 cultural produce, he set his face against any thing 

 like free trade with me, and demanded such a sum per 

 ton, that it was out of any reasonable means to get it. 

 Good meal, however, I got, coarsely ground, and well 

 dried, and by having a lot of it, and treading it well 

 into bins and barrels, the hounds had sound food to 

 work on. 



The first whipper-in that entered my service was 

 Tom Skinner, from Mr. Hay, — a first-rate horseman, 

 and rider, and sportsman, and whipper-in ; I never 

 saw a better, or a better tempered man; but, — oh, 

 bans that word! it is a small one, but what a multi- 

 tude of ills it sometimes holds ! — " but " he had drunk 

 hard, and ere he could ride, or, I believe, shave him- 

 self, he was obliged to swallow a dram. The dram, 

 at first, made him no more than all right ; but soon, 

 the quantity to make him steady for the day un- 

 steadied him for the moment, and I detected him in 

 his saddle, elated by his gin. As second whipper-in, 

 I took a man from the Salisbury hounds, who they 

 told me knew his business ; but I suspect the know- 

 ledge they said he had, pertained only to riding after 

 the late Lady Salisbury, for he knew nothing about 

 hounds and was useless to me. 



At exercise I looked well at the situation of the 

 woods and open-country covers, and noticed by their 



H 4 



