114 REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN. 



Bill Long and myself were called on to speak to the 

 value of a full-sized puppy so bred. When Long 

 was asked what he considered such a puppy to be 

 worth, he said to the jury, " I'll tell you, gentlemen : 

 Sir William Codrington, he says to me, says he, — 

 Bill, says he, old (I forget the name of the sire) is 

 •worth a thousand pounds." 



"Stop," said the counsel; "Mr. Long, we don't 

 want to hear what any body else has said ; we want 

 you to tell us of your own knowledge, on your oath, 

 what you think the puppy was worth." 



" Just so," said Bill Long ; " I was going to tell 

 ye. We were out one day, when Sir William Codring- 

 ton, he says, says he to me, says he. Bill — " " Stop !" 

 again roared the Court, " we have nothing to do with 

 Sir William Codrington." It was useless though; 

 Long Avould tell them the tale in his own way, or not 

 at all ; so I was then called to give evidence on the 

 hound's value. 



I said that if the young hound was such as was 

 described to me, full-grown and handsome, and over 

 the distemper, and fit to join the pack for entry, he 

 must be worth, to his master, not less than twenty 

 pounds, or more. On this, Serjeant Talfourd, who 

 was for the defence, stared, and, in cross-exami- 

 nation, asked me "how I arrived at the value of the 

 animal?" My reply was, " through what I knew it 

 to cost a master of hounds to breed it ; the numbers 

 that die ; and the numbers that fall short in figure, 

 and the few that are fit to ' enter.' " Talfourd ap- 

 peared satisfied, and no other question was asked me, 

 when the jury found for the plaintiff. The amount 

 of damage I do not remember. 



I also sent a quiet, line-hunting, inoffensive bitch, 



