396 KEMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN. 



home with a poorly-paid clergyman whom he met by 

 the way (for, indeed, kind reader, there are but too 

 many of those), they fell into conversation as to the 

 worth of the huntsman's place. 



" What, sir, do you give your huntsman," the 

 clergyman asked, " I dare say he has as much as I 



have?" 



" What should you think ?" rejoined the master of 

 hounds. 



" Why, perhaps," the clergyman replied, after some 

 consideration, " his place may be worth a hundred a 

 year." 



" More than that," said the master of the fox- 

 hounds, " one way or another he gets about three 

 hundred a year." 



"Goodness me, sir!" said the divine, "why, that 

 is double my pay ! " 



" Very likely," rejoined his companion, "but then 

 you must know we require a clever man for a hunts- 

 man, and any d — d fool does for a parson." 



It is odd, when you think of the fate of younger 

 brothers. A youth bred up from a child in the lap 

 of luxury ; sent to the best schools, or kept under a 

 private tutor at home, and then placed at Oxford or 

 Cambridge, where, from his birth and position in life, 

 he makes acquaintance with all the "tufts " and silver- 

 spooned men of his year, to go out at last into the 

 world on a profession. On what? On a living perhaps 

 of a couple of hundreds a year; and his fond but self- 

 deceiving parents assert " he is provided for." Why, 

 if that young man is to eat and drink, and clothe 

 himself so as not to be cut for a beggarly appearance 

 by his silver-spooned friends, and to have an occa- 

 sional penny in his pocket to relieve the deserving 



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