rox-iir>-TiNo.] rOit MO U:s TAi.N, TiLLD, A^D TAii-M. [iox-uumu.so. 



ro:ul, and was Ihon viewodbyaman doad bont, cieiitly pricked by tliorns, briars, and Rorse, 

 and just iiKma"t'd to roacli his pi)iiit — a drain | cret-p out for a lew Bcconds buforu him, than — 

 at the foot of the Held, close to tho viUai^o of 'Angola and niinislera of graco defend u« I' — 

 Le8tnaha"o. Up caiuo tho huntsman, who , tho young horso pricks up his t-ars, Blares 

 rode biilliantlv i» sp'te of tho chapter of acoi- , intently at him, hulils liia brealli, and, with a 

 dents- and afterwards up came some of the; heart beating so hard that it may be not only 

 "good men and true," their nags looking j heard but felt by tliy rider, ho breaks out into 



awfully beaten and pumped out. Tho scent 

 had been burning ; the pace had been killing ; 

 and tho time was half-au-hour of as brilliant a 

 thing as had ever been seen in tho Carnwath 

 countrv. It would bo invidious to particu- 

 larise who most distinguished himself iu this 

 remarkably fast and brilliant run. Let 

 his laurels rest with him; but gallantry de- 

 mands that a tribute be paid to tho bold 

 riding of a lady well known with these hounds. 

 AVhile the lucky sportsmen, who had managed 

 to come up in the meantime, were taking ad- 

 vantage of the close vicinity of Lesmahago, to 

 procure refreshment for exhausted nature, the 

 gallant pack were endeavouring to dislodge 

 revnard from his temporary retreat in the 

 drain, which having succeeded iu doing, he 

 bolted, and, after holding out for ten minutes, 

 he was run into and killed in the streets of 

 Lesmahago, among some children at play ; thus 

 aflbrding the most satisfactory of all ends, iu a 

 sportsman's eyes, to a fine run. The distance 

 traversed during the run was not less than 

 between eight and nine miles, which, con- 

 sidering the time taken, was about the fastest 

 feat that can be done with hounds. 



In this exciting sport it is truly beautiful to 

 see the spirit and eagerness manifested by the 



a perspiration, which, on the a[)])earanco of a 

 i'ew more hounds, turns into a foam as white 

 as soapsuds. On an old hound — by a single 

 deep tone, instantaneously certified by a sharp, 

 shrill, resolute voice of the huntsman — an- 

 nouncing to creation that the one little animal, 

 which so many bigger ones have been so good 

 as to visit, is ' at home,' the young horse paws 

 the ground; if restrained, evinces a sliglit dis- 

 position to rear; until, by the time the whole 

 pack — encouraged by the cheery cry, ' Have at 

 him' — in full chorus have struck up their band 

 of music, he appears to have become almost 

 ungovernable, and is evidently outrageously 

 anxious to do — he knows not what ; and, ac- 

 cordingly, when a sudden shriek, scream, or, 

 as the Irish term it, ' screech,' rather than a 

 holloa, from the opposite side of the covert 

 briefly announces, as by a telegram, the 

 joyous little word ' away,' suiting his action to 

 it, ' away' the young horse often bolts with his 

 rider, just as likely 'away' from the houuds as 

 with them. If he follows them, infuriated by 

 ardour, which neither he nor his rider has 

 power to control, he looks at nothing, thinks 

 of nothing, until, at full speed, coming to, say, 

 a stifl:" fence, he disdains to rise at, a lesson is 

 oltered to him which, however, he is a great 



young horse when he first feels, as it were by , deal too much excited to learn by heart ; and 

 instinct, the nature of the duty he is about to I so, before his rider has had time enough to 



be engaged in. In The Horse and his Eider, 

 by Sir Francis Head, Bart., wo have this 

 subject graphically narrated. " AV'hen a young 

 horse," he says, "that has never seen a hound. 



uncoil himself Irom his roll, the 'young 'un,' 

 without a thought or disposition to wait for 

 the old gentleman, leaves him on tho ground 

 to think about the hounds ; while, with dangling 



is ridden up, for the first time in his life, not stirrups, reins hanging loose on his neck, and 



to a meet, at which the whole pack are to be 

 seen, but merely to the side of a covert, which, 

 hidden from view, they are drawing, it might 

 reasonably be conceived that, under such cir- 

 cumstances, he could not have an idea of the 

 past, present, or future proceedings — we mean 

 where they had come from, what they were 

 doing, or what tliey were going to do. How- 

 ever, no sooner does a hound, from laziness, or 

 possibly from feeling that he has been suffi- 



outstretehed neck and tail, he is once again 

 ' up and at 'em.' " 



The animal which excites this interest, and 

 calls forth all the energies of both the English 

 sportsman and his horse, is the common fox, the 

 representative of the sub-genus Vulpes, charac- 

 terised by a linear pupil, and along bushy tail, 

 and too well known to need a minute descrip- 

 tion. This w ily animal is common in our island, 

 and iu most parts of Europe, extending into 



410 



