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CHAPTER XVI I L 



HUNTING. 



The Meltonian's Dream— Definition of Hunting— Hunter— Huntsman— Master— " The Field "—Hunting, Aristocratic and 

 Democratic — The Prince of Wales's Speech— Extracts from " Souvfuirs" of a French Sportsman— Hunting Fields Suited 

 to all Ages and Purses — Sports in Different Counties— Information for those who have never Hunted— Example of Assheton 

 Smith — Miscellaneous Character of "Tlie Field" — Anecdote of Bishop Wilberforce— Hunting Districts for Young or Old — 

 Masters of Hounds who Never Jump — Division — Fox- Hunting — Stag-Hunting — Hare-Hunting — Number of Packs Hunting 

 in England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland — The Due Precedence of Fox, Stag, or Hare Hounds— Stag-Hunting 

 Hard Riding, no Sport — Fox-Hunting both Sport and Hard Riding— Hare- Hunting, much Sport, little Riding— Shakespeare's 

 Notions of Hunting — Gervase Markham on "The Music of the Pack" — Ancient Packs of Foxhounds — The 

 Berkeley — The Brocklesby — Transformation of Barren Warrens to Turnip Fields — Somerville's Chase — Nicholas 

 Wood's Hunting Horse, i6S6— The Tarporley Club, by Warburton of Arley— Extracts from Rules and Minutes— Costume 

 —Change of— Fines— Drinking Habits— Taste in Art— The Club not Literary— Improved Agriculture Flourished with 

 Fox-Hunting — Mr. Pusey and Lord Yarborough's Tenants— How Found— Mrs. Beecher Stowe on Hunting— Washington 

 Irving of a Dififerent Opinion. 



" Select is the circle in which we are moving, 



Yet open and free the admission to all ; 

 Still, still more select is that company provincr, 



Weeded out by the funker and thinned by the fall 

 Yes, here all are equal — no clan legislation, 



No privilege hinders, no family pride ; 

 In the 'image of war' show the pluck of the nation, 



Ride young patrician, democracy ride."* 



" Hunting," in the language of the modern English sportsman, is riding after hounds in 

 pursuit of fox, stag, or hare ; the " hunter " generally means the horse, not the man. In 

 French, the word " c/iassc" means pursuing anything, from a lark to a wild boar, with 

 a gun, net, or hounds. The word had once nearly as wide a signification in English. 

 The huntsman means the artist who manages the hounds while hunting ; there is no 

 word to designate the man who rides after them for sport. Sportsman includes the fisher- 

 man and the shooting man. The word " Field " means the followers of the hounds as 

 distinguished from "the Master," "the Huntsman" who is sometimes the same person, 

 and " the whips." 



Fox-hunting is an important institution in the rural life of England : at once demo- 

 cratic and aristocratic. It is supported by the wealthy and noble ; it is followed by enthu- 

 siasts of every rank and of very humble means. In the hunting-field all distinctions are 

 levelled. The moment the hounds begin to run, he goes first and keeps first who can ; 

 and no one is expected to give precedence to any one, however noble or rich, except the 

 Huntsman and the Master of the Hounds. 



This peculiarly English character of our sport was never more happily hit oft" than in a 

 speech of the Prince of Wales, at a dinner given in 1874 to the farmers over whose fields 

 the Royal Buckhounds hunt. His Royal Highness said: — "Amongst the many dinners I 



* "The Meltonian's Dream." 



