Cub-hunting a Useful Preparation. 437 



The best preparation for fox-hunting, and the best introduction to "the noble science," 

 is cub-hunting, which begins very early in the mornings of September with every hunt that 

 has woodland covers. At cub-hunting, riding a clever cob or even pony, the novice has an 

 opportunity of acquiring a vast deal of useful knowledge, by studying the refinements of 

 fox-hunting before breakfast. While getting himself into condition, he can learn from the 

 enthusiasts, who only are to be met with at that hour, much that must be overlooked in a 

 knot of fashionable " thrusters." The huntsman is out to teach his young hounds, from the 

 example of his old ones, their duty. There is no competition for the start, riding is a 

 secondary consideration. Woodlands have to be threaded at some expense of rents and 

 tears in the old shooting-jacket. Blind gaps have to be slowly negotiated and stiles jumped 

 standing. If by exception there is a burst of ten minutes after an "old customer" or precocious 

 cub, there is no one to record or observe feats of horsemanship. It is quite a case of Fox 

 et praterea nihil. Therefore, I solemnly adjure young fellows anxious to become real fox- 

 hunters not to neglect their cub-hunting. If conveniently near Exmoor with stag-hounds 

 and fox-hounds it is a way of getting into condition not to be neglected, although not 

 worth travelling a long distance with horses to get there. 



GOING TO COVER. 



The first lesson to be impressed upon the young sportsman about to meet the hounds 

 for the first time is that what he wears, what he rides, and what he does in the hunting-field 

 is not a matter of the slightest consequence to any one except himself In a meet of fox- 

 hounds in a fashionable country he will be as much lost in the crowd as any stranger in 

 Rotten Row at one o'clock in the height of the season. 



In one of Lord Palmerston's letters, he says, referring to the preparations of special 

 ambassadors sent, over to attend the coronation of Queen Victoria, " They will most of them 

 be disappointed, for fine coaches, fine horses, and fine liveries, excite the attention of no one 

 in London except coachmen, grooms, and coach-builders." 



It is the same in the hunting-field. A young man turned out regardless of expense, and 

 in the best taste, will at the utmost extort a few compliments from chambermaids, boots, 

 and the red-coated, barefooted gate-openers attached to the hunt, dependent on casual half- 

 crowns. The majority of a Leicestershire field take " correctness " as a matter of course ; 

 while those who do think anything at all of coats and boots are too much occupied with their 

 own get-up to notice that of " a young stranger." 



In county hunts, where a few local squires and farmers form the field, anything unusual 

 on the side of " swelldom " in dress excites prejudice against the wearer, unless he shows 

 himself able to hold his own in the first real run. 



The advice given to the groom who had married a lady, to " wear a black coat and hold 

 your tongue," is not bad for the young sportsman in his first season — the silence applying 

 to idle questions or wild " tally-ho-ing," not implying that sulky silence when addressed by 

 strangers which some cantankerous fools take for dignity. 



There are several ways of going to meet hounds, all good in their way and in their turn. 

 Where the horseman's weight is not over eleven stone, and the distance is not over ten miles, 

 a hunter will be rather benefited than otherwise by being ridden to the meet at an alternate 

 brisk walk and slow trot. This is the practice of some of the very best sportsmen, who, with 

 less than half a dozen hunters decline to keep any horses that are, at any rate, if not first- 

 rate hacks, safe on the road. But the plan will not do for unpunctual languid lie-a-beds, like 



