LETTER VIL 



A HUNTSMAN who is to be entrusted with the chief 

 direction and management of the pack, which is very 

 much the custom in the present day, I need scarcely re- 

 mark, should be a man of undoubted good character, and 

 strictly sober. He should be young, active, and intelli- 

 gent, with natural talent for his business; quick, without 

 •ever being in a hurry; quiet, but decisive. A good 

 horseman he of course must be. This does not mean a 

 hard harey starey rider, but one who, without distressing 

 his horse, can always be where he ought to be — with his 

 hounds. If he has a good voice so much the better ; but 

 a noisy fellow is my abomination. He should be a good 

 temper, and quiet with his hounds, giving them time 

 always to make their own cast good, before he attempts 

 to interfere. We must make all due allowances for the 

 excitement inseparably connected with a fox chase, and 

 it is therefore more requisite to have a man with a cool 

 head at that most critical period, the first check. I have 

 seen huntsmen so flurried at an unexpected check, that 

 they were all abroad, catching hold of the hounds in 

 their hurry, without allowing them time to make their 

 own cast, and carrying them off at once, to make a 

 scientific display of their miscalled genius. Others, who 

 are jealous of being overtaken when having a good start, 

 will commit the same blunder by over haste, and in try- 



