72 MANAGEMENT OF HOUNDS. 



broken up by the death of his master. The huntsman 

 retired, and being very strongly urged by the new master 

 and the country gentlemen to hunt the hounds, he re- 

 luctanty complied, but his forebodings came true ; he 

 failed in his new situation as huntsman, and after a year's 

 trial gave it up in disgust, and retired upon his earnings. 

 This is not a solitary case. 



It has been asserted by Beckford, that a first whipper- 

 in should be able to hunt the hounds occasionally — in 

 fact, be a second huntsman. This 1 admit should be the 

 case, for a whipper-in, who has had many years' ex- 

 perience, and been looking on at the game so long, must 

 be a monstrous goose not to handle the cards at a pinch, 

 when the huntsman might, from accident or illness, be 

 unable to be at his post. 



I have known, however, a good deal of mischief done 



in a very short space of time by one of these would-be 



huntsmen ; it happened with my own hounds. From an 



accident I was laid up for about a month in the heart of 



the season, and of course my first whip was obliged (not 



very reluctantly, I fancied), to fill my place. He was 



one of the best men in that capacity I ever had, or almost 



ever knew, but too hasty and impatient to make a good 



huntsman, before he had cooled down a little. - The hard 



riders of my field were very fond of him, and in high 



glee (so much for gratitude) when they heard of my being 



laid on the shelf for some time, and master Jem to play 



first fiddle. *' Now," they said, '* we shall have it all 



our own way, with the Squire on his back, and Jem with 



the horn ; won't we have some clipping bursts, and no 



hold hards, with a kill in the open, after a twenty-five 



minutes !" 1 gave my whipper-in certain advice as to 



