LETTER X. 101 



I was often asked, when I had made my fixtures at 

 certain places, the line I intended to draw, but my reply 

 generally was, that I could give no positive information, 

 as so much depended upon circumstances over which I 

 had no control, as for instance, our running into any of 

 those coverts before the day fixed, the quarter the wind 

 might be in, &c. &c. Occasionally, to oblige gentlemen 

 who came from a long distance, I have departed from 

 this rule, but, as a general practice, it is the best plan 

 for a master of hounds to keep his own counsel, and not 

 pledge himself beforehand to any particular line, which, 

 when the time arrives, it may be most inconvenient for 

 him to pursue. There are, however, exceptions to most 

 general rules, and it is sometimes necessary to break 

 through our pre-concerted plans to satisfy the com- 

 plaints of farmers, or suit the convenience of some 

 staunch patron of the noble science, by going out of our 

 way to draw a particular covert which they may be 

 anxious to see drawn. There are many tricks played 

 upon masters of hounds, and sometimes the day's sport 

 delayed or spoiled, by acceding too often to such appa- 

 rently reasonable requests, but which may be dictated 

 only by the most selfish motives. I have been made 

 the tool, or rather the fool of sometimes, to drive the 

 game from one man's preserve into another's. Farmers 

 also have taken me away to avoid having some particular 

 field trodden by the horsemen, so that such deviations 

 should be adopted with caution. He who tries to oblif^e 

 all will find himself in the same predicament as the old 

 man and his ass. 



There are, however, some few real sportsmen with 

 most packs of foxhounds, whose recommendation may 



