LETTER X. 107 



words. The expectations and convenience of the ma- 

 jority of your field should not be sacrificed to accommo- 

 date ever so great a man, and I never would wait more 

 than half-an-hour for any individual, her most Gracious 

 Majesty alone being excepted. 



Upon one occasion I gave mortal offence to a great 

 duke, or rather, I should say, to his toadies, by not wait- 

 ing beyond a certain time, when he was expected to 

 honour my fixture with his presence. I certainly gave 

 him a very reasonable allowance of time, and at last, his 

 servant expressing a doubt of his coming at all, I com- 

 menced drawing, but in the direction he was expected. 

 There were one or two despicable sycophants out, how- 

 ever, who represented my conduct as an intentional dis- 

 respect to him, and the seeds of animosity were thus sown 

 by these artful knaves to suit their own purposes, which 

 afterwards produced a pretty good harvest of discord 

 throughout the country. 



In going to the place of meeting, the first whipper-in 

 should be some distance before the hounds ; the second 

 a long way behind them. Some huntsmen like to have 

 the hounds cooped up, as it were, all around them. It 

 looks better to see hounds in a compact body, but it is, 

 in my opinion, very objectionable to keep them under 

 such unnecessary restraint and discipline. They will, 

 when let loose from the huntsman's presence, then begin 

 to find themselves at liberty, and like boys just out of 

 school, run riot. Confidence in the huntsman begets con- 

 fidence in the hounds. This I have seen exemplified in 

 many instances. Hounds which are continually kept in, 

 and harassed by whippers-in, are seldom steady when left 

 to themselves, and out of the reach of the whip. 



