272 MANAGEMENT OF HOUNDS. 



opinion is, that the "noble science" is so very simple 

 that the most ignorant can become perfect masters of it. 

 If that be the case, it is the only science to which a good 

 education, with corresponding talents, is not a recom- 

 mendation. If a thorough-bred horse can beat a half- 

 bred one, why is it that a gentleman, with a good edu- 

 cation, activity, and intelligence, should be considered 

 inferior to a servant ? 



The specimens we have had of gentlemen huntsmen, 

 though not very numerous, are sufficient to prove the 

 assertion of Mr. Delme Ratcliffe, who thus writes : — " I 

 will maintain that in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred — 

 1 might safely say in every case — where not only mental, 

 but an exertion of physical power is required, that blood 

 will tell" I might name several in the provinces, but 

 will select two only, from the grand country of the Mel- 

 tonians — Osbaldeston and Assheton Smith — the latter 

 still continuing up to the present time to show capital 

 sport almost every season, without intermission, in, I 

 was going to say, one of the worst hunting countries in 

 England, and I do not know that I am far from the 

 mark. He has, it is true, a pretty skurry every now 

 and then over the downs, and a few grass fields to cross 

 in the valleys occasionally. These are, however, few 

 and far between, but the little spinies he has to^draw, 

 such as the West Woods, Southgrove, Collingbourne 

 Woods, Doles, and Fackham, would any one of them be 

 sufiicient to scare away his most attached friend from the 

 grazing districts. 



It is not indispensable that a gentleman should always 

 feed his hounds, any more than a shooter should feed his 

 pointers, or a courser his greyhounds. Dogs soon dis- 



