SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 151 



CHAPTER XIX. 



HUNTSMEN AND WHIPPERS-IN. 



Meal and meat — General practice of feeding opposed to the Author's 

 — Cravings of hunger — Long abstinence injurious — Huntsmen in 

 the field — Fine voice of secondary importance — More reliance on 

 hounds' noses than huntsman's head — Knowledge of country — 

 Line of foxes — Enterprising genius — Lifting hounds — Self-posses- 

 sion and decision — An eye to business — Beckford's opinion of 

 huntsman and first whipper-in — Qualifications of the latter — 

 Opportunities of assisting huntsman — Gone away ! 



A TOUCHY old gentleman, when asked by a friend 

 his reason for doing an act rather at variance with 

 the usages of genteel society, replied very testily, 

 " I never give any explanation of my conduct, 

 sir/' We have no desire to follow this elderly 

 gentleman's example by saying, stet 'pro ratione 

 voluntas. And as the observations we are led 

 to make on hunting and system of kennel are 

 intended to convey instruction to the uninitiated, 

 the mainspring of our actions must be revealed 

 and explained. In our last paper, the practice of 

 feeding hounds, or any other dogs, twice instead of 

 once only a day, was recommended from long 

 experience of its advantage over the common treat- 

 ment. In a state of nature, the carnivori make 

 but one meal in the twenty-four hours, which, 

 consisting of raw flesh and bones, requires rest and 

 several hours for digestion. They prey at night, 



