SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 321 



neighbours over the water term a coup de main, 

 which cannot be Anglicised otherwise than as taking 

 hold of hounds — nay, lifting them on occasion. We 

 plead guilty to a love of mud-sucking, of beagling 

 without pattering, convinced that it leads to an 

 ultimate increase of pace — the pace that kills ; that 

 most haste is least speed ; and that hounds of the 

 present day, though bred faster, generally perform 

 a run slower than formerly, because their own 

 impetus, or that which barely follows or accompanies 

 them, drives them beyond scent. But we seek not 

 to effect revolution. The majority of the field are 

 satisfied, without further inquiry into causes. 

 'There is no scent, and till something changes 

 there can be no sport ; and as to talking of too 

 much haste — bosh ! ' On the very first day, when 

 by chance the pell-mell, harum-scarum, go-ahead 

 system succeeds, and a fox is galloped down, with 

 perhaps two or three couples on scent, finis coronat 

 opus, ' Bravo ! ^ they cry ; ' that's the time of day ! 

 Where should we have been with a huntsman a 

 turn slower than greased lightning ? ' ' Ah ! where ? * 

 we would answer ' where ? ' and where hounds would 

 eventually get to, if they could not sometimes bunt. 

 But the ruling motto is, 'Keep moving!^ Aye, 

 keep moving ! and so long as we do keep moving, 

 there may not possibly be a dozen of the field who 

 know or care what hounds are about. We repeat 

 that this paper is not penned with the slightest 

 hope of attracting the attention or effecting any 

 improvement in an uneducated class, who, with 

 the best intentions, and gifted with true love of the 



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