SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 435 



the fidelity and services of an old and well-tried 

 servant. To send such a one from his home, to be buf- 

 feted and knocked about by strangers and foreigners 

 in another land, is a blot — a crimson one — on the 

 escutcheon of any foxhunter, which nothing can 

 wipe out. 



" Poor old fellow ! put him out of his misery ! " 

 which means, give him a charge of powder and shot 

 through his honest old heart ; a dose of strychnine 

 to paralyse those limbs for ever which have now 

 grown slow in his master's service ; or a blow from 

 the feeder's poleaxe to knock out those brains by 

 the aid of which the pack has been so often led on 

 to victory. Although not particularly thin-skinned 

 or over soft-hearted, we have ever borne in mind 

 that golden maxim — '^ Justice extends to the brute 

 creation; '' and we should as placidly think of com- 

 mitting suicide upon our propriam personam as of 

 handing over a faithful horse or hound to be pole- 

 axed or Calcrafted. 



There may be a deal of fanciful imagination 

 entering into our mind when indulging such ex- 

 ploded sentiments ; perhaps we may be accused of 

 entertaining monomaniacal and eccentric notions 

 upon this subject. It is not the custom or fashion 

 of the day to exhibit feeling for anybody or any- 

 thing save our noble selves. Loving your neighbour 

 as yourself is regarded as a silly phantasy, origi- 

 nating in some weak-minded mortal, not as the 

 imperative command of the " Most High." 



The life of a foxhound is a hard one — the life of 

 a hunter still harder. The first has to cater for 



