1 2 The Gamekeeper at Home. 



rambles for hours together, dignity must unbend now 

 and then, however great the social difference between 

 them ; and thus a man of strong individuality and a 

 really valuable gift of observation insensibly guides 

 his master. 



Passing across the turnips, the landlord, who 

 perhaps never sees his farms save when thus crossing 

 them with a gun, remarks that they look clean and 

 free from weeds ; whereupon the keeper, walking 

 respectfully a little in the rear, replies that so-and-so, 

 the tenant, is a capital farmer, a preserver of foxes 

 and game, but has suffered from the floods — a reply 

 that leads to inquiries, and perhaps a welcome reduc- 

 tion of rent. On the other hand, the owner's atten- 

 tion is thus often called to abuses. In this way an 

 evilly-disposed keeper may, it is true, do great 

 wrongs, having access to the owner and, in familiar 

 phrase, 'his ear.' I am at present delineating the 

 upright keeper, such as are in existence still, notwith- 

 standing the abuse lavished upon them as a class — 

 often, it is to be feared, too well deserved. It is not 

 difficult to see how in this way a man whose position 

 is lowly may in an indirect way exercise a powerful 

 influence upon a large estate. 



He is very ' great ' on dogs (and, indeed, on all 

 other animals) ; his opinion is listened to and taken 



