SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



Peter Beckford is not less precise with regard 

 to the qualities that should distinguish the hunts- 

 man : — 



He should be young, strong, active, bold, and 

 enterprising ; fond of the diversion, and indefatigable 

 in the pursuit of it : he should be sensible and good- 

 tempered ; he ought also to be sober : he should be 

 exact, civil, and cleanly ; he should be a good horse- 

 man and a good groom : his voice should be strong 

 and clear ; and he should have an eye so quick, as to 

 perceive which of his hounds carries the scent when 

 all are running ; and should have so excellent an ear, 

 as always to distinguish the foremost hounds when he 

 does not see them ; he should be quiet, patient, and 

 without conceit. Such are the excellencies which 

 constitute a good huntsman : he should not, however, 

 be too fond of displaying them till necessity calls 

 them forth : he should let his hounds alone whilst 

 they can hunt, and he should have genius to assist 

 them when they cannot. 



Of the value of view halloos he gives the 

 following amusing instances : — 



My hounds being at a long fault, a fellow halloo'd 

 to them from the top of a rick at some distance off. 

 The huntsman, as you may believe, stuck spurs to his 

 horse, halloo'd till he was almost hoarse, and got to 

 the man as quickly as he could : the man still kept 

 hallooing, and, as the hounds got near him, ' Here,' 

 said he, ' here — here the fox is gone.' ' Is he far 

 before us ? ' cried the huntsman. ' How long ago 

 was it that you saw him ? ' ' No, master, I have not 

 seen him ; but I smelt him here this morning, when 

 I came to serve my sheep.' 



Other instances were as follows : — 



We were trying with some deer-hounds for an out- 

 lying stag, when we saw a fellow running towards us 

 in his shirt : we immediately concluded that we 

 should hear some news of the stag, and set out joy- 

 fully to meet him. Our first question was. If he had 

 seen the stag ? ' No, Sir, I have not seen him, but 

 my wife dreamt as how she saw him t'other night.' 



Once a man halloo'd us back a mile, only to tell 

 «s that we were right before, and we lost the fox 

 ■by it. 



A gentleman, seeing his hounds at fault, rode up to 

 a man at plough, and with great eagerness asked him. 

 If he had seen the fox ? ' The fox. Sir ? ' ' Yes, 

 •d — n you, the fox I did you never see a fox?' 'Pray, 

 Sir, if I may be so bould, what sort of a looking 

 •creature may he be ? Has he short ears and a long 

 tail ? ' ' Yes.' ' Why, then, I can assure you. Sir, 1 

 have seen no such thing.' 



To the field Peter Beckford gives excellent 

 advice which might well be taken to heart in 

 modern hunting days. He says : — 



Few gentlemen will take any pains ; few of them 

 ■will stop a hound, though he should run riot close 

 beside them ; or will stand quiet a moment, though 

 it be to halloo a fox. It is true, they will not fail to 

 halloo if he should come in their way ; and they will 

 do the same to as many foxes as they see. Some will 

 encourage hounds which they do not know ; this is a 

 great fault. Were every gentleman who follows 

 .hounds to fancy himself a huntsman, what noise, 



what confusion, would ensue ! I consider many of 

 them as gentlemen riding out ; and I am never so 

 well pleased as when I see them ride home again. 

 You may perhaps have thought that I wished them 

 all to be huntsmen — most certainly not : but the 

 more assistants a huntsman has, the better, in all prob- 

 ability, his hounds will be. Good sense and a little 

 observation will soon prevent such people from doing 

 amiss ; and I hold it as an almost invariable rule in 

 hunting that those who do not know how to do good 

 are always liable to do harm. There is scarcely an 

 instant during a whole chase when a sportsman ought 

 not to be in one particular place ; and I will venture 

 to say that if he be not there he might as well be in 

 his bed. 



But we must leave Mr. Beckford and get ' forrard 

 on.' 



Mr. Phelips, history records, kept hounds at 

 Cattistock, Mr. Chafyn Grove had some at Wad- 

 don about 1768. Sir Granby Calcraft had his 

 hounds at Rempstone, and the Right Hon. John 

 Calcraft kept some at Puddletown about 1790. 

 The Lulworth Hounds were kept by the Welds 

 in Purbeck and hunted from 1790 till 18 10. 

 Amongst others who have kept hounds in the 

 county was George IV, who when Prince of 

 Wales, hunted from Crichel about 1 800, keep- 

 ing the hounds at Puddletown. Mr. Yeatman 

 and Mr. Hall hunted a great deal of what is 

 now the Blackmore Vale country. During their 

 time ' Billy Butler,' who was rector ofFrampton, 

 flourished and became a great friend of the 

 prince. Mr. Butler was a great character, and 

 many are the stories related of him. His 

 friendship with his royal highness commenced in 

 the hunting field under the following circum- 

 stances. After a long, fruitless draw, someone 

 pointed Mr. Butler out to the prince, as a man 

 who knew the haunt of every fox in the district, 

 and being brought forward the rector advised that 

 a certain gorse near at hand should be drawn. 

 After hounds had been through it and no fox found, 

 great disappointment was expressed, but Billy But- 

 ler was not defeated. Going up to the huntsman, 

 he inquired which was the surest fox-finder 

 in the pack. A hound named Trojan was 

 pointed out. After making friendly overtures 

 to this hound, he took him boldly up in his 

 arms, struggled with him into the middle of the 

 gorse, and after a little trouble got him to put 

 his nose down. A slight whimper, then a deep 

 note told the field the parson was right, and^^oon 

 the whole pack were full cry on the line of a 

 fine fox, which had lain close in the very thickest 

 part of the gorse. This greatly pleased the 

 Prince of Wales, and the friendship commenced 

 thus favourably grew until Mr. Butler was a 

 welcome guest at Crichel. Among many amus- 

 ing incidents recorded of him it is said that the 

 prince wishing to give him a present, told him 

 to go into the stable and take any horse he 

 fancied. Delighted with this offer, 'Billy' 

 picked out a shapely chestnut and rode off with 



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