176 HUNTING. 



on the other hand, without such reh'ef might be made something 

 of, ' only in his pace and natural motions he will be fantastical, 

 forgetful, and uncertain.' Then, for the shape : 



His head should be somewhat long, lean, and large, with a 

 spacious wide chaule, both thin and open ; his ear if it be short and 

 sharp, it is best, but if it be long and upright, it is a sign of speed 

 and good mettle. His forehead long and rising in the midst, the 

 feather thereof standing above the top of his eye ; his eyes full and 

 round ; his nostrils wide and without rawness ; his mouth large and 

 hairy ; his thropple within his chaule as much as a man can grip 

 and by no means fleshly or so closed with fatness, that a man can 

 hardly find it (as many fine-shaped horses are), the setting on of his 

 head to his neck would be strong, but thin, so as a man may put 

 his hand betwixt his neck and his chaule, and not bull-crag-like, 

 thick and full, that one cannot easily discern where his chap lieth ; 

 his crest strong and well-risen ; his neck straight, firm, and as it 

 were of one piece with his body and not (as my countrymen say) 

 withy-cragged, which is loose and pliant. The thropple or nether 

 part of the neck, which goes from the underchaps to the breast, 

 should, when the horse reineth, be straight and even, not bending 

 like a bow, which is called cock-throttled and is the greatest sign of 

 an ill-wind. If the nether-chaps, and that nether part of the neck 

 also be full of long hair, and bearded down to the setting on of the 

 breast, it is a sign of much swiftness : a broad strong breast, a 

 short chin, an out rib, a well-hidden belly, short and well-knit 

 joints, flat legs exceeding short, straight and upright pasterns, which 

 is a member above all others to be noted ; his hoofs both black and 

 strong, yet long and narrow ; and for his mane and tail, the thinner 

 the more spirit, the thicker the greater sign of dulness ; to be (as 

 some term it) sickle-houghed behind, that is somewhat crooked in the 

 gambrel joint, as hares and greyhounds are, is not amiss, though it 

 be a little eyesore. And for my own part I have seen many good 

 which have borne that proportion. 



Of course the hunter of those days, and of days very nluch 

 later, was an altogether different sort of animal from that in vogue 

 with us. The hunter as we know him now may be said to have 

 come in with the century, just as the style of hunting now 

 practised came in. ' Nimrod,' who had some knowledge of the 

 old order as well as the new, writes thus of the changes the 



