34 THE HUNTING FIELD 



fifty twice ; but, if he give a hundred, he may halloo 

 all day long. 



Hunt subscriptions are as difficult to realise as the 

 assets of a bankrupt tommy shopkeeper. Unless 

 there is a huge nest egg to start with, it is weary up- 

 hill work trying to keep a pack of hounds by what 

 the hospital people call "voluntary contributions." 

 Voluntary contributions, forsooth ! We read in the 

 " Old Sporting Magazine," that, at a fashionable Spa, 

 a poor laundress had been mulct of her few shillings 

 towards the keep of what brought the white breeches 

 to her tub. This is not as it should be. Much as w^e 

 desire to uphold hunting, yet we must advocate its 

 support on proper gentlemanly principles. Better 

 knock-off a day a-week than resort to such means. If 

 such expedients are had recourse to, at idle, money- 

 spending watering-places, what can we expect from 

 the hard money-getting penury of the country. 



Some people may suppose that a Mastership of 

 Hounds is fulfilled with the mere home and field 

 management, but such is very far from being the case. 

 A Master of Hounds exercises no small influence on 

 the manners, we might almost say, the morals of a 

 country, as well by his own example as by the style 

 of people his management brings about him. Man- 

 kind are prone to imitation — young men, especially ; 

 and a Master of Hounds is of all others the most 

 likely for them to look up to. 



" He who excels in what we prize, 

 Appears a hero in our eyes." 



If the Master is what may be termed a show fox- 

 hunter — a dandified petit maitre — he will have every 

 chance of making the field the same, for many will be 

 glad to add what we may call the "impotence of 

 dress " to the general attractions of the red coat. If 

 the Master is a coarse, swearing, overbearing fellow, 

 his companions will be the same : for there is no 



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