58 THE HUNTING FIELD 



Compare them, for instance, with jockeys, who 

 occupy a somew^hat similar position in the racing, to 

 what hound servants do in the hunting world. A 

 jockey gets his two or three guineas a race, winning 

 or losing, but if he wins a good stake for his employer, 

 there is no saying to what extent the delightful 

 delirium of the moment may induce a victorious 

 master to go. We have heard that Jem Robinson 

 got a thousand guineas for winning the Leger once, 

 but suppose it was only a hundred, what Huntsman 

 ever got a tithe of that for killing a fox ? A race is 

 but a momentary spasm compared to a hard run over 

 a difficult country, and the dangers of the one are 

 nothing compared to those of the other, but the 

 produce is oftentimes very different. It is not, how- 

 ever, for the purpose of making servants dissatisfied 

 with their places that we have made these observa- 

 tions ; on the contrary, we will remind them that 

 hunting, unlike racing, does not admit of money 

 making, consequently they must put down as no 

 small part of their perquisites the enjoyment they 

 themselves derive from the pleasures of the chase, 

 and remember that though some jockeys may get 

 large presents, yet their employment is precarious, and 

 that it is better to have the certainty of a Huntsman's 

 wages than the capricious windfalls of the uncertain 

 goddess, Fortune ; but we alluded to their pecuniary 

 position for the purpose of encouraging the custom 

 that has now almost entirely superseded the old one 

 of capping — namely, that of gentlemen making hunts- 

 men and hound servants presents apart from their 

 wages. Capping certainly had its advantages, but 

 perhaps its disadvantages preponderated. It added 

 interest to energy, and perhaps spurred what might 

 have been otherwise indolent men into activity, but it 

 encouraged mobbing and bag foxhunting, which are 

 both highly inimical to the chase. It is not killing 

 the animal that constitutes the charm of foxhunting, 



