THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 23 



" I hunt with you to-morrow, papa," said Frank to his 

 father, as soon as he had made his escape from what he 

 called " Egerton's botheration about Hannibal and Cicero." 

 " I hope we shall find as good a buck hare as that which 

 Mr. Gibbon's shepherd soho'd for us the last time we met 

 at the same place." " Frank," said Mr. Raby, " I must 

 now be your tutor, and, in this instance, can do more for 

 you than Mr. Egerton. You have made use of two terms 

 not used in hare-hunting, and it becomes every person to 

 adapt their language to their subject. A male hare, in 

 hunting, is called a jack hare ; and the word tan-ta-ra, 

 not soho, denotes one espied in its form. The terms you 

 have applied are peculiar to coursing." 



About a mile from the place of meeting Frank over- 

 takes the hounds, and the following interesting colloquy 

 occurs : 



Huntsman (touching his cap). " Good morning, Master 

 Francis ; glad to see you out, sir. Rodney looks in high 

 feather ; you'll beat us all to-day." 



Frank. " No, Dick ; there is no beating you on old 

 Clodhopper, with his ugly lop ears. How you set them 

 all the last time, over the Barnsly brook ! " 



Dick (smiling). " Well, sir ; but you saw a good deal 

 of the run ; now can you give us any account of it ? for 

 I sadly want to make you a sportsman. As for Master 

 Raby, it's no use thinking of him : he's so terribly fond 

 of books, flowers, pictures, and such-like trumpery, that 

 he takes no delight in field sports. Then, again, that 

 tutor does him no good, making him believe he is to be 

 a great scholard and a parliament man at last. For my 

 part, I don't like those parliament gentlemen. I lived 

 with one once ; and just as the best part of the hunting 

 began about a month after Christmas, when we had 

 such large fields that I sometimes got a hat full of half- 

 crowns after a good run away went he to parliament, 

 and away went half my field as well." 



Frank. " I had rather be a master of foxhounds, than 

 member for the county, Dick would not you? And, 

 Dick, why does not papa keep foxhounds instead of these 

 harriers ? They tell me that six more horses, and a few 

 more couples of hounds than he now has, would do ; 

 and I am sure you could hunt fox as well as you do 

 hare." 



Dick. "Your papa will never keep foxhounds, sir. 



