THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 349 



wise on his road to dine and sleep at a friend's house. It 

 happened that, as his own house was four miles from the 

 kennel from which the hounds had started, he did not 

 travel in their line for a certain portion of the road ; but, 

 knowing that he must cross it at a certain point, he 

 pushed on his hack, to enable him to get ahead of them. 

 When, however, they came into that part of the road 

 over which he had just gone before them, despite of the 

 endeavours of the whip to restrain them, every hound in 

 the pack started off, and overtook him in the space of a 

 mile. Neither could their joy on reaching him be re- 

 strained ; they surrounded his horse, and one actually 

 leaped on his quarters, for the purpose of licking his 

 huntsman's face." 



There was another eminent sportsman in that country, 

 whom Frank Raby was anxious to see, and that pleasure 

 was afforded him. This was Sir Charles Knightly, one 

 of the most fearless and determined horsemen of the 

 period to which we allude. On two thorough-bred horses 

 Benvolio and St. Maronel which he rode for several 

 seasons, he went straighter, perhaps, than any other man 

 over the country in which he hunted, and which was one 

 of the strongest in England as to fences, and this fact is 

 confirmed by the following declaration on his part. On 

 some one observing, in his presence, that the country in 

 which he hunted was very strong, but that the difficulty 

 of crossing it was, to a certain extent, lessened by the 

 number of bridle-gates, he coolly replied, that the only 

 fault he found with it was in the number of bridle and other 

 gates with which it abounded. " I wish," said he, " every 

 gate in the country was nailed up, and then my hounds 

 would not be incommoded by the crowd." He was not 

 a master of hounds at the period to which we allude, so 

 that our hero had not an opportunity of observing him in 

 that capacity, but he took several lessons from him in the 

 practice of riding to hounds. 



" The straightest road is the best and easiest for your 

 horse," he would say, " until the hounds turn, when you 

 should always get a point in your favour, by being a little 

 beforehand with them at that moment." 



Then a great treat was afforded to our young sportsman, 

 in witnessing a day with Mr. Musters, in the very celebrated 

 woodlands of the country his hounds hunted. Strange to 

 say, they are dissected by avenues to the extent of seventy 



