THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 391 



thu world, as well as others of all descriptions. The 

 management of a field is no easy task, and, in one respect, 

 resembles that of a community. In reference to the 

 latter, a celebrated Roman historian, Dion Cassius, says 

 ' The times are bad when men are not permitted to do 

 what they please, and worse when they are permitted to 

 do everything they please.' Thus it is with men who 

 attend hounds ; they must be kept within some bounds, 

 and in the mode of doing it lies the difficulty. As ' a soft 

 answer turneth away wrath,' so, perhaps, a gentle rebuke 

 to a too-forward rider, at certain times, has more effect 

 than a coarser expression. The more popular a master of 

 foxhounds is, the better sport will he have, because every- 

 one will endeavour to promote it I should, perhaps, 

 rather have said, no one will wilfully mar it. As, 

 however, next to destroyers of foxes, the greatest spoilers 

 of sport are hard but injudicious riders, if ever you have 

 occasion to address them, you might avail yourself of 

 the following words, from the pen of an eminent sports- 

 man : 



"'A good sportsman will, as often as possible, ride 

 parallel with the pack, not after them, unless, by short 

 turns, he is obliged to do otherwise ; by these means he 

 can see everything that is going on, and anticipate the 

 probable cause of the hounds coming to a fault. For 

 example, a village, a farmhouse, a team at plough, men at 

 work, sheep, and, above all, cattle, are the things most 

 likely to impede the scent. When any of these objects 

 present themselves in the face of hounds, you may then 

 anticipate a check, and by pulling up your horse, and 

 observing which way the pack inclined before the check, 

 their huntsman will be able to hold them on in the most 

 likely direction to hit off the scent again.' And you 

 yourself, as huntsman, will obtain a lesson here. If 

 casting is necessary, you should be directed by the pace 

 or degree of scent which you brought to the place where 

 your hounds threw up ; for if you came quickly, and 

 your hounds are not blown (be sure attend to that), you 

 make a quick cast in the direction towards which they 

 were inclining, by forming a small circle first, and a 

 larger one afterwards, if you are not successful with the 

 first ; but if your hounds are blown, you should invariably 

 cast them very quietly, and hold them back, for when 

 hounds have run hard for a long way, they lose their 



