78 SECOND DIVISION OF THE 



sport cannot be said to begin until October, but the two preceding months 

 are important and busy ones. a 



" It would appear, then," says Nimrod, "that the breeding of a pack 

 of fox-hounds, bordering on perfection, is a task of no ordinary difficulty. 

 The best proof of it is to be found in the few sportsmen that have succeeded 

 in it. Not only is every good quality obtained if possible, but every im- 

 perfection or fault is avoided. The highest virtue in a fox-hound is his 

 being true to the line his game has gone, and a stout runner at the end of 

 the chace. He must also be a patient hunter when there is a cold scent 

 and the pack is at fault." 



While there is no country in the world that can produce a breed of 

 horses to equal the English thorough-bred in his present improved state, 

 diere are no dogs like the English fox-hound for speed, scent, and con- 

 tinuance. It would seem as if there were something in the climate 

 favourable and necessary to the perfection of the hound. Packs of them 

 have been sent to other countries, neighbouring and remote ; but they have 

 usually become more or less valueless. 



As regards the employment of the voice and the horn when out with 

 hounds, too much caution cannot be used. A hound should never be 

 cheered unless we are perfectly convinced that he is right, nor rated unless 

 we are sure that he is wrong. When we are not sure of what is going on 

 we should sit still and be silent. A few moments will possibly put us in 

 possession of all that we wish to know. b 



The horn should only be used on particular occasions, and a huntsman 

 should speak by his horn as much as by his voice. Particular notes should 

 mean certain things, and the hounds and the field should understand the 

 language. We have heard some persons blowing the horn all the day long, 

 and the hounds have become so careless as to render it of no use. When a 

 hound first speaks in cover to a fox, you may, if you think it necessary, use 

 one single and prolonged note to get the pack together. The same note 

 will do at any time to call up a lost or loitering hound ; but, when the fox 

 breaks cover, then let your horn be marked in its notes : let it sound as 

 if you said through it, " Gone away ! gone away ! gone away ! away ! 

 away ! away ! " dwelling with full emphasis on the last syllable. Every 

 hound will fly from the cover the moment he hears this, and the sportsmen 

 and the field will know that the fox is away. 



It is the perfection of the horse, and the perfection of the hound, and 

 the disregard of trifling expense, that has given to Englishmen a partiality 

 for field-sports, unequalled in any other country. Mr. Ware's pack of 

 fox-hounds cost 2,000 guineas, and the late Lord Middleton gave the same 

 to Mr. Osbaldeston for ten couples of his hounds. 



a Beckford's Thoughts on Hunting, p. 95. running, and an ear so excellent as to dis- 

 b Mr. Beckford gives the following ex- tinguish the leading hounds when he does 

 cellent account of what a huntsman should not see them. He should be quiet, pa- 

 be : " A huntsman should be attached tient, and without conceit. Such are the 

 to the sport, and indefatigable, young, qualities which constitute perfection in a 

 strong, active, bold, and enterprising in huntsman. He should not, however, be 

 the pursuit of it. He should be sensible, too fond of displaying them until called 

 good-tempered, sober, exact, and cleanly forth by necessity ; it being a peculiar and 

 a good groom and an excellent horseman. distinguishing trait in his character to let 

 His voice should be strong and clear, with his hounds alone while they thus hunt, 

 an eye so quick as to perceive which of and have genius to assist them when they 

 his hounds carries the scent when all are cannot." Beckford on Hunting, Letter ix. 



