HORSES AND HOUNDS. 67 



and for a particular purpose, that when you have servants your- 

 self, you may know, from experience, what is required of them, 

 and be able to tell them what to do, instead of their telling 

 you." Having experienced once or twice before the conse- 

 quences of lightly treating the " Laws of the Medes and Per- 

 sians," there was no alternative left but submission. Fond of 

 my pony, and fond of riding, I set to work with energy, and 

 scrubbed away until I was sometimes ready to cry with vexa- 

 tion at the little progress I made on his bear-like hide. Soon, 

 however, as a reward for my jDerseverance, a lad was given me 

 to assist in these labours ; and then, indeed, I was happy. 



You are not to infer from this early tuition that my father" 

 was a man of very limited income — quite the contrary ; but he 

 was (although the kindest and best of parents) one of the old 

 school, and a strict disciplinarian. He brought up his children 

 as the Spartans of old, to meet danger boldly, and to overcome 

 difficulties by perseverance. From childhood we were taught 

 to ride and disregard falls, and at ten years of age we had guns 

 put into our hands — puny weapons, indeed, and made for our 

 particular use. After a few lessons at priming and loading, and 

 firing at a mark, we were allowed to roam the fields and farm- 

 yard in quest of our game, separately^ never togetlier. Such was 

 the regulation issued from head quarters. Considerable havoc 

 was made among the sparrows, and a blackbird was looked 

 upon by such urchins as ourselves in the light of a blackcock. 



But I am rambling away from my subject. There is no ab- 

 solute necessity for a master of hounds being a good groom, 

 although there is for his being a good rider, if he intends to 

 hunt his own pack, and see the end as well as the beginnin^p 

 of a good run. He will never, however, neglect an opportunity 

 of acquiring knowledge, even in such a trivial matter as dress- 

 ing a horse, if he is a man of sense. 



I shall now proceed to instruct my tyro in everything that 

 relates to the kennel department, and as a first step we must 

 build a house before we can live in it. Many think anything 

 ■will do for hounds, or dogs, as they are often contemptuously 

 called, but as all our sport depends upon the health and strength 

 of the hound, the first consideration is a healthy kennel. This 

 should be placed upon some high and dry situation (all high^ 

 situations not being necessarily dry ones) ; the building should 

 face the south, and there should be no large trees near it. To 

 Jiunt three or four days a week you will require about forty 

 couples of hounds, according to the country. The lodging 

 rooms should be four in number, by which you will have _ a 

 dry floor for the hounds to go into every morning (the pack in 



F 2 



