HORSES AND HOUNDS. 117 



on this liitlierto forbidden ground. They had laid a trap for 

 me, by taking me first to this hollow covert, but they were, like 

 some other clever people, caught themselves. When ready for 

 action, I coolly asked the old gentleman how long he wished 

 me to take in drawing this particular wood, as I would keep 

 the hounds there as long as he pleased, having intended them 

 to be at his own disposal the whole day. " Not longer than 

 necessary," he replied. As soon as the hounds were thrown 

 in, the wood seemed almost alive with game ; I never saw be- 

 fore or since such a quantity in so small a space, — the hares 

 rushed about like mad in all directions, running against each 

 other and the hounds, and one or two screamed out. " Halloo," 

 said the under-keeper, who was with me, " they have killed one 

 or two hares, I'm sure." " No," I said, " they have not ; it is 

 only your bellows-headed brutes trying to knock my hounds oif 

 their legs, and then crying out because they are hurt." After 

 searching in every direction, no dead hare, however, could be 

 found, and when I had let the hounds run over the whole 

 covert, every corner of it, I called them together, and brought 

 them all out. for their faces to be inspected, that any marks 

 of blood might be seen if they had offended. The old gentle- 

 man appeared satisfied, and the keepers looked blank. " Well," 

 he said, "you have won the day." "No, sir," I replied, "I 

 have only won half an hour yet — the day is yours, and your 

 keepers may catch us tripping before it is dark." "No," 

 he said, " that shall not be ; I like both your conduct and your 

 hounds too. Take your hounds home now, and if you have 

 nothing better to do, and can dispense with bachelor's fare, 

 come and dine with me tliis evening." I did so, and from that 

 time an intimacy subsisted between us until the day of his 

 death, which was deplored by all his acquaintances, rich and 

 poor, since, notwithstanding his partiality for game, he was as 

 kind and good-hearted a man as ever lived. Permission to 

 hunt his coverts was a passport also to others, and at public 

 coursing meetings and other places he always gave me and 

 my hounds a good character. 



Whether hounds are strictly steady or not, in these days, 

 is of little consequence. Fox-hunting is now established upon 

 a different footing. Public opinion with some men is every- 

 thing, and there is many a man who wishes fox-hunters and 

 hounds at the bottom of the sea, obliged to meet them with a 

 smile, and openly give orders to his keepers to preserve foxes. 

 His secret orders are another affair. 



Young hounds cannot have too much exercise ; they should 

 go several miles a day, in every direction roimd the kennel, to 



