HORSES AND HOUNDS. 147 



keep tliem under such unnecessary discipline. They will, when 

 let loose from the huntsman's presence, then begin to find them- 

 selves at liberty, and, like boys just out of school, run riot. Con- 

 fidence in the huntsman begets confidence in the hounds. This 

 I have seen exemplified in many instances. Hounds which are 

 continually kept in, and harassed by whippers-in, are seldom 

 steady when left to themselves, and out of the reach of the whip. 



I cannot too often impress upon huntsmen and their assist- 

 ants, that undue severity is not only shameful to those who 

 practise it, but always fails to ensure that willing obedience 

 upon which the steadiness and efficiency of a pack of fox-hounds 

 entirely depend. I was looking over a lot of hounds a short 

 time since, got together by a friend of mine, and there were no 

 less than three unentered hounds from one kennel, which had 

 each lost an eye. These hounds had been put forward to enter, 

 and been broken in before they came into my friend's posses- 

 sion. He and I both attributed the loss of their eyes, being all 

 gone on the same side, to the whip of some brute of a whipper- 

 in, who deserved to be nearly flayed himself. The manner in 

 which dogs and horses are treated by some miscreants, is a dis- 

 grace to liuman nature. The chief blame, however, rests with 

 masters, who will employ savages of this description. If one 

 gentleman is responsible to another for the conduct of his 

 servant, when insolent or guilty of reckless conduct, surely he 

 will be held responsible for that servant's cruelty to the dumb 

 animals entrusted to his care. One can generally form a toler- 

 ably accurate opinion of the master from the man. The servant 

 of a real gentleman — that is, one by principles and feelings a 

 gentleman, not by money and adventitious circumstances — will, 

 to a certain extent, reflect his master's character, well knowing 

 that his situation depends upon his proper deportment. Show 

 me the servants, and I can pretty well tell you the character of 

 the master. 



Time being called, and the coffee-housing business over, we 

 will now proceed to the business of the day. If possible, the 

 huntsman will of course draw up wind, save and except where 

 he has some very smaU spinneys or gorse coverts to draw, from 

 which a fox cannot get away without being seen — here he had 

 better give his fox every opportunity of finding the hounds 

 before they find him, or the chances are, that he wiU be chopped 

 before well upon his legs. 



In windy weather foxes as well as dogs are most sleepy, and 

 on such days they may easily be caught napping. I was once 

 drawing a very thin plantation on the downs, in fact, just letting 

 the hounds run through it, on our line to other coverts, when 



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