HORSES AND HOUNDS. 151 



running in a large covert, it is the duty of the huntsman to be 

 near them ; but when the fox breaks, it is impossible for him 

 sometimes to be close to the hounds, having, perhaps, to crash 

 through several acres of underwood, or to take the nearest ride 

 leading to the point where the fox has gone away. 



The first consideration with a pack of fox-hounds is to draw 

 well and steadily, but there are days and occasions when the 

 best hounds may show slackness ; in wet and bad scenting days, 

 and where game is scarce, they v/ill become more indifferent. It 

 is then the huntsman's place to ride with them, and encourage 

 them in trying the thickest parts of the covert. Hounds also 

 out of blood soon become out of heart as well. A famous 

 master of hounds, who hunted a part of Wiltshire for many 

 years, used to say he could always tell, by drawing his hounds 

 round a gorse covert, if there was a fox in it, and when the 

 hounds showed little disposition to dash in, he concluded there 

 was no fox there. In the early part of a good scenting day, I 

 think in nine cases out of ten, hounds will generally show 

 whether a fox is at home or not, but I should not depend upon 

 their opinions after two o'clock, or in bad weather. 



I had once a famous hound for drawing, who had a peculiar 

 instinct in pointing out where foxes lay. I never saw it so 

 developed in any other, except his two daughters, which were 

 as good as their father. He was a rapid dashing drawer, seldom 

 putting his nose to the ground, but you would see him examining 

 the twigs or reeds as he passed, and going straight to the fox's 

 kennel. It seldom required more than ten minutes for his 

 survey of a covert of a hundred acres, and when satisfied there 

 was no fox at home, he quickly re-appeared outside the covert. 

 During several years he never deceived me, and was considered 

 by the whipper-in as infallible. He would also tell if a fox had 

 been in the covert, or had passed through it, by throwing his 

 tongue once or twice in a short concise way, and then coming 

 away. This hound (one of the first fox-hounds I ever possessed) 

 I obtained from the kennel of Sir T. Mostyn, who hunted the 

 Oxfordshire country (now belonging to Mr. Drake) for many 

 years — his sire, the Duke of Beaufort's Rallywood, and his dam, 

 Mr. Ward's sort. I had him, with eight couples of other hounds, 

 in the autumn of the year 1822, when pursuing my studies at 

 Alma ]\Iater. 



At the end of the term, instead of travelling by road, I com- 

 menced my homeward journey across country with these hounds, 

 mounted on a fine old hunter, which I picked up at Oxford. I 

 had intended reaching Marlborough the first night, but the days 

 then being short, I was fain to ask a night's lodging at the 



