HORSES AND HOUNDS. 299 



accounts. The amount will vary from 100^. to 1000^., according 

 to the country, and as it may suit his fancy to pay. It is to 

 be hoped that the day is not far distant when every master of 

 liounds will be relieved from this unfair drain upon his purse. 

 Independent of the sums required to satisfy the exorbitant 

 demands of blood-thirsty keepers, it is almost too much to ex- 

 pect that gentlemen should be placed under the necessity of 

 submitting to their impudent impositions. In the olden time a 

 regular earth-stopper was appointed to do the work of the 

 whole hunt, and if my recollection serves me, a picture of this 

 functionary and his pony is to be found in Beckford. Tliis 

 office could not have been abolished on account of its being a sine- 

 cure, for the duties required are quite equal to those of a superin- 

 tendent of police ; and I think that no hunt should be with- 

 out a servant of this description. An active man, with a good 

 pony, would be able to do the earth-stopping in any two-days- 

 a-week country ; but where the country is wide, and admits of 

 four days per week, two might be employed at a quarter the 

 expense now incurred, and with much more satisfaction to the 

 master of the hounds. 



Objections may, and probably will be, raised by game pre- 

 servers, at the suggestion of their keepers, against this inno- 

 vation and intrusion upon the privileges of the latter gentle- 

 men ; but, as a regular servant of the establishment, for whose 

 good conduct the master would of course be responsible, these 

 objections may be obviated. The attempt, I am aware, must 

 be delicately and cautiously made at first, but it may be done 

 by the master representing to the different proprietors of 

 coverts that there is no fund available for these extraordinary 

 expenses (supposing the case to be so), and therefore it is pro- 

 posed to revive the old system for the general welfare of the 

 hunt, and to keep the disbursements within a more narrow 

 compass. It must be expected that some game preservers will 

 not fall in with this plan, but this will be of little consequence, 

 as I feel well assured that all real well-wishers to the cause of 

 fox-hunting will readily lend their aid in furtherance of 

 a system, which would save their pockets and add to their 

 amusement. A good active servant to perform this work, with 

 the keep of a rough pony, would not cost more than 50/. per 

 annum. His place of residence must be near the kennels to 

 receive his orders ; and if the stopping has to be done at a dis- 

 tance, he would have to put up at some way-side public or 

 farm-house the previous day, to prepare for his night's work, 

 and attend the hounds at their places of drawing the next 

 morning. 



