COMMANDERS IN THE FIELD. 19 



of a master of fox -hounds, tliat is, supposing eacli 

 to be in prime of life, liealtli, and vigom\ 



But as it is neither necessary, desirable, nor 

 advisable for a general commanding troops in a 

 battle to meet bis man sword-arm to sword-arm, 

 so it is in no way necessary for a master of 

 bounds to be a bold rider, unless be bunts tbem 

 bimself, in wbicb case, giving bim credit for good 

 sense, of course he would be ; where be is not so, 

 although be may be quite aware that in a clipping 

 run over a stiff country the chances are against 

 him, still, so far from wishing to prevent the 

 sport of others, if he is thrown out, he hears the 

 whole account from bis huntsman, and feels a 

 good-natured pride and pleasure in learning his 

 pack behaved well, and bis friends were gratified. 

 We are not, however, to suppose, because the 

 master of a pack may not be a very bold rider, 

 that such a case as I have described is one of 

 very frequent occurrence. Masters of bounds 

 are mostly thorough sportsmen, and where for- 

 ward riding does not carry them through, their 

 perfect knowledge of their country, their hounds, 

 and the habits of their game, together with their 

 general knowledge of hunting, does ; and though 

 the master may not have been seen for ten con- 

 secutive minutes going in the front rank, it will 

 probably be found that he has been all along 

 during the run near enough to have seen what 



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