MATTERS OF TASTE. 27 



perienced men are desirable. A very sliglit touch 

 of tlie dandy may not militate against a hunts- 

 man^ s qualifications, where he rides thorough- 

 breds and hunts hounds as delicate in their coats 

 and fine as racing greyhounds ; but where men 

 and hounds have to actually force themselves 

 through strong thorny covers, men, horses, and 

 hounds must be used that will stand the en- 

 counter of such rough usage as all must meet 

 with ; and, advocate as I am for blood in all 

 things, I know quite well that here a tolerably 

 tough hide is really a desideratum in a huntsman 

 as well as in horses and hounds. Under most cir- 

 cumstances we can pop a thin-skinned nag through 

 a Bullfinch ; the pace and his game induce him to 

 make the momentary bolt through ; but many of 

 them would no more thrust themselves patiently 

 through a strong cover than they would through 

 a fire. Such countries w ere never to my taste, 

 chiefly because the description of horse calculated 

 for them was not to my taste either ; and further 

 than this, I would rather get a purler over a fair 

 fence than be flayed alive gradatim by ragged 

 ones, — a thing I hold next in abhorrence to the 

 being kicked to death by black beetles. 



There is, however another difference to be 

 found in packs, and this originating from the 

 difference of two masters. But here, unlike the 

 two cases before alluded to, the difference arises 



