HUNTING THE FOX 125 



Of course the authorities already mentioned are 

 not in absolute agreement upon all points, but there 

 is one point upon which all the Master minds agree. 

 It is so well stated by Lord Henry Bentinck that 

 his words may here be quoted. He says it is ruin- 

 ous to a pack of Hounds to meddle with them 

 before they have done trying for themselves. " If 

 they are meddled with in their natural casts they 

 will learn to stand still at every difficulty and wait 

 for their Huntsman . . . for once the Huntsman 

 can help them, nineteen times the Hounds must 

 help themselves." It is remarkable that, in the 

 accounts we now get every morning in the news- 

 papers of the doings of so many packs, we seldom 

 read of tired Foxes being killed at the end of good 

 runs. A possible explanation of this may be that 

 nowadays Hounds are taken off their noses far 

 too often. Nothing tells in favour of the Fox so 

 much as getting the Hounds' heads up. As soon 

 as ever you see the Hounds following the Huntsman 

 about when they are in difficulties, the Fox is as 

 good as lost. Much stress has been laid on this 

 in an earlier chapter, but it cannot be too often 

 repeated. 



Of Hunt Histories there are many. Among 

 the most interesting are The Annals of the War- 

 wickshire Hunt, by Sir Charles Mordaunt and the 

 Rev. Walter Verney ; The History of the Brockleshy 

 Hounds, by Mr. George Collins ; The History of 



