24 THE HUNTING FIELD 



horse : Pray, sir, stop ; God bless you, sir, stop ; God d — )i 

 your blood, sir, stop your horse ! " 



Mr. Vyner, in his very able work, " Notitia Venatica," gives 

 the following amusing account of Mr. Nichol, better known as 

 Sam Nichol, in the blowing-up line. 



When Mr. Nichol first took the New Forest, he was des- 

 perately annoyed by some of the attendants on his hounds, 

 and after vainly begging and beseeching several of the hard- 

 riders, who were wantonly pressing on the pack, to desist, he 

 at length launched out in no measured terms, to the utter 

 astonishment of one unfortunate wight, who claimed the pri- 

 vilege of exhibiting himself, on the plea of being a committee 

 man. "The committee be d — d," replied Nichol, "you are 

 not worth d — ing singly, so I'll d — n you all in a lump."' 



Mr. Smith in his " Diary of a Huntsman," recommends the 

 indirect or at them, rather than the to them style of rating, 

 such as " Hold hard ; pray black horse hold hard ! " 



The renowned Mr. Jorrocks was doubtless a disciple of Mr. 

 Smith's, for he carried the advice out to the letter, and a little 

 beyond — ex : gra :'' Old ard, yon air dresser, on the chesnut 

 OSS ! " " Hair dresser, sir ! I am an officer in the gist Regi- 

 ment." " Then jou hossifer in the 91st Regiment, wot looks 

 like an air dresser, old ard," rejoined Mr. Jorrocks, trotting on. 



But enough of bullying, scolding, and riot act reading, — un- 

 gracious work at best, and only to be excused under the plea of 

 the infirmities of poor human nature. When the boiler of poor 

 human nature's indignation is insufficient to hold all her steam, 

 let us beseech the owner to get rid of his superfluous stock all 

 at once. Let the Master, in fact, say his say and be done, but 

 don't let him incur the censure the nigger passed on his Master, 

 who having flogged him well, began to preach after. — 

 " Floggey, floggey, or preachey, preachey, massa ; but no both 

 floggey and preachey." Blow up and be done, but don't blow 

 up, and keep " knagging " all the rest of the day. 



