28 THE HUNTIX(i FIELD 



commonly liappen in tlie day's hunting'; if thinj^s j^o on well, 

 and the sport is good, the Master of the pack is no doubt the 

 person most pleased, feeling conscious that his exertions con- 

 tribute much to the amusement of the day ; and there is cer- 

 tainly no pleasure more gratifying to ourselves than that of 

 pleasing others. On the contrary, if everything should go on 

 untowardly, which will frequently happen on a bad scenting 

 day, he ought to be mindful that the field likewise participates 

 in his disappointment." 



Now for the other qualifications we dotted down in our first 

 paper : — 



The generalship of a Master consists in making the most of 

 a country, and the greatest use of his friends. We don"t mean 

 to say he is to borrow money or horses of them, but he should 

 urge each individual to put his shoulder stoutly to the wheel to 

 promote the general interest in his particular locality. Thomp- 

 son's woodman can make up a gap in a cover without trouble 

 or expense ; but if the Master has to send a man half-a-dozen 

 or a dozen miles to do it, why there's a day work. Wise 

 Masters, however, will have nothing to do with covers. They 

 will leave them to the management of those whom Mr. Nichol 

 d — d in the aggregate. 



Diplomacy, a genteel term for " humbugging," is an essential 

 requisite for a Master of Foxhounds. A Master, like yEsop's 

 hare, has generally " many friends," some of whom will advise 

 him diametrically the reverse on the same point. Is it not 

 diplomacy to make each believe you intend doing as he advises, 

 and yet have your own way after all ? The necessity for a 

 Master combining the liberality of a sailor with his other 

 qualifications, is sufficiently illustrated in the following obser- 

 vation of Lord Petre, then Master of a first-rate establishment, 

 to Mr. Delme Ratcliffe, when about to take the Hertfordshire 

 hounds : — " Remember, however," added his lordship, after 

 going through a recapitulation of the hundreds — " Remember, 



