THE HUNTSMAN 43 



Some men are very inconsiderate and unreasonable, never 

 thinking hounds, horses, or men can do too much when they 

 happen to be out, especially if the draw they recommend is in 

 their way home. 



But to the qualifications of a Huntsman : — Beckford said " he 

 was not very ambitious of having a famous Huntsman, unless 

 it necessarily followed that he must have famous hounds ; a 

 conclusion," writes he, " I cannot admit as long as these so 

 famous gentlemen will be continually attempting themselves to 

 do what would be much better done if left to their hounds ; 

 besides, they seldom are good servants, are always conceited, 

 and sometimes impertinent. I am very well satisfied if my 

 Huntsman be acquainted with his country and his hounds, if 

 he ride well up to them, and if he have some knowledge of the 

 nature of the animal which he is in pursuit of; but so far am I 

 from wishing him to be famous, that I hope he will continue to 

 think his hounds know best how to hunt a fox." 



If we were hiring a Huntsman, we should like him to be bred 

 in the hunting line. We cannot fancy a house-painter's or 

 cobbler's son assuming the saddle and horn, and setting up as 

 Huntsman. Doubtless there are fellows who have impudence 

 enough to set up for anything — archbishops, if they saw an 

 opening — and we think they would almost as soon fulfil the 

 duties of one as the other. It is not every wide-throated 

 fellow with "nought to do, and who likes hontin vastly," as they 

 say in Yorkshire, that will make a Huntsman — not a Huntsman 

 to foxhounds, though we are not sure but a good bow-backed 

 pedestrian, with his head well down to the ground for " prick- 

 ing," would not make as good a harrier Huntsman as the best. 

 The two offices are as different as horse-riding and donkey- 

 riding. They both "go," certainlj', but the "stop" of the 

 business is the thing. And yet we have seen fellows who, 

 because they have been able to circumvent a hare, have thought 

 themselves qualified for foxhounds. The simile of the horse and 



