CHAPTER VI 



THE HUNTSMAN — CONTINUED 



" I have always thought a Huntsman a happy man ; his office is pleasing, 

 and at the same time flattering ; we pay him for that which diverts him, 

 and he is enriched by his greatest pleasure ; nor is a general after a 

 victory more ])roud than is a Huntsman who returns with his fox's head." — 

 Beckford. 



N our last we glanced at the 

 character and some of the 

 duties of the Huntsmen, and 

 ran over the names of several 

 who have distinguished them- 

 selves in their calling. The 

 list was composed more of 

 by-gone or fading flowers 

 than of the rising geniuses 

 of the present day, because it creates no jealousy to award 

 praise where all allow it, and our object in writing these 

 sketches is to encourage a wholesome spirit of hunting, and 

 not to flatter this man or that at the expense of his neighbours. 

 Comparisons are always odious to some one, and there is no 

 truer saying than that a Huntsman's fame rises and falls with 

 the sport he shows. At the same time it is but justice to add, 

 that there are many Huntsmen at work in our different counties 

 whose fame will bear comparison with the best of those gone 



