THE HUNTSMAN 51 



by. When their waning day arrives, may some abler pen 

 portray their merits. 



The Huntsman of our Analysis is one of the old school ; his 

 father was Huntsman before him, his sons now whip in to him. 

 He has neither read Beckford " On Hunting," nor Nimrod on 

 " Condition of Hunters," but he can kill a fox with any man 

 going, and turn out his horse in as good condition as the best. 

 He carries his library in his head — experience. Look at the 

 old boy as he sits astride his glossy, well-conditioned black, his 

 venerable grey locks protruding beneath his new black cap, his 

 spic and span coat, his fortieth scarlet, with the stout drab 

 breeches and mahogany tops. He sits on his horse as if he 

 were a part of him. Old Will is our Huntsman's name. He 

 most likely has another, but we never heard him called by 

 anything else, and possibly he may have forgotten his surname 

 himself Old Will and young Will and Will junior (or sweet 

 Will, as the girls call the young one, who is a bachelor), are 

 the trio now moving the hounds about on the bright green 

 sward, for Will, though no painter, knows that there is nothing 

 like a dark background for setting off colours to advantage. 

 How quiet he is with the hounds ! He gives them their fling, 

 too, instead of having them cowering under his horse's legs to 

 avoid the sting of the Whipper-in's lash, but a gentle ''here 

 again," with a slight wave of the hand, brings the outsiders 

 frolicking back to his call. How much better than the noisy, 

 bullying clamour of idiot boys, showing off, by the loudness of 

 their rates, the severity of their cuts, and the trashing of their 

 horses. 



There isn't a gap, or a gate, or a hole in the wall in the 

 country, that Old Will does not know, and that he hasn't been 

 over or through a hundred times. Time has slackened his 

 leaping powers, but he is a capital hand at screwing through 

 awkward places, and he always saves his horse in anticipation 

 of a long day. He never seems in a hurry, and yet he is 



