THE WHIPPER-IN 



75 



your timid one ; and it is treated with contempt by those of 

 another character, who may at some future time deserve it." 



Mr. Beckford gives an admirable ilhistration of the absurdity 

 of supposing that because hounds refrain from mischief when 

 their attendants are by, that they are necessarily steady in their 

 absence. A friend of his whose hounds were troubled with the 

 unfortunate propensity of killing their own mutton, bethought 

 him of turning a ram into the kennel among the hounds. 

 Vigorously the old gentleman laid about him with his horns, 

 and patiently the hounds bore it, and after witnessing a good 

 deal of the fun the master and servants retired, leaving the ram 

 apparently master of the kennel. Returning in about an hour's 

 time to show a friend what an admirable receipt he had 

 discovered for sheep-worriers, the master found that the hounds 

 had_'eaten the old ram up in his absence, and having filled their 

 bellies had retired to their benches. 



U" 'L*,L 



