78 THE HUNTING FIELD 



Yet these arc the sort of da3's on which Huntsmen 

 Whippers-in have to exercise their talent, and upon which 

 hasty and thoughtless men ground their opinions. Many 

 people prefer finding fault to praising. They think it shows 

 acuteness on their part. 



Again, another disadvantage some Huntsmen Whippers-in 

 labour under, is having the pack assigned under difficult 

 circumstances. Many Gentlemen-Huntsmen can manoeuvre a 

 pack about Salisbury Plain, who would yet be uncommonly 

 glad to get rid of them if they got into the " Crick" country.* 

 Then the Huntsman Whipper-in gets them until the difficulties 

 are past. 



We are all great judges of hunting ; horses and hunting 

 everybody understands ; and the appearance of the Huntsman 

 Whipper-in, in the character of Huntsman, of course throws 

 wide the gates of critical observation. W^e have many a laugh 

 in our widely-made sleeve at the contrariety of opinion about 

 the same man, and the oracular decision with which each is 

 delivered. If the Master is a favourite with the speaker, then 

 he is the man, and poor Tom isn't fit to hold a candle to him ; 

 but if the Master doesn't stand " A i," as they say at Lloyd's, 

 then Tom is tlie man, and the speaker only hopes the Master 

 may not return on this side of Christmas. In hunting, as in 

 other things, the medium is seldom hit ; allowances are never 

 made ; a man is either a demon or a demigod. What one fool 

 says another repeats, and that is what they call " public 

 opinion" — ■^' They say." How disgusting it is to hear some 

 fellows prating about Huntsmen and Whips. Monkey boys in 

 jackets even think themselves qualified to give an opinion. 



Mr. Davis, the celebrated animal painter, and brother to her 

 Majesty's Huntsman, commenced an admirable work a few 

 years since, called the " Hunter's Annual," being a series of 



* The most strongly fenced part of Northamptonshire. 



