418 HUNTIXG. 



Faulknor, one of the whippers-in, was despatched 

 with two couples of old hounds, for the purpose of 

 rousing the game. One of these, a hound called 

 Leader, was shown to me as a sample of a perfect 

 stag-hound ; and they were both said to be so 

 steady, and to know a rate so well,- that they will 

 stop if a wrong (not a warrantable) deer be found, 

 and will draw again. It was some time after Joe 

 had got his tufters into covert before we heard any 

 thing but an accidental note from his melodious 

 pipe, which is certainly pitched in the right key. 

 During this interval of suspense, for, as the poet 

 sings, 



" The blood more stirs 

 To rouse a lion than to start a hare," 



a farmer rode up with a piece of a stick in his 

 hand, which was cut to the size of a slot he had 

 found in a neighbouring wood. On my measuring 

 it by my hand, I found it to be four inches in 

 length, which, exceeding the usual length, showed 

 it to be the slot of an old and very large stag.'' 

 He then proceeds to relate that the harboured stag 

 was roused, but afforded very little sport, on ac- 

 count of the extreme badness of the weather, and 

 total want of scent. Of the find on the second day 

 he thus speaks : — " The stag lay ' close couched,' 

 or he must have been found before. We stood on 

 an eminence which overhung the covert, and there- 

 fore could command a view of it. A long silence 

 had prevailed, and we began to wonder what had 

 become of Joe and his tufters, when all on a sud- 



