THE HUNTSMAN AND WHIPPER-IN. 269 



to send them out by themselves when the men go out to exercise their horses. If you 

 have hares in plenty, let some be found sitting and turned out before them, and you will 

 soon find the most riotous will not run after them. If they are to be made steady from 

 deer, they should see them often, and they will not regard them ; and if, after a probation 

 of this kind, you turn out a cub before them, with some old hounds to lead them on, you 

 may assure yourself they will not be unsteady long. 



" I will now endeavour to describe what a good huntsman should be. He should be 

 young, strong and active, bold and enterprising ; fond of the diversion, and indefatigable in 

 the pursuit of it ; he should be sensible and good-tempered ; he ought also to be sober ; 

 he should be exact, civil, and cleanly ; he should be a good horseman and a good groom ; 

 his voice should be strong and clear, and he should have an eye so quick as to perceive 

 which of his hounds carries the scent when all are running, and should have also an 

 excellent ear, as always to distinguish the foremost hounds when he does not see them ; 

 he should be quiet, patient, and without conceit. Such are the excellences which constitute 

 a good huntsman. He should not, however, be too fond of displaying them, till necessity 

 calls them forth. He should let his hounds alone whilst they can hunt, and he should have 

 genius to assist them when they cannot. 



" With regard to the whipper-in, as you keep two of them and no pack of Foxhounds 

 is complete without the first may be considered as a second huntsman, and should have 

 nearly the same good qualities. It is necessary, besides, that he should be attentive and 

 obedient to the huntsman, and as his horse will probably have most to do, the lighter he 

 is the better ; but if he is a good horseman, it will sufficiently overbalance such an objection. 

 He must not be conceited. I had one formerly who, instead of stopping hounds as he 

 ought, would try to kill a fox by himself. This fault is unpardonable ; he should always 

 maintain to the huntsman's halloo, and stop such hounds as divide from it. When stopped, 

 he should get forward with them after the huntsman. 



" You will perhaps find it more difficult to keep your whipper-in back than to get 

 your huntsman forward at least, I always -have found it so. It is, however, necessary ; nor 

 will a good whipper-in leave a cover whilst a single hound remains in it. For this reason 

 there should be two, one of which should be always forward with the huntsman. You 

 cannot conceive the many ills that may happen to hounds that are left behind. I do not 

 know that I can enumerate one-half of them ; but this you may be certain of, that the 

 keeping them together is the surest means to keep them steady. When left to themselves, 

 they seldom refuse, I believe, any blood they can get ; they acquire many bad habits ; 

 they become conceited (a terrible fault in any animal) ; and they learn to tye upon the 

 scent (an unpardonable fault in a Foxhound). Besides this, they frequently get a trick of 

 hunting by themselves, and they seldom are worth much afterwards. The lying out in the 

 cold perhaps the whole night can do no good to their constitutions ; nor will the being 

 worried by Sheep-dogs or Mastiffs be of service to their bodies. All this, however, and 

 much more, they are liable to. I believe I mentioned in my fourth letter that the straw- 

 house door should be left open when any hounds are missing. 



" A few riotous and determined hounds do a deal of mischief in a pack. Never, when you 

 can avoid it, put them among the rest ; let them be taken out by themselves and well chastised, 

 and if you find them incorrigible, hang them. The common saying, ' Evil communications 

 corrupt good manners,' holds good with regard to hounds ; they are easily corrupted. The 

 separating of the riotous ones from those which are steady answers many good purposes. It 



