212 WHIP AND SPUR. 



there was generally an air of preparation about 

 the whole assemblage. 



A little at one side, kept well together by the 

 huntsman and a couple of whippers-in, were the 

 hounds (the Atherstone pack), about forty of 

 them, or, technically, " twenty couples," strong- 

 limbed, large-eared, party-colored, wholesome- 

 looking fellows. They attracted much atten- 

 tion and elicited frequent commendation, for they 

 were said to be the very finest pack in England, 

 — as was also each of the three other packs that 

 I saw. To the unskilled eye, and simply viewed 

 as dogs, they were not remarkable ; but it was a 

 case in which the judgment of an unskilled per- 

 son could have no value. 



The horses appealed to me much more strong- 

 ly. Certainly I had never before seen together 

 the same number of the same average excellence ; 

 and some of them were fit to drive one wild with 

 envy. There was, on the whole, less of the 

 " blood " look than would be expected by a man 

 who had got his ideas of the hunting-field from 

 Leech's drawings, but there was a good deal of 



