SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 427 



CHAPTER L. 



Testimonials to huntsmen The old capping custom Beckford's anec- 

 dote Hard and irregular life of these officials Four days per 

 week more agreeable than six May foxes and July cubs Pensions 

 Huntsmen to old established and subscription packs. 



CAPPING has become obsolete the fashion of the 

 custom has passed away ; and foxhunters of the pre- 

 sent era may raise their eyebrows in surprise, and 

 a curl of the hairy lip may denote their contempt 

 of the practices so long countenanced by those who 

 were supposed to have existed in a barbarous age. 

 Many a reader of these pages will exclaim, " What 

 does he mean by capping ?" perhaps handicapping. 

 Not exactly in the same sense that terra is now used 

 as appertaining to racing; but, in its etymological 

 meaning equally, if not more, correct. Capping 

 signifies putting your hand in your pocket and 

 drawing out a five-shilling or half-crown silver coin 

 formerly dropped into a cap held out for that pur- 

 pose to reward the huntsman for exhibiting the 

 scene of tracing a fox, or rather killing him, since it 

 did not invariably happen that a fox, even in those 

 days, sought the shelter of woodlands to yield up 

 his life. 



We are told by Beckford that a huntsman accus- 

 tomed to this usage had been offered by his master 



