6 SKETCHES IN THE HUN UN G FIELD. 



charged the faithful Peter for " stealing off with the 

 hounds " before all the members of the august little 

 body had been duly informed of the circumstance that 

 the fox had been viewed away, and were quite ready to 

 start off after him. 



The dignity of M.F.H. is extremely tempting for 

 many reasons to many men ; but it is only in the eyes 

 of the IMaster himself that this dignity seems to be 

 retained when he is sitting on his horse at the side of a 

 covert which has been drawn blank, without a sugges- 

 tion to make as to future proceedings, or a reason to 

 give why he should or should not accept the advice 

 proffered by his huntsman. 



These sketches are by no means personal portraits, 

 albeit the outlines may at times be taken from life ; 

 and it is necessary, therefore, to be careful lest accumu- 

 lating details should mark out too closely the identity 

 of more or less familiar characters. Many readers, 

 however, will call to mind cases in which wealth, 

 vanity, and ambition have been the sole qualifications 

 possessed by a M.F.H. Too ignorant of the whole 

 subject of hunting to help himself, and too conceited to 

 appear to be at the mercy of his huntsman by accepting 

 his views, the prominent members of the hunt, friends 

 of the Master, seize every opportunity of expressing 

 their several and diverse opinions. 



The men, therefore, pass the time in wrangling and 

 snubbing each other instead of in trying to kill foxes ; 

 and the hounds sit on their sterns, with upturned faces, 



