CHAPTER LII 



THE TROUBLES OF A MASTER OF HOUNDS 

 Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. — 2 He?iry IV. 



Many are the troubles to which a Master of 

 Hounds is subjected, and it would be easy to fill 

 columns with a list of his grievances. There are 

 troubles with game preservers and shooting 

 tenants, troubles with the farmers at times, 

 troubles with horses and hounds, and troubles with 

 the field. It is with the troubles on the latter 

 score, or perhaps I should say with some of them, 

 that I propose to deal. I have already had some- 

 thing to say about unnecessary damage, so that 

 part of the misdoings of the field can be left for 

 the present. It is with the behaviour of the field 

 on a bad or moderate scenting day, a subject which 

 has been brought home very forcibly to me by the 

 last two or three days I have been out that I wish 

 to deal. Now I think it will be conceded by every 

 one that it is quite possible for a man to be a fair or 

 even a fine horseman, and know little about hunting 

 or hounds, and it may be laid down that at least half 

 of the men that go hunting know and care very 

 little for hounds and their work. What they 

 want is a gallop, and they judge of a run entirely 

 from the standpoint of pace. One would natur- 



