ON HOLLOAING 355 



Hunting in France, we have been told, is, or 

 was, conducted largely on the principle of much 

 holloaing and horn-blowing, so these novelists who 

 would hold a mirror up to nature as seen in the 

 hunting field give us any amount of noise in their 

 descriptions ; they seem to think that therein lies 

 the great charm of fox-hunting, and the heroes 

 and heroines and their comrades shout " Yoicks, 

 tally-ho ! " and other equally absurd and quite un- 

 called for holloas with a frequency which must 

 have made the politest of huntsmen use powerful 

 language. 



It is a curious thing how an idea gets possession 

 of people respecting any subject of which they 

 have no practical knowledge, and there are 

 many well-meaning citizens who think that fox- 

 hunting mainly consists of making a noise and 

 jumping impossible places. 



Fox-hunting is something very different to 

 this, but I am of opinion that though we are not 

 always shouting "Yoicks, tally-ho ! " or otherwise 

 making ourselves absurd, in many countries which 

 I have the pleasure of visiting we have far too 

 much holloaing. The tyro in hunting may well 

 lay to heart two anecdotes which are told about 

 the late Sir Tatton Sykes when he hunted the 

 country now presided over by Lord Middleton. 

 On one occasion when a gentleman was holloaing 

 excitedly, Sir Tatton rode up to him and said, 

 " I am much obliged to you for the trouble you 

 are taking, sir, but I pay those men," pointing to 

 Carter and his whippers-in, "to make all the 

 noise." On the other occasion a gentleman who 

 had been halloaing with great perseverance was 

 heard to condemn the hounds for their stupidity 



