''Nimrod ' 



which is to carry his master with the hounds after his having 

 had one, or part of one, chace on the first. This descrip- 

 tion of servant is by no means easy to procure ; and he 

 generally exhibits in his countenance and demeanour some- 

 thing like a modest assurance that he possesses qualities of 

 importance. In short, he must have some brains in his 

 head ; be a good horseman, with a light hand ; be able 

 to ride very well to hounds ; and, above all, he must have 

 a good eye to, and a thorough knowledge of, a country, to 

 enable him to give his master a chance of changing his 

 horse in a run, and not merely when it is over. Lord 

 Sefton brought this second-horse system into fashion at the 

 time he hunted Leicestershire, when Jack Raven, a light- 

 weight, and son of his huntsman, the celebrated John Raven, 

 huntsman to the still more celebrated Mr. Meynell, used 

 to ride one of his thousand-guinea hunters in his wake 

 — if we may so express ourselves — in the field, to which he 

 changed his seat at the first convenient opportunity. The 

 system, however, has been improved upon since then. 

 The second-horse man now rides to points, instead of 

 following the hounds, and thus often meets his master at 

 a most favourable moment, when his good steed is sinking, 

 with one that has not been out of a trot. There is much 

 humanity as well as comfort in this arrangement ; for at 

 the pace hounds now go over grass countries, horses become 

 somewhat distressed under heavy-weights in a short time 

 after the chace begins, when the scent lies well, and they 

 are manfully ridden up to the pack. 



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