VI INTRODUCTION. 



ment as a '' national bulwark," and the revenue of which 

 exceeds that of any service — aye, raised and expended^ as 

 it is, on its own native soil, in our own country ; is it not 

 strange, passing strange, I say, that this great and in- 

 fluential body should have remained so long unrepresented 

 by some work of reference, some guide, to point and ex- 

 patiate upon the green pastures and merry woodlands, 

 which create and foster its very existence ? This defi- 

 ciency I have endeavoured to supply in the following 

 pages. I am, however, fully conscious of the errors and 

 omissions which, from various causes, not altogether at- 

 tributable to myself, will be found therein ; but if from 

 a first-season hound the qualities and perfections of a 

 more experienced one be expected, disappointment will 

 be the certain result. When he is off" the line, give him 

 a little room to turn ; let him swing round, stoop, and 

 feel for the scent ; and in another season or so your 

 young hound may come out in better form, and give 

 more satisfaction to the man who handles him with tem- 

 perance and judgment. 



Mr. Tom Smith, in his ''Life of a Fox," savs : '' I 



