As to the Huntsman 



V/ith thanks to G. F. Underhill 



No man, be he a professional or an amateur hunts- 

 man, can manage a pack properly unless he is on 

 speaking terms with each hound. Most of my 

 readers will recognize the following quotation from 

 the journal of John Jorrocks, written immediately 

 after he had accepted the Mastership of the Handley 

 Cross Hounds, when he had paid his second visit 

 to the kennels : " 'Ounds all delighted to see me ; 

 stood up in my stirrups lookin' over the rails, 

 'olloain', cheerin', and talkin' to them. Yoicks Dex- 

 terous ! Yoicks Luckylass ! Yoicks Rallywood ! Good 

 dog ! Threw bits of biscuit as near each of them as 

 I could pitch them, callin' the 'ounds by name to 1st 

 them see I knew them." How many modern Masters 

 of Hounds imitate the example of the immortal 

 grocer. Chatting with Scott about a certain M. F. H. 

 I said, "But surely he knows something of kennel- 

 lore!" And Scott replied, "He don't even know the 

 names of his own hounds." 



To a huntsman, as to a poet, we may apply the 

 motto, Nascitur, non fit. There have not been many 

 Masters of Hounds who were born huntsmen. To 

 be a huntsman you must possess the confidence and 

 the obedience of your hounds. Nature must have 

 endowed you with a magnetic influence over dumb 

 animals. So far as I am aware, no reliable scientific 

 explanation has ever been given of this magnetic 

 influence. Why should Herr Seeth, like a modern 

 Daniel, be able to walk about with impunity in a 

 lions' den? Why was it that the young apprentice, 

 Herbert Jones, was the only jockey who could ride 



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