154 ON whipper's-in. 



I may consider immaterial: " I must, therefore, remind 

 you," says he, " that I speak of my own country only, 

 a country full of riot;* where the covers are large, and 

 where there is a chase full of deer and full of game. 

 In such a country as this, you that know so well how 

 necessary it is for a pack of fox-hounds to be steady and to 

 be kept together, ought not to wonder that I should prefer 

 an excellent whipper-in to an excellent huntsman. No 

 one knows better than yourself, how essential a good 

 adjutant is to a regiment : believe me, a good whipper-in 

 is not less necessary to a pack of fox-hounds. But I 

 must beg you to observe, I mean only, that I could 

 do better with mediocrity in the one than in the 

 other." And again he says, " I cannot but think 

 genius may be at least as useful in one as in the other ; 

 for instance, while the huntsman is riding to his head 

 most hounds, the whipper-in, if he have genius, may 

 show it in various ways; he may clap forward to any 

 great earth, that may by chance be open; he may sink 

 the wind to halloo, or mob a fox when the scent fails ; 

 he may keep him ofFhis soil ; he may stop the tail hounds 

 and get them forward ; and has it frequently in his 

 power to assist the hounds, without doing them any hurt, 

 provided he may have the sense to distinguish where 

 he may be chiefly wanted. Besides, the most essential 

 part of fox-hunting, the making and keeping the pack 

 steady, depends entirely on him. In short, I consider 

 the first whipper-in as a second huntsman, and to be 

 perfect, he should be not less capable of hunting the 

 hounds than the huntsman himself. Most huntsmen, 

 I believe, are jealous of the whipper-in ; they fre- 



* In these days, owing to the increase of game preserves, all countries are full 

 of riot. 



