ON WHIPPERS-IN. 155 



quently look on him as a successor, and therefore do 

 not very readily admit him into the kennel; yet, in 

 my opinion, it is necessary he should go thither, for he 

 ought to be well acquainted with the hounds, who 

 should know and follow him as well as the huntsman. 

 To recapitulate what I have already said, if your 

 whipper-in be bold and active; be a good and careful 

 horseman : have a good ear and a clear voice ; if he be 

 a very Mungo, here, there, and everywhere, having at 

 the same time judgment to distinguish where he can 

 be of most use; if, joined to these, he be above the 

 foolish conceit of killing a fox, without the huntsman ; 

 but, on the contrary, be disposed to assist him all he 

 can, he then is a perfect whipper-in." Added to these 

 qualifications, he should be fond of work, and habitually 

 sober. There can be but one opinion upon the vice 

 of drunkenness in any man ; and the second fault in 

 either a huntsman or whipper-in ought to be the last to 

 be overlooked. Many of my readers, may, I have no 

 doubt, been disgusted in the course of their lives by 

 such an outrage; but to see a whipper-in drunk on 

 champagne would be rather a novel sight. I recollect 

 once meeting at the house of a jolly good fox-hunter "of 

 the olden time," who shall here be nameless, where he 

 had a most splendid breakfast upon the occasion ; and 

 our worthy host, not being content with giving his 

 guests plenty of that exhilirating beverage, absolutely 

 sent a bottle out to the men who were waiting with the 

 hounds upon the lawn ; the result may be imagined. 

 Upon remonstrating afterwards with the elder of the 

 two upon this most disgraceful occurrence, the answer 

 was, that he was sorry for what had happened, but that 



