Mr. FOX AS A HORSEMAN AND COACHMAN. 



209 



' Bramham, April, 18 — . 

 ' Dear Sir, — -A master of hounds is a servant, and must 

 ' expect to be treated to fault-finding. I regret that you do 

 ' not approve of my mode of hunting the country, but your 

 'pamphlet, though it informs me that you found the remains, 

 ' and that your dog disturbed a fox, that from tittle-tattle 



' with other people you were able to inform me that 



' and did not allow their foxes to be destroyed : am 



' much obliged to you for stale news. But do not suppose 

 ' all this throws me off the line. Business is business, — 

 ' you wrote to say you had twenty foxes, and many litters of 

 ' cubs bred on your ground last summer. My foxhounds, 

 ' at the earliest opportunity, drew your coverts blank. Again 

 ' I arranged a meet purposely to draw your coverts, — again 

 'blank. If you had twenty foxes when you wrote to me, 

 'you and your keeper are pretty clever to have got rid of 

 ' them so quickly. 



' I believe my hounds — excuse me standing up for 

 'what you call "my dogs" — " 'Ounds, sir!" (as Jorrocks 

 ' said to the lawyer). 



' I agree with you about the great pleasure of seeing 

 ' pointers or setters work, especially on a moor, and how 

 ' delightful to see the clever performance of a good retriever. 

 'If I was your age again, I should enjoy shooting over dogs 

 ' as I have done before you were born, and still support 

 ' fox-hunting, a fine sport, and giving enjoyment to many. 



' I thank you for offering to educate a foxhound for me. 

 'You may be good at breaking pointers or retrievers, you 

 ' may train a poodle dog, but you are ignorant about fox- 

 ' hounds and fox-hunting. I have to break one hundred 

 'foxhounds, that is, I have to secure the service of a clever 



' man who can do it. I have bred hounds for years 



'with great care, and in this bad-scenting country could do 

 'nothing without "nose." Sportsmen do not find fault with 

 ' my hounds. They are celebrated for hunting a cold scent, 

 ' and chasing hard when near their fox. This has been a 

 ' bad scenting season, but the number of foxes my hounds 

 ' have killed makes them (the hounds) laugh at your sneers, 

 'luckily for the people who enjoy a cheerful day out hunting. 



