ANOTHER SKETCH OF S. DICKINS. 211 



their tongues better than on others. Tjord StatTord always spoke of Dickins as a 

 most trustworthy and reliable servant, who could in every way be depended on 

 to carry out his wishes in his absence. To illustrate the care Dickins took of 

 Jiis hounds, even after a very hard day he always visited the kennels to see them 

 fed. On one occasion, having clashed with the Meynell in a run, they had to be 

 drafted. Dickins, on arriving home, and making his usual visit to the kennel, 

 discovered he had brought home a Meynell hound, and that one of his had gone 

 to Sudbury. Next day the jMeynell liound was sent back to Charles Leedham, 

 with a note asking for his in return ; and it was always a joke with Dickins 

 against Leedham that he had not sooner discovered the stranger. This is only 

 one illustration of the care and attention he gave to his work. 



"As a huntsman in the field, you might describe him as very nearly top of 

 his profession. All men have their faults, his principal one being that, after 

 <lrawing a covert blank, he would wait to get all his hounds together. This was 

 all very well, and quite right, after drawing some of the big woods, as hounds 

 may often get left behind, but this occurred even after drawing small coverts. 

 It was the opinion of some that he drew his coverts too quickly, and was rather 

 silent, both with voice and horn. He certainly had not that powerful, musical 

 voice of the late Lord Hill or Joe Maiden, but to those who took notice, and 

 came out hunting for himting's sake, the notes on his horn were as well known 

 to them as ' Pop goes the Weasel ' to the boy in the street. As to drawing his 

 coverts quickly, it depended very much on circumstances ; and if it was one as bare 

 as a turnpike road, his hounds would gallop on in front of him to a spot as well 

 known to them as to him where a fox would be lying. You very seldom found 

 him or his hounds drawing over a fox. In casting his hounds he was most per- 

 severing, and never liked to give up till he had accounted for his fox. On these 

 occasions huntsmen have their tempers severely tried ; but Dickins, if he did lose 

 his temper, seldom showed it. The many fine runs in his time proved the able 

 man he was. 



" As a rider to hounds, brilliant as many men are, Dickins could hold his own 

 with all comers. Let hounds run ever so fast, he showed that wonderful art 

 of horsemanship of never apparently being in a hurry, but all the time he was 

 sliding along, ar J it took a good man to live with him. He had a wonderful 

 knack of getting through the big woods, and a good many who have tried to 

 follow him at this game were glad to find themselves back in a ride, and stick to 

 it. The same may be said of him in the open. He could get over a thick, blind 

 place in a most extraoi'dinary manner, and if it should be a soft take-ofi", he was 

 quick enough to perceive it, and would jump by the side of a tree, and seemed to 

 forget that he had such a thing as a leg, which never came to gi'ief. Some 

 people remarked that he always avoided timber, and, judging by a story he 

 related riding home from hunting one evening, it is not to be wondered at. 

 When first whip to the Atherstone, they were running a fox over a fine line of 

 country, and the hounds just on the point of killing him, when the fox went to 

 ground in the main earth at Newbold Revel. Some time after, when hounds 

 were hunting in the same country, the same fox gave them the identical run, 

 and Dickins, knowing that the main earth at Newbold was not stopped, left the 

 hounds and made the best of bis way over the country, taking the shortest cut. 

 To do this he knew he had an almost impracticable fence to jump, but remem- 

 bered there was a gap in the corner of this field. To his surprise, on arriving 

 at this spot, he found it made up with a stiff oak post and four rails. Knowing 

 that he was on the back of ]\Ir. Anstruther Thomson's finest timber-jumper, he 

 went straight down to it ; but, unfortunately for him, the horse slipped on taking 



