12 FOX-HUNTING IN THE SHIRES 



many cases where it would be wise to do so in a pro- 

 vincial country. He has to keep them, if possible, 

 clear of the crowd. To cast back if they have overrun 

 the scent is impossible. The field are over the line in 

 a moment, for, as Whyte-Melville says, if they give 

 the hounds fifty yards that is considered liberal. If, 

 then, the fox is not forward, or has not turned on one 

 side or the other, he is lost, and the shortest plan is to 

 go and look for another. To say that all huntsmen 

 under such conditions make mistakes is but to say 

 they are human ; but he who makes the fewest is the 

 best. 



Now, as this book has been written to offer advice 

 to those whose minds are fixed on hunting in the grass 

 countries, we may pause to consider who those are who 

 will be likely to go there. To give visitors the first 

 place, we shall see foreigners who wish to know what 

 English fox-hunting is like, and who, when they have 

 bought their experience, prove good men and true over 

 a country ; and there will be Americans and Colonials 

 who have a weakness and liking for the best of every- 

 thing. 



These will, as a matter of course, come to Leicester- 

 shire, and they will, if they are wise, go to Melton or 

 Market Harborough. Their wives will certainly prefer 

 the former. It is more lively and social at Melton. 

 There is a carrier e ouverte aux talents, only, be it re- 

 membered, the talents must be the golden if the reward 

 is to be obtained. 



To all, whether English born or hailing from other 

 lands, the question has to be decided whether you 

 determine to go into the Midlands as an actor or a 

 spectator of the drama of hunting. 



Of the many people who stick in the gaps and jam 

 the gateways probably not a few are merely spectators. 



