180 HUNTING DIRECTORY. 



Mr. Meynell's System. 



check ; by which means, the leading men will pull their 

 horses up in time, and afford the hounds fair oppor- 

 tunity to keep the line of scent unbroken : sheep, cattle, 

 teams at plough, and arable land, are all causes of checks, 

 -ffif Thoughtless sportsmen are apt to press too much 

 on hounds, particularly down a road. Every one should 

 consider, that every check operates against the hounds, 

 and that scent is of a fleeting nature — soon lost — never 

 again to be recovered. 



" Mr. Meynell's hounds had more good runs than any 

 pack of his day : two very extraordinary ones happened 

 of a very rare description : — one was a run of one hour 

 and twenty minutes, without a check, and killed their 

 fox : the other was two hours and fifty minutes, without 

 a cast, and killed. The hounds, in the first run, kept 

 well together, and only two horses performed it ; the 

 rest of the field were unequal to its fleetness : the other 

 run alluded to was performed by the whole of the pack ; 

 and though all were up at the death, two or three slack- 

 ened in their pace just at the last : one horse only went 

 the whole of it. 



*' Mr. Meynell's natural taste led him to admire large 

 hounds ; but, his experience convinced him that small 

 ones were generally the stoutest, soundest, and in every 

 respect the most executive. 



"Various are the attentions necessary to manage a 

 pack of hounds, and quite sufficient to engage the occu- 

 pation of an active man's mind. Should the master of 

 the hounds have other important concerns to call his 

 attention off, sensible and confidential agents and servants 

 should be chosen in every department. 



