OBSERVATIONS ON FOX-HUNTING 81 



as a whipper-in knows his business, he wishes 

 to be a huntsman ; and will take every oppor- 

 tunity of getting alone with the hounds, in order 

 that he may hunt them himself. One of the 

 best men in the field I ever knew was Richard 

 Bennet ; he lived with the late Lord Stamford, 

 afterwards with Mr. John Calcraft, and lastly 

 with his present Majesty ; he was quiet with 

 hounds, and always in his place ; a capital horse- 

 man, and what is a great virtue in a whipper- 

 in, he never wished to hunt the hounds himself. I 

 have often heard him say, if he were offered a 

 huntsman's place he should hesitate before he 

 accepted it. — " I know, Sir, said he, I under- 

 stand my business as whipper-in ; if I take a 

 huntsman's place, I may not succeed, and it 

 would be hard to go back into my old situation 

 again." He died at the Six-Miles Bottom, near 

 Newmarket, where he lived very comfortably, 

 having been well provided for by His Majesty. 

 A good feeder is very rarely to be met with ; he 

 ought to obey very exactly the orders given him, 

 and on no account should he be absent without 

 leaving some steady person in the kennel. I 

 will relate to you an unfortunate accident, which 

 happened in consequence of the absence of a 

 feeder. I was staying at a friend's house who 

 kept hounds, the men had been ovit early with 



