HIS INFLUENCE AND ADVICE. 13 



when the hounds were here you saw so-and-so's mare ; 

 what do you think of her ? ' The keeper blurts out his 

 answer, not always flattering or very delicately expressed ; 

 and his view is not forgotten. For when a trusted servant 

 like this accompanies his master often in solitary rambles 

 for hours together, dignity must unbend now and then, 

 however great the social difference between them ; and 

 thus a man of strong individuality and a really valuable 

 gift of observation insensibly guides his master. 



Passing across the turnips, the landlord, who perhaps 

 never sees his farms save when thus crossing them with 

 a gun, remarks .that they look clean and free from weeds ; 

 whereupon the keeper, walking respectfully a little in the 

 rear, replies that so-and-so, the tenant, is a capital farmer, 

 a preserver of foxes and game, but has suffered from the 

 floods — a reply that leads to inquiries, and perhaps a 

 welcome reduction of rent. On the other hand, the 

 owner's attention is thus often called to abuses. In this 

 way an evilly-disposed keeper may, it is true, do great 

 wrongs, having access to the owner and, in familiar phrase, 

 ' his ear.' I am at present delineating the upright keeper, 

 such as are in existence still, notwithstanding the abuse 

 lavished upon them as a class — often, it is to be feared, 

 too well deserved. It is not difficult to see how in this 

 way a man whose position is lowly may in an indirect 

 way exercise a powerful influence upon a large estate. 



He is very ' great ' on dogs (and, indeed, on all other 



