Tom Hills 29 



stories are told about him ; we may select a few of the 

 best for the delectation of our readers. 



In the year 18 14 Tom Hills was sent to Leicestershire 

 by Mr. Maberly, to whom he then acted as second horse- 

 man, with a grand horse named Comet, and five others, to 

 make them into good hunters, and also for the purpose of 

 learning the science of hunting on his own account. At 

 first, it is said, some of the " Shire " men laughed at him 

 and his raw stud of horses, but afterwards they changed 

 their tune, and he made quite a reputation there by his 

 brilliant riding. " They smiled in my face at first," he 

 remarked dryly, " but I was soon showing 'em my coat- 

 tails to smile at, and they didn't grin so much at them." 



When he became huntsman entirely, he used to wear a 

 bugle, it is related, and blew his hounds away to the tune 

 of " The young May moon is beaming, love," or some 

 other inspiriting strain ; but in subsequent years the 

 bugle was discarded in favour of the ordinary straight 

 horn. That, however, Tom did not like, and said, 

 " Confound these new things : I can't make 'em speak at 

 all as I want to, so what's the use of my blowing up the 

 wrong spout ? " He loved to have his little joke. 



Writing about the Old Surrey hounds, the " Sporting 

 Magazine " of June, 1859, ma kes the subjoined references 

 to Tom Hills, and they are certainly worth reproduction: — 



" Town grew rather wearisome about the middle of 

 May, and feeling inclined for the breezes of the Surrey 

 Downs, we booked ourselves by the South Eastern for 

 Caterham Junction, and determined to visit Tom Hills. 



