6 MY FIEST PEAT ON HOBSEBACK. 



brat, to render me invulnerable to sharp cutting 

 winds, and to invigorate my youthful frame ; and 

 being sent at an early age to school, where I had also 

 to undergo great severities (not from my master, by 

 whom I was never struck, caned, or flogged), but 

 from senior boys, who fagged me unmercifully. 

 My first feat on horseback was from this school, 

 some forty miles distant, when I requested my 

 father to let me ride home on the commencement 

 of the hohdays, and for this purpose a groom was 

 sent up the previous night with my pony -, which I 

 remember becoming leg weary at the end of his 

 journey, toppled himself over, and young Scrutator 

 with him, when within sight of dulce domum. 



The exact age at which I first entered on my 

 duties as second whip to my father's pack of 

 harriers, I cannot now call to my recollection ; but 

 under his able tuition, my education in that line 

 was so rapid, that I was soon permitted to hold 

 the first place, Jack being put under me, and I 

 quickly became so thoroughly conversant with 

 kennel management as well, that the feeding of 

 the hounds was generally entrusted to my care. 



During this period I had also hunted occasion- 

 ally with fox-hounds, which rendered me gradually 

 dismcHned to the pm^suit of the timid hare ; al- 

 though from our pack being mostly composed of 



