ISO PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE OF FOX-KOUNDS. 



ever serviceable, unless lie is content to yield to 



the dictation of his huntsman, groom, or bailiff. 



Servants will always respect those masters who 



know better than themselves ; and there is one | 



thing I never could endm^e — ^to be thought a fool, \ 



I 

 even by a ploughboy. When, therefore, I lay \ 



down rules for kennel management, they are the 

 result of my own experience, which, as long as I 

 remained a Master of Fox-hounds, were rigidly en- 

 forced ; and I am vain enough to think no man 

 ever possessed a better pack than myself. Although 

 keeping a kennel-huntsman or whipper-in (whose 

 business was confined entirely to the kennel), and 

 feeder also, I generally took the hounds with me 

 during the summer over the farm, or in excursions 

 about the country when I had no other engage- 

 ments, often performing the part of dog-feeder 

 also. Bad taste, no doubt ; still I thought by 

 feeding them they became more attached to me ; 

 in short, they were petted, though not spoilt, and 

 many of my favourites had nicknames to which 

 they answered as well as to their common ones. So 

 much I have written to show that I have had 

 some little practical experience, and have served 

 a rather long apprenticeship in that business 

 which I profess to teach to others, without intend- 

 ing to imply that every M.F.H. should imitate my 



