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the purpose. It is always better thus to remove causes of complaint 

 than to wait until complaints are made. At the same time, wherever 

 existing systems work harmoniously, by no manner of means should 

 they be changed. 



Wire — that ogre of the foxhunter — will have to be dealt with, and 

 in my opinion the only effectual way is to come to an arrangement 

 with the farmers by which the gentlemen, at their own expense, will 

 be permitted in the autumn to take down every strand of the 

 villainous impediment, substitute wooden paling during the winter, 

 and replace the wire in the spring. 



What is required, if we want to perpetuate hunting, is to prevent 

 friction with the farmers ; and that can always be done best by 

 courteous off-handedness on the part of those adjusting claims, who, 

 if they are popular and have tact, can accomplish their ends with 

 satisfaction to all parties. 



The days for haughty overbearance are over, and different tactics 

 from the past must be adopted in the future both as regards 

 hunting and everything else. There is no use talking of the expense. 

 If foxhunting is to be had it must be paid for, and as the late Mr. 

 Sam Reynell used to say long ago, "foxhunting can only be 

 sustained upon the sufferance of the farmers." 



Men go out to hunt to enjoy themselves according to their own 

 ideas of enjoyment, and as long as they do not interfere with the 

 sport of the day, or do unnecessary damage, they should be allowed to 

 enjoy themselves in their own fashion, whether they be swells or 

 sweeps, peers or peasants. There are times, however, when Masters 

 of Hounds are too hard upon some of their field, and blame them for 

 doing things which, from his point of view, are very bad, but which 

 have been very often, nearly always, done through ignorance. 



Not long ago I saw recorded what struck me as an excellent 

 idea ; it was this : — Let the Master have printed instructions 

 and requests as to hunting circulated through his country, to be 

 hung up in hotels, livery stables, etc., so that all who go out with 

 his hounds may have a rudimentary idea at all events of what 

 was expected and the reason iv/iy. Now as these pages will cir- 

 culate among men who hunt, some of whom may be a bit verdant 

 as regards venatic law and principles, no matter how ardent their 

 love may be for the sport, I venture to compile a notification such as I 

 allude to, and, to employ some of the amusing phraseology of dear old 

 Jorrocks, " if by so doing I shall spread the great light of sporting 

 knowledge among ingenuous youth, then will this day henceforth 

 remain red-lettered in the mental calendar of my existence ! " 



" The Hon. Horner Hunter, M.F.H., with best compliments of the 

 season, invites the attention of all who hunt with the Gorso Covert 

 Foxhounds to the following memoranda, which he has drawn up for 

 their guidance and instruction, and without their observance of ^l^hich 

 he cannot succeed in showing them the sport he is desirous of doing. 



"Huntsman's Hall, Christmas, 1893." 



