THE HOESE. 
25 
THE HUNTER. 
this species of deer, and of the roebuck, likewise an indigenous species, was especially aimed at in those inhuman forest-laws which so 
long dishonoured the country. During the reigns of the Stuart Princes, the chase of the stag still continued to be the favoured 
pursuit of the privileged classes, but the numbers of the animals became gradually thinned, so that, by the beginning of last century, 
they were scarcely to be found in the wild state. In the Highlands of Scotland they are yet in considerable numbers, but in a country 
so wild, dangerous, and rocky, that they cannot be pursued by horses and dogs. The hounds used for the chase of the stag were 
large, strong, exquisitely sensitive, but slow as compared with the breeds now cultivated. Their baying was peculiarly deep and mu¬ 
sical, resembling that of the ancient Blood-hound. When stags could no longer be found in their wild state in the woods, it became 
common to rear them in enclosures, and turn them out to be pursued: but this destroyed the very idea of hunting; and though the 
sport was pursued by George III., and till our own times, it has lost all favour amongst sportsmen of the present day, who are in 
the habit of ridiculing it as “ calf-hunting.” The ridicule is in no degree merited with reference to the hunting of the stag in his 
natural state, which is undoubtedly the most noble and animating of all the kinds of chase in which the hound is employed. With 
the decline of the hunting of the deer, that of the Hare, which had been a very ancient sport, gained ground. The hounds employed 
in this amusement were early termed Harriers and Beagles, the latter a race of dogs with sharp but musical voices. Considerable 
numbers of harriers are still maintained in different parts of the country, but a greatly swifter race of dogs being employed, the 
sport has wholly changed its character. The runs are more rapid and short, with some loss assuredly of that pleasure which 
was derived from observing the exquisite powers of the pack, and the artifices of the prey. The substitution of the Fox for the 
Hare is comparatively recent. Although foxes were followed and killed by various means, with the same feelings as other 
noxious animals were destroyed, it seems only to have been about the beginning of last century that they began to be regularly 
pursued by hounds as a source of amusement. It was soon found, however, that this animal, after the destruction of the deer 
and other game of the woods, was really the best suited of all others for the sports of the field, possessing strength, hardihood, 
and speed, sufficient to call forth the utmost powers of the pack. With the increasing improvement of the country, too, and the 
diminution of the larger forests, the haunts of the animals became more known, so that they could be readily found, while the 
multiplication of artificial coverts of gorse and brushwood, with the increase of the lesser game which served them as food, 
afforded the means of increasing their numbers in almost any degree required. The dogs that were first used for this kind of 
chase, were a race entirely resembling the ancient Stag-hounds; but by the effects of selection and breeding, a variety of somewhat 
smaller size was formed, better adapted to this kind of chase. They were still larger than the modern Fox-hounds, but more 
nicely sensitive of smell, and more tenacious of the footsteps of their game. 
This new kind of sport continued to be received with increasing favour during all the reign of George III., and by degrees 
underwent great changes. The breed of dogs was rendered more compact and symmetrical in their form, and consequently more 
agile and fleet; and a lighter kind of horses was employed. The general practice of the Hunting-field, too, was insensibly changed. 
Under the older system, the hounds were taken out by break of day, and the fox, after having returned from pursuing his prey 
during the night, was tracked to his cover by the scent of his returning footsteps, or, in technical language, the “ dragso that 
there were in truth two chases, the one the tracking of the animal to his cover, and the other after he was “ unkennelled,” corres¬ 
ponding with the modern fox-chase. The hounds are now at once taken to the cover, and in place of the temperate riding of 
former times, the sportsmen press more closely on the pack, which may justify the modern phraseology of riding to hounds, in place 
of the former more correct expression of riding after or following them. The chase has now become a short and fiery gallop, and 
few horsemen out of a numerous field can keep pace with the pack when at speed. It is now become common to have relays of 
horses, so that the sportsman may mount a fresh Hunter when his first one is exhausted. In every part of England are to be 
seen packs, brought to the utmost perfection with respect to equipment, and the breeding and discipline of the hounds; but 
Leicestershire has acquired a sort of pre-eminence, from the number and excellence of the packs maintained in it, the nature of 
the country, consisting chiefly of meadows of old turf, and from the great resort of opulent sportsmen. It is here, and especially at 
the little town of Melton-Mowbray, that the stranger will best learn the nature of the sport as it is now pursued. The times and 
places of meeting of the various packs having been advertised, the preparation begins by the various horses being sent off to cover, 
the principal sportsmen sending two horses, each mounted by a groom, one of which is to serve as a relay. In an hour or more 
the sportsmen themselves are to be seen in motion, some riding to cover on their hacks, as they are termed, but which, in truth, 
are horses of the first class, whilst others are to be seen rolling rapidly along in their gay and glittering equipages; a singular 
contrast with the same sport in times when the good squire, roused from his slumbers long before the break of day, sped his weary 
way through mist, darkness, and mud, to the place of meeting. The hour of assembling is usually eleven, when a field of from 
one to two hundred sportsmen is to be seen congregated from all the neighbouring country near the place of throwing off. The 
whole has an air of business and system, surprising to those who have been used to the pomp and clamour of the chase of other 
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