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@@ -0,0 +1,1992 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Hunting Sketches, by Anthony Trollope + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Hunting Sketches + +Author: Anthony Trollope + +Posting Date: July 26, 2008 [EBook #814] +Release Date: February, 1997 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HUNTING SKETCHES *** + + + + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer + + + + + +HUNTING SKETCHES + +by Anthony Trollope + + + + +Contents: + + The Man who Hunts and Doesn't Like it + The Man who Hunts and Does Like it + The Lady who Rides to Hounds + The Hunting Farmer + The Man who Hunts and Never Jumps + The Hunting Parson + The Master of Hounds + How to Ride to Hounds + + + + +THE MAN WHO HUNTS AND DOESN'T LIKE IT. + +It seems to be odd, at first sight, that there should be any such men +as these; but their name and number is legion. If we were to deduct +from the hunting-crowd farmers, and others who hunt because hunting is +brought to their door, of the remainder we should find that the "men +who don't like it" have the preponderance. It is pretty much the same, +I think, with all amusements. How many men go to balls, to races, to the +theatre, how many women to concerts and races, simply because it is the +thing to do? They have perhaps, a vague idea that they may ultimately +find some joy in the pastime; but, though they do the thing constantly, +they never like it. Of all such men, the hunting men are perhaps the +most to be pitied. + +They are easily recognized by any one who cares to scrutinize the men +around him in the hunting field. It is not to be supposed that all +those who, in common parlance, do not ride, are to be included among +the number of hunting men who don't like it. Many a man who sticks +constantly to the roads and lines of gates, who, from principle, never +looks at a fence, is much attached to hunting. Some of those who have +borne great names as Nimrods in our hunting annals would as life have +led a forlorn-hope as put a horse at a flight of hurdles. But they, +too, are known; and though the nature of their delight is a mystery to +straight-going men, it is manifest enough, that they do like it. Their +theory of hunting is at any rate plain. They have an acknowledged +system, and know what they are doing. But the men who don't like it, +have no system, and never know distinctly what is their own aim. +During some portion of their career they commonly try to ride hard, +and sometimes for a while they will succeed. In short spurts, while the +cherry-brandy prevails, they often have small successes; but even with +the assistance of a spur in the head they never like it. + +Dear old John Leech! What an eye he had for the man who hunts and +doesn't like it! But for such, as a pictorial chronicler of the hunting +field he would have had no fame. Briggs, I fancy, in his way did like +it. Briggs was a full-blooded, up-apt, awkward, sanguine man, who was +able to like anything, from gin and water upwards. But with how many a +wretched companion of Briggs' are we not familiar? men as to whom +any girl of eighteen would swear from the form of his visage and the +carriage of his legs as he sits on his horse that he was seeking honour +where honour was not to be found, and looking for pleasure in places +where no pleasure lay for him. + +But the man who hunts and doesn't like it, has his moments of +gratification, and finds a source of pride in his penance. In the +summer, hunting does much for him. He does not usually take much +personal care of his horses, as he is probably a town man and his horses +are summered by a keeper of hunting stables; but he talks of them. +He talks of them freely, and the keeper of the hunting stables is +occasionally forced to write to him. And he can run down to look at his +nags, and spend a few hours eating bad mutton chops, walking about the +yards and paddocks, and, bleeding halfcrowns through the nose. In all +this there is a delight which offers some compensation for his winter +misery to our friend who hunts and doesn't like it. + +He finds it pleasant to talk of his horses especially to young women, +with whom, perhaps, the ascertained fact of his winter employment does +give him some credit. It is still something to be a hunting man even +yet, though the multiplicity of railways and the existing plethora of +money has so increased the number of sportsmen, that to keep a nag or +two near some well-known station, is nearly as common as to die. But +the delight of these martyrs is at the highest in the presence of their +tailors; or, higher still, perhaps, in that of their bootmakers. The +hunting man does receive some honour from him who makes his breeches; +and, with a well-balanced sense of justice, the tailor's foreman is, +I think, more patient, more admiring, more demonstrative in his +assurances, more ready with his bit of chalk, when handling the knee of +the man who doesn't like the work, than he ever is with the customer who +comes to him simply because he wants some clothes fit for the saddle. +The judicious conciliating tradesman knows that compensation should +be given, and he helps to give it. But the visits to the bootmaker +are better still. The tailor persists in telling his customer how his +breeches should be made, and after what fashion they should be worn; +but the bootmaker will take his orders meekly. If not ruffled by paltry +objections as to the fit of the foot, he will accede to any amount of +instructions as to the legs and tops. And then a new pair of top boots +is a pretty toy; Costly, perhaps, if needed only as a toy, but very +pretty, and more decorative in a gentleman's dressing-room than +any other kind of garment. And top boots, when multiplied in such +a locality, when seen in a phalanx tell such pleasant lies on their +owner's behalf. While your breeches are as dumb in their retirement as +though you had not paid for them, your conspicuous boots are eloquent +with a thousand tongues! There is pleasure found, no doubt, in this. + +As the season draws nigh the delights become vague, and still more +vague; but, nevertheless, there are delights. Getting up at six o'clock +in November to go down to Bletchley by an early train is not in itself +pleasant, but on the opening morning, on the few first opening mornings, +there is a promise about the thing which invigorates and encourages the +early riser. He means to like it this year if he can. He has still some +undefined notion that his period of pleasure will now come. He has not, +as yet, accepted the adverse verdict which his own nature has given +against him in this matter of hunting, and he gets into his early +tub with acme glow of satisfaction. And afterwards it is nice to find +himself bright with mahogany tops, buff-tinted breeches, and a pink +coat. The ordinary habiliments of an English gentleman are so sombre +that his own eye is gratified, and he feels that he has placed himself +in the vanguard of society by thus shining in his apparel. And he will +ride this year! He is fixed to that purpose. He will ride straight; and, +if possible, he will like it. + +But the Ethiop cannot change his skin, nor can any man add a cubit to +his stature. He doesn't like it, and all around him in the field know +how it is with him; he himself knows how it is with others like himself, +and he congregates with his brethren. The period of his penance has come +upon him. He has to pay the price of those pleasant interviews with +his tradesmen. He has to expiate the false boasts made to his female +cousins. That row of boots cannot be made to shine in his chamber for +nothing. The hounds have found, and the fox is away. Men are fastening +on their flat-topped hats and feeling themselves in their stirrups. +Horses are hot for the run, and the moment for liking it has come, if +only it were possible! + +But at moments such as these something has to be done. The man who +doesn't like it, let him dislike it ever so much, cannot check his horse +and simply ride back to the hunting stables. He understands that were he +to do that, he must throw up his cap at once and resign. Nor can he trot +easily along the roads with the fat old country gentleman who is out +on his rough cob, and who, looking up to the wind and remembering the +position of adjacent coverts, will give a good guess as to the direction +in which the field will move. No; he must make an effort. The time of +his penance has come, and the penance must be borne. There is a spark +of pluck about him, though unfortunately he has brought it to bear in a +wrong direction. The blood still runs at his heart, and he resolves that +he will ride, if only he could tell which way. + +The stout gentleman on the cob has taken the road to the left with a few +companions; but our friend knows that the stout gentleman has a little +game of his own which will not be suitable for one who intends to ride. +Then the crowd in front has divided itself. Those to the right rush down +a hill towards a brook with a ford. One or two, men whom he hates with +an intensity of envy, have jumped the brook, and have settled to their +work. Twenty or thirty others are hustling themselves through the water. +The time for a judicious start on that side is already gone. But others, +a crowd of others, are facing the big ploughed field immediately before +them. That is the straightest riding, and with them he goes. Why has +the scent lain so hot over the up-turned heavy ground? Why do they go +so fast at this the very first blush of the morning? Fortune is always +against him, and the horse is pulling him through the mud as though the +brute meant to drag his arm out of the socket. At the first fence, as +he is steadying himself, a butcher passes him roughly in the jump and +nearly takes away the side of his top boot. He is knocked half out +of his saddle, and in that condition scrambles through. When he has +regained his equilibrium he sees the happy butcher going into the field +beyond. He means to curse the butcher when he catches him, but the +butcher is safe. A field and a half before him he still sees the tail +hounds, and renews his effort. He has meant to like it to-day, and he +will. So he rides at the next fence boldly, where the butcher has left +his mark, and does it pretty well, with a slight struggle. Why is it +that he can never get over a ditch without some struggle in his saddle, +some scramble with his horse? Why does he curse the poor animal so +constantly, unless it be that he cannot catch the butcher? Now he rushes +at a gate which others have opened for him, but rushes too late and +catches his leg. Mad with pain, he nearly gives it up, but the spark +of pluck is still there, and with throbbing knee he perseveres. How he +hates it! It is all detestable now. He cannot hold his horse because of +his gloves, and he cannot get them off. The sympathetic beast knows +that his master is unhappy, and makes himself unhappy and troublesome in +consequence. Our friend is still going, riding wildly, but still keeping +a grain of caution for his fences. He has not been down yet, but has +barely saved himself more than once. The ploughs are very deep, and his +horse, though still boring at him, pants heavily. Oh, that there might +come a check, or that the brute of a fox might happily go to ground! But +no! The ruck of the hunt is far away from him in front, and the game +is running steadily straight for some well known though still distant +protection. But the man who doesn't like it still sees a red coat before +him, and perseveres in chasing the wearer of it. The solitary red coat +becomes distant, and still more distant from him, but he goes on while +he can yet keep the line in which that red coat has ridden. He must +hurry himself, however, or he will be lost to humanity, and will be +alone. He must hurry himself, but his horse now desires to hurry no +more. So he puts his spurs to the brute savagely, and then at some +little fence, some ignoble ditch, they come down together in the mud, +and the question of any further effort is saved for the rider. When he +arises the red coat is out of sight, and his own horse is half across +the field before him. In such a position, is it possible that a man +should like it? + +About four o'clock in the afternoon, when the other men are coming in, +he turns up at the hunting stables, and nobody asks him any questions. +He may have been doing fairly well for what anybody knows, and, as he +says nothing of himself, his disgrace is at any rate hidden. Why should +he tell that he had been nearly an hour on foot trying to catch his +horse, that he had sat himself down on a bank and almost cried, and that +he had drained his flask to the last drop before one o'clock? No one +need know the extent of his miseries. And no one does know how great is +the misery endured by those who hunt regularly, and who do not like it. + + + + +THE MAN WHO HUNTS AND DOES LIKE IT. + +The man who hunts and does like it is an object of keen envy to the man +who hunts and doesn't; but he, too, has his own miseries, and I am not +prepared to say that they are always less aggravating than those endured +by his less ambitious brother in the field. He, too, when he comes to +make up his account, when he brings his hunting to book and inquires +whether his whistle has been worth its price, is driven to declare that +vanity and vexation of spirit have been the prevailing characteristics +of his hunting life. On how many evenings has he returned contented with +his sport? How many days has he declared to have been utterly wasted? +How often have frost and snow, drought and rain, wind and sunshine, +impeded his plans? for to a hunting man frost, snow, drought, rain, wind +and sunshine, will all come amiss. Then, when the one run of the season +comes, he is not there! He has been idle and has taken a liberty with +the day; or he has followed other gods and gone with strange hounds. +With sore ears and bitter heart he hears the exaggerated boastings of +his comrades, and almost swears that he will have no more of it. At the +end of the season he tells himself that the season's amusement has cost +him five hundred pounds; that he has had one good day, three days that +were not bad, and that all the rest have been vanity and vexation of +spirit. After all, it may be a question whether the man who hunts and +doesn't like it does not have the best of it. + +When we consider what is endured by the hunting man the wonder is that +any man should like it. In the old days of Squire Western, and in the +old days too since the time of Squire Western, the old days of thirty +years since, the hunting man had his hunting near to him. He was a +country gentleman who considered himself to be energetic if he went out +twice a week, and in doing this he rarely left his house earlier for +that purpose than he would leave it for others. At certain periods of +the year he would, perhaps, be out before dawn; but then the general +habits of his life conduced to early rising; and his distances were +short. If he kept a couple of horses for the purpose he was well +mounted, and these horses were available for other uses. He rode out and +home, jogging slowly along the roads, and was a martyr to no ambition. +All that has been changed now. The man who hunts and likes it, either +takes a small hurting seat away from the comforts of his own home, or he +locates himself miserably at an inn, or he undergoes the purgatory of +daily journeys up and down from London, doing that for his hunting which +no consideration of money-making would induce him to do for his +business. His hunting requires from him everything, his time, his money, +his social hours, his rest, his sweet morning sleep; nay, his very +dinners have to be sacrificed to this Moloch! + +Let us follow him on an ordinary day. His groom comes to his bed-chamber +at seven o'clock, and tells him that it has frozen during the night. If +he be a London man, using the train for his hunting, he knows nothing of +the frost, and does not learn whether the day be practicable or not till +he finds himself down in the country. But we will suppose our friend to +be located in some hunting district, and accordingly his groom +visits him with tidings. "Is it freezing now?" he asks from under the +bedclothes. And even the man who does like it at such moments almost +wishes that the answer should be plainly in the affirmative. Then +swiftly again to the arms of Morpheus he might take himself, and ruffle +his temper no further on that morning! He desires, at any rate, a +decisive answer. To be or not to be as regards that day's hurting is +what he now wants to know. But that is exactly what the groom cannot +tell him. "It's just a thin crust of frost, sir, and the s'mometer is +a standing at the pint." That is the answer which the man makes, and +on that he has to come to a decision! For half an hour he lies doubting +while his water is getting cold, and then sends for his man again. The +thermometer is still standing at the point, but the man has tried the +crust with his heel and found it to be very thin. The man who hunts +and likes it scorns his ease, and resolves that he will at any rate +persevere. He tumbles into his tub, and a little before nine comes out +to his breakfast, still doubting sorely whether or no the day "will do." +There he, perhaps, meets one or two others like himself, and learns that +the men who hunt and don't like it are still warm in their beds. On such +mornings as these, and such mornings are very many, the men who hunt and +do not like it certainly have the best of it. The man who hunts and +does like it takes himself out to some kitchen-garden or neighbouring +paddock, and kicks at the ground himself. Certainly there is a crust, +a very manifest crust. Though he puts up in the country, he has to go +sixteen miles to the meet, and has no means of knowing whether or no the +hounds will go out. "Jorrocks always goes if there's a chance," says one +fellow, speaking of the master. "I don't know," says our friend; "he's a +deal slower at it than he used to be. For my part, I wish Jorrocks would +go; he's getting too old." Then he bolts a mutton chop and a couple of +eggs hurriedly, and submits himself to be carried off in the trap. + +Though he is half an hour late at the meet, no hounds have as yet come, +and he begins to curse his luck. A non-hunting day, a day that turns out +to be no day for hunting purposes, begun in this way, is of all days the +most melancholy. What is a man to do with himself who has put himself +into his boots and breeches, and who then finds himself, by one o'clock, +landed back at his starting-point without employment? Who under such +circumstances can apply himself to any salutary employment? Cigars and +stable-talk are all that remain to him; and it is well for him if he can +refrain from the additional excitement of brandy and water. + +But on the present occasion we will not presume that our friend has +fallen into so deep a bathos of misfortune. At twelve o'clock Tom +appears, with the hounds following slowly at his heels; and a dozen men, +angry with impatience, fly at him with assurances that there has been no +sign of frost since ten o'clock. "Ain't there?" says Tom; "you look at +the north sides of the banks, and see how you'd like it." Some one makes +an uncivil remark as to the north sides of the banks, and wants to know +when old Jorrocks is coming. "The squire'll be here time enough," says +Tom. And then there takes place that slow walking up and down of the +hounds, which on such mornings always continues for half an hour. Let +him who envies the condition of the man who hunts and likes it, remember +that a cold thaw is going on, that our friend is already sulky with +waiting, that to ride up and down for an hour and a half at a walking +pace on such a morning is not an exhilarating pastime, and he will +understand that the hunting man himself may have doubts as to the wisdom +of his course of action. + +But at last Jorrocks is there, and the hounds trot off to cover. So dull +has been everything on this morning that even that is something, and +men begin to make themselves happier in the warmth of the movement. +The hounds go into covert, and a period of excitement is commenced. Our +friend who likes hunting remarks to his neighbour that the ground is +rideable. His neighbour who doesn't like it quite so well says that he +doesn't know. They remain standing close together on a forest ride for +twenty minutes, but conversation doesn't go beyond that. The man who +doesn't like it has lit a cigar, but the man who does like it never +lights a cigar when hounds are drawing. + +And now the welcome music is heard, and a fox has been found. Mr. +Jorrocks, gallopping along the ride with many oaths, implores those +around him to hold their tongues and remain quiet. Why he should trouble +himself to do this, as he knows that no one will obey his orders, it is +difficult to surmise. Or why men should stand still in the middle of a +large wood when they expect a fox to break, because Mr. Jorrocks swears +at them, is also not to be understood. Our friend pays no attention to +Mr. Jorrocks, but makes for the end of the ride, going with ears erect, +and listening to the distant hounds as they turn upon the turning fox. +As they turn, he returns; and, splashing through the mud of the now +softened ground, through narrow tracks, with the boughs in his face, +listening always, now hoping, now despairing, speaking to no one, but +following and followed, he makes his way backwards and forwards through +the wood, till at last, weary with wishing and working, he rests himself +in some open spot, and begins to eat his luncheon. It is now past two, +and it would puzzle him to say what pleasure he has as yet had out of +his day's amusement. + +But now, while the flask is yet at his mouth, he hears from some distant +corner a sound that tells him that the fox is away. He ought to have +persevered, and then he would have been near them. As it is, all that +labour of riding has been in vain, and he has before him the double task +of finding the line of the hounds and of catching them when he has found +it. He has a crowd of men around him; but he knows enough of hunting +to be aware that the men who are wrong at such moments are always more +numerous than they who are right. He has to choose for himself, and +chooses quickly, dashing down a ride to the right, while a host of +those who know that he is one of them who like it, follow closely at +his heels, too closely, as he finds at the first fence out of the woods, +when one of his young admirers almost jumps on the top of him. "Do you +want to get into my pocket, sir?" he says, angrily. The young admirer is +snubbed, and, turning away, attempts to make a line for himself. + +But though he has been followed, he has great doubt as to his own +course. To hesitate is to be lost, so he goes on, on rapidly, looking as +he clears every fence for the spot at which he is to clear the next; but +he is by no means certain of his course. Though he has admirers at +his heels who credit him implicitly, his mind is racked by an agony of +ignorance. He has got badly away, and the hounds are running well, and +it is going to be a good thing; and he will not see it. He has not +been in for anything good this year, and now this is his luck! His eye +travels round over the horizon as he is gallopping, and though he sees +men here and there, he can catch no sign of a hound; nor can he catch +the form of any man who would probably be with them. But he perseveres, +choosing his points as he goes, till the tail of his followers becomes +thinner and thinner. He comes out upon a road, and makes the pace as +good as he can along the soft edge of it. He sniffs at the wind, knowing +that the fox, going at such a pace as this, must run with it. He tells +himself from outward signs where he is, and uses his dead knowledge to +direct him. He scorns to ask a question as he passes countrymen in his +course, but he would give five guineas to know exactly where the hounds +are at that moment. He has been at it now forty minutes, and is in +despair. His gallant nag rolls a little under him, and he knows that he +has been going too fast. And for what; for what? What good has it all +done him? What good will it do him, though he should kill the beast? +He curses between his teeth, and everything is vanity and vexation of +spirit. + +"They've just run into him at Boxall Springs, Mr. Jones," says a farmer +whom he passes on the road. Boxall Springs is only a quarter of a mile +before him, but he wonders how the farmer has come to know all about it. +But on reaching Boxall Springs he finds that the farmer was right, and +that Tom is already breaking up the fox. "Very good thing, Mr. Jones," +says the squire in good humour. Our friend mutters something between his +teeth and rides away in dudgeon from the triumphant master. On his road +home he hears all about it from everybody. It seems to him that he alone +of all those who are anybody has missed the run, the run of the season! +"And killed him in the open as you may say," says Smith, who has already +twice boasted in Jones's hearing that he had seen every turn the hounds +had made. "It wasn't in the open," says Jones, reduced in his anger to +diminish as far as may be the triumph of his rival. + +Such is the fate, the too frequent fate of the man who hunts and does +like it. + + + + +THE LADY WHO RIDES TO HOUNDS. + +Among those who hunt there are two classes of hunting people who always +like it, and these people are hunting parsons and hunting ladies. That +it should be so is natural enough. In the life and habits of parsons +and ladies there is much that is antagonistic to hunting, and they who +suppress this antagonism do so because they are Nimrods at heart. +But the riding of these horsemen under difficulties, horsemen and +horsewomen, leaves a strong impression on the casual observer of +hunting; for to such an one it seems that the hardest riding is +forthcoming exactly where no hard riding should be expected. On the +present occasion I will, if you please, confine myself to the lady who +rides to hounds, and will begin with an assertion, which will not +be contradicted, that the number of such ladies is very much on the +increase. + +Women who ride, as a rule, ride better than men. They, the women, have +always been instructed; whereas men have usually come to ride without +any instruction. They are put upon ponies when they are all boys, and +put themselves upon their fathers' horses as they become hobbledehoys: +and thus they obtain the power of sticking on to the animal while +he gallops and jumps, and even while he kicks and shies; and, so +progressing, they achieve an amount of horsemanship which answers +the purposes of life. But they do not acquire the art of riding with +exactness, as women do, and rarely have such hands as a woman has on +a horse's mouth. The consequence of this is that women fall less often +than men, and the field is not often thrown into the horror which would +arise were a lady known to be in a ditch with a horse lying on her. + +I own that I like to see three or four ladies out in a field, and I like +it the better if I am happy enough to count one or more of them among +my own acquaintances. Their presence tends to take off from hunting that +character of horseyness, of both fast horseyness and slow horseyness, +which has become, not unnaturally, attached to it, and to bring it +within the category of gentle sports. There used to prevail an idea that +the hunting man was of necessity loud and rough, given to strong drinks, +ill adapted for the poetries of life, and perhaps a little prone to make +money out of his softer friend. It may now be said that this idea is +going out of vogue, and that hunting men are supposed to have that same +feeling with regard to their horses, the same and no more, which ladies +have for their carriage or soldiers for their swords. Horses are valued +simply for the services that they can render, and are only valued highly +when they are known to be good servants. That a man may hunt without +drinking or swearing, and may possess a nag or two without any +propensity to sell it or them for double their value, is now beginning +to be understood. The oftener that women are to be seen "out," the more +will such improved feelings prevail as to hunting, and the pleasanter +will be the field to men who are not horsey, but who may nevertheless be +good horsemen. + +There are two classes of women who ride to hounds, or, rather, among +many possible classifications, there are two to which I will now call +attention. There is the lady who rides, and demands assistance; and +there is the lady who rides, and demands none. Each always, I may +say always, receives all the assistance that she may require; but the +difference between the two, to the men who ride with them, is very +great. It will, of course, be understood that, as to both these samples +of female Nimrods, I speak of ladies who really ride, not of those who +grace the coverts with, and disappear under the auspices of, their papas +or their grooms when the work begins. + +The lady who rides and demands assistance in truth becomes a nuisance +before the run is over, let her beauty be ever so transcendent, her +horsemanship ever-so-perfect, and her battery of general feminine +artillery ever so powerful. She is like the American woman, who is +always wanting your place in a railway carriage, and demanding it, too, +without the slightest idea of paying you for it with thanks; whose study +it is to treat you as though she ignored your existence while she is +appropriating your services. The hunting lady who demands assistance is +very particular about her gates, requiring that aid shall be given to +her with instant speed, but that the man who gives it shall never +allow himself to be hurried as he renders it. And she soon becomes +reproachful, oh, so soon! It is marvellous to watch the manner in which +a hunting lady will become exacting, troublesome, and at last imperious, +deceived and spoilt by the attention which she receives. She teaches +herself to think at last that a man is a brute who does not ride as +though he were riding as her servant, and that it becomes her to assume +indignation if every motion around her is not made with some reference +to her safety, to her comfort, or to her success. I have seen women look +as Furies look, and heard them speak as Furies are supposed to speak, +because men before them could not bury themselves and their horses out +of their way at a moment's notice, or because some pulling animal would +still assert himself while they were there, and not sink into submission +and dog-like obedience for their behoof. + +I have now before my eyes one who was pretty, brave, and a good +horse-woman; but how men did hate her! When you were in a line with her +there was no shaking her off. Indeed, you were like enough to be shaken +off yourself, and to be rid of her after that fashion. But while you +were with her you never escaped her at a single fence, and always felt +that you were held to be trespassing against her in some manner. I shall +never forget her voice, "Pray, take care of that gate." And yet it was +a pretty voice, and elsewhere she was not given to domineering more than +is common to pretty women in general; but she had been taught badly from +the beginning, and she was a pest. It was the same at every gap. "Might +I ask you not to come too near me?" And yet it was impossible to escape +her. Men could not ride wide of her, for she would not ride wide of +them. She had always some male escort with her, who did not ride as she +rode, and consequently, as she chose to have the advantage of an escort, +of various escorts, she was always in the company of some who did not +feel as much joy in the presence of a pretty young woman as men should +do under all circumstances. "Might I ask you not to come too near me?" +If she could only have heard the remarks to which this constant little +request of hers gave rise. She is now the mother of children, and her +hunting days are gone, and probably she never makes that little request. +Doubtless that look, made up partly of offence and partly of female +dignity, no longer clouds her brow. But I fancy that they who knew her +of old in the hunting field never approach her now without fancying that +they hear those reproachful words, and see that powerful look of injured +feminine weakness. + +But there is the hunting lady who rides hard and never asks for +assistance. Perhaps I may be allowed to explain to embryo Dianas, to the +growing huntresses of the present age, that she who rides and makes +no demand receives attention as close as is ever given to her more +imperious sister. And how welcome she is! What a grace she lends to +the day's sport! How pleasant it is to see her in her pride of place, +achieving her mastery over the difficulties in her way by her own wit, +as all men, and all women also, must really do who intend to ride to +hounds; and doing it all without any sign that the difficulties are too +great for her! + +The lady who rides like this is in truth seldom in the way. I have heard +men declare that they would never wish to see a side-saddle in the field +because women are troublesome, and because they must be treated with +attention let the press of the moment be ever so instant. From this I +dissent altogether. The small amount of courtesy that is needed is more +than atoned for by the grace of her presence, and in fact produces no +more impediment in the hunting-field than in other scenes of life. +But in the hunting-field, as in other scenes, let assistance never be +demanded by a woman. If the lady finds that she cannot keep a place in +the first flight without such demands on the patience of those around +her, let her acknowledge to herself that the attempt is not in her line, +and that it should be abandoned. If it be the ambition of a hunting lady +to ride straight, and women have very much of this ambition, let her use +her eyes but never her voice; and let her ever have a smile for those +who help her in her little difficulties. Let her never ask any one "to +take care of that gate," or look as though she expected the profane +crowd to keep aloof from her. So shall she win the hearts of those +around her, and go safely through brake and brier, over ditch and dyke, +and meet with a score of knights around her who will be willing and able +to give her eager aid should the chance of any moment require it. + +There are two accusations which the more demure portion of the world +is apt to advance against hunting ladies, or, as I should better say, +against hunting as an amusement for ladies. It leads to flirting, they +say, to flirting of a sort which mothers would not approve; and it leads +to fast habits, to ways and thoughts which are of the horse horsey, and +of the stable, strongly tinged with the rack and manger. The first of +these accusations is, I think, simply made in ignorance. As girls are +brought up among us now-a-days, they may all flirt, if they have a mind +to do so; and opportunities for flirting are much better and much more +commodious in the ball-room, in the drawing-room, or in the park, than +they are in the hunting-field. Nor is the work in hand of a nature to +create flirting tendencies, as, it must be admitted, is the nature of +the work in hand when the floors are waxed and the fiddles are going. +And this error has sprung from, or forms part of, another, which is +wonderfully common among non-hunting folk. It is very widely thought +by many, who do not, as a rule, put themselves in opposition to the +amusements of the world, that hunting in itself is a wicked thing; that +hunting men are fast, given to unclean living and bad ways of life; that +they usually go to bed drunk, and that they go about the world roaring +hunting cries, and disturbing the peace of the innocent generally. +With such men, who could wish that wife, sister, or daughter should +associate? But I venture to say that this opinion, which I believe to be +common, is erroneous, and that men who hunt are not more iniquitous +than men who go out fishing, or play dominoes, or dig in their gardens. +Maxima debetur pueris reverentia, and still more to damsels; but if boys +and girls will never go where they will hear more to injure them than +they will usually do amidst the ordinary conversation of a hunting +field, the maxima reverentia will have been attained. + +As to that other charge, let it be at once admitted that the young lady +who has become of the horse horsey has made a fearful, almost a fatal +mistake. And so also has the young man who falls into the same error. I +hardly know to which such phase of character may be most injurious. It +is a pernicious vice, that of succumbing to the beast that carries you, +and making yourself, as it were, his servant, instead of keeping him +ever as yours. I will not deny that I have known a lady to fall into +this vice from hunting; but so also have I known ladies to marry their +music-masters and to fall in love with their footmen. But not on that +account are we to have no music-masters and no footmen. + +Let the hunting lady, however, avoid any touch of this blemish, +remembering that no man ever likes a woman to know as much about a horse +as he thinks he knows himself. + + + + +THE HUNTING FARMER. + +Few hunting men calculate how much they owe to the hunting farmer, or +recognize the fact that hunting farmers contribute more than any other +class of sportsmen towards the maintenance of the sport. It is hardly +too much to say that hunting would be impossible if farmers did not +hunt. If they were inimical to hunting, and men so closely concerned +must be friends or enemies, there would be no foxes left alive; and +no fox, if alive, could be kept above ground. Fences would be +impracticable, and damages would be ruinous; and any attempt to maintain +the institution of hunting would be a long warfare in which the opposing +farmer would certainly be the ultimate conqueror. What right has the +hunting man who goes down from London, or across from Manchester, to +ride over the ground which he treats as if it were his own, and to which +he thinks that free access is his undoubted privilege? Few men, I +fancy, reflect that they have no such right, and no such privilege, or +recollect that the very scene and area of their exercise, the land that +makes hunting possible to them, is contributed by the farmer. Let any +one remember with what tenacity the exclusive right of entering upon +their small territories is clutched and maintained by all cultivators in +other countries; let him remember the enclosures of France, the vine and +olive terraces of Tuscany, or the narrowly-watched fields of Lombardy; +the little meadows of Switzerland on which no stranger's foot is allowed +to come, or the Dutch pastures, divided by dykes, and made safe from all +intrusions. Let him talk to the American farmer of English hunting, and +explain to that independent, but somewhat prosaic husbandman, that in +England two or three hundred men claim the right of access to every +man's land during the whole period of the winter months! Then, when he +thinks of this, will he realize to himself what it is that the English +farmer contributes to hunting in England? The French countryman cannot +be made to understand it. You cannot induce him to believe that if +he held land in England, looking to make his rent from tender young +grass-fields and patches of sprouting corn, he would be powerless to +keep out intruders, if those intruders came in the shape of a rushing +squadron of cavalry, and called themselves a hunt. To him, in accordance +with his existing ideas, rural life under such circumstances would be +impossible. A small pan of charcoal, and an honourable death-bed, would +give him relief after his first experience of such an invasion. + +Nor would the English farmer put up with the invasion, if the English +farmer were not himself a hunting man. Many farmers, doubtless, do not +hunt, and they bear it, with more or less grace; but they are inured to +it from their infancy, because it is in accordance with the habits and +pleasures of their own race. Now and again, in every hunt, some man +comes up, who is, indeed, more frequently a small proprietor new to the +glories of ownership, than a tenant farmer, who determines to vindicate +his rights and oppose the field. He puts up a wire-fence round his +domain, thus fortifying himself, as it were, in his citadel, and defies +the world around him. It is wonderful how great is the annoyance which +one such man may give, and how thoroughly he may destroy the comfort of +the coverts in his neighbourhood. But, strong as such an one is in his +fortress, there are still the means of fighting him. The farmers around +him, if they be hunting men, make the place too hot to hold him. To them +he is a thing accursed, a man to be spoken of with all evil language, +as one who desires to get more out of his land than Providence, that is, +than an English Providence, has intended. Their own wheat is exposed, +and it is abominable to them that the wheat of another man should be +more sacred than theirs. + +All this is not sufficiently remembered by some of us when the period +of the year comes which is trying to the farmer's heart, when the young +clover is growing, and the barley has been just sown. Farmers, as +a rule, do not think very much of their wheat. When such riding is +practicable, of course they like to see men take the headlands and +furrows; but their hearts are not broken by the tracks of horses across +their wheat-fields. I doubt, indeed, whether wheat is ever much injured +by such usage. But let the thoughtful rider avoid the new-sown barley; +and, above all things, let him give a wide berth to the new-laid meadows +of artificial grasses. They are never large, and may always be shunned. +To them the poaching of numerous horses is absolute destruction. The +surface of such enclosures should be as smooth as a billiard-table, so +that no water may lie in holes; and, moreover, any young plant cut by a +horse's foot is trodden out of existence. Farmers do see even this done, +and live through it without open warfare; but they should not be put to +such trials of temper or pocket too often. + +And now for my friend the hunting farmer in person, the sportsman whom I +always regard as the most indispensable adjunct to the field, to whom I +tender my spare cigar with the most perfect expression of my good will. +His dress is nearly always the same. He wears a thick black coat, dark +brown breeches, and top boots, very white in colour, or of a very dark +mahogany, according to his taste. The hunting farmer of the old school +generally rides in a chimney-pot hat; but, in this particular, the +younger brethren of the plough are leaving their old habits, and running +into caps, net hats, and other innovations which, I own, are somewhat +distasteful to me. And there is, too, the ostentatious farmer, who rides +in scarlet, signifying thereby that he subscribes his ten or fifteen +guineas to the hunt fund. But here, in this paper, it is not of him I +speak. He is a man who is so much less the farmer, in that he is the +more an ordinary man of the ordinary world. The farmer whom we have now +before us shall wear the old black coat, and the old black hat, and the +white top boots, rather daubed in their whiteness; and he shall be the +genuine farmer of the old school. + +My friend is generally a modest man in the field, seldom much given to +talking unless he be first addressed; and then he prefers that you shall +take upon yourself the chief burden of the conversation. But on certain +hunting subjects he has his opinion, indeed, a very strong opinion, and +if you can drive him from that, your eloquence must be very great. He is +very urgent about special coverts, and even as to special foxes; and +you will often find smouldering in his bosom, if you dive deep enough to +search for it, a half-smothered fire of indignation against the master +because the country has, according to our friend's views, been drawn +amiss. In such matters the farmer is generally right; but he is slow to +communicate his ideas, and does not recognize the fact that other men +have not the same opportunities for observation which belong to him. A +master, however, who understands his business will generally consult a +farmer; and he will seldom, I think, or perhaps never, consult any one +else. + +Always shake hands with your friend the farmer. It puts him at his ease +with you, and he will tell you more willingly after that ceremony what +are his ideas about the wind, and what may be expected of the day. +His day's hunting is to him a solemn thing, and he gives to it all his +serious thought. If any man can predicate anything of the run of a fox, +it is the farmer. + +I had almost said that if any one knew anything of scent, it is the +farmer; but of scent I believe that not even the farmer knows anything. +But he knows very much as to the lie of the country, and should my +gentle reader by chance have taken a glass or two of wine above ordinary +over night, the effect of which will possibly be a temporary distaste +to straight riding, no one's knowledge as to the line of the lanes is so +serviceable as that of the farmer. + +As to riding, there is the ambitious farmer and the unambitious farmer; +the farmer who rides hard, that is, ostensibly hard, and the farmer who +is simply content to know where the hounds are, and to follow them at +a distance which shall maintain him in that knowledge. The ambitious +farmer is not the hunting farmer in his normal condition; he is either +one who has an eye to selling his horse, and, riding with that view, +loses for the time his position as farmer; or he is some exceptional +tiller of the soil who probably is dangerously addicted to hunting as +another man is addicted to drinking; and you may surmise respecting him +that things will not go well with him after a year or two. The friend +of my heart is the farmer who rides, but rides without sputtering; who +never makes a show of it, but still is always there; who feels it to be +no disgrace to avoid a run of fences when his knowledge tells him that +this may be done without danger of his losing his place. Such an one +always sees a run to the end. Let the pace have been what it may, he is +up in time to see the crowd of hounds hustling for their prey, and to +take part in the buzz of satisfaction which the prosperity of the run +has occasioned. But the farmer never kills his horse, and seldom rides +him even to distress. He is not to be seen loosing his girths, or +looking at the beast's flanks, or examining his legs to ascertain what +mischances may have occurred. He takes it all easily, as men always take +matters of business in which they are quite at home. At the end of the +run he sits mounted as quietly as he did at the meet, and has none +of that appearance of having done something wonderful, which on such +occasions is so very strong in the faces of the younger portion of the +pink brigade. To the farmer his day's hunting is very pleasant, and by +habit is even very necessary; but it comes in its turn like market-day, +and produces no extraordinary excitement. He does not rejoice over an +hour and ten minutes with a kill in the open, as he rejoices when he +has returned to Parliament the candidate who is pledged to repeal of the +malt-tax; for the farmer of whom we are speaking now, though he rides +with constancy, does not ride with enthusiasm. + +O fortunati sua si bona norint farmers of England! Who in the town is +the farmer's equal? What is the position which his brother, his uncle, +his cousin holds? He is a shopkeeper, who never has a holiday, and does +not know what to do with it when it comes to him; to whom the fresh air +of heaven is a stranger; who lives among sugars and oils, and the dust +of shoddy, and the size of new clothing. Should such an one take to +hunting once a week, even after years of toil, men would point their +fingers at him and whisper among themselves that he was as good as +ruined. His friends would tell him of his wife and children; and, +indeed, would tell him truly, for his customers would fly from him. +But nobody grudges the farmer his day's sport! No one thinks that he is +cruel to his children and unjust to his wife because he keeps a nag for +his amusement, and can find a couple of days in the week to go among his +friends. And with what advantages he does this! A farmer will do as much +with one horse, will see as much hunting, as an outside member of +the hunt will do with four, and, indeed, often more. He is his own +head-groom, and has no scruple about bringing his horse out twice a +week. He asks no livery-stable keeper what his beast can do, but tries +the powers of the animal himself, and keeps in his breast a correct +record. When the man from London, having taken all he can out of his +first horse, has ridden his second to a stand-still, the farmer trots up +on his stout, compact cob, without a sign of distress. He knows that the +condition of a hunter and a greyhound should not be the same, and that +his horse, to be in good working health, should carry nearly all the +hard flesh that he can put upon him. How such an one must laugh in his +sleeve at the five hunters of the young swell who, after all, is brought +to grief in the middle of the season, because he has got nothing to +ride! A farmer's horse is never lame, never unfit to go, never throws +out curbs, never breaks down before or behind. Like his master, he is +never showy. He does not paw, and prance, and arch his neck, and bid the +world admire his beauties; but, like his master, he is useful; and when +he is wanted, he can always do his work. + +O fortunatus nimium agricola, who has one horse, and that a good one, in +the middle of a hunting country! + + + + +THE MAN WHO HUNTS AND NEVER JUMPS. + +The British public who do not hunt believe too much in the jumping of +those who do. It is thought by many among the laity that the hunting +man is always in the air, making clear flights over five-barred gates, +six-foot walls, and double posts and rails, at none of which would the +average hunting man any more think of riding than he would at a small +house. We used to hear much of the Galway Blazers, and it was supposed +that in County Galway a stiff-built wall six feet high was the sort of +thing that you customarily met from field to field when hunting in that +comfortable county. Such little impediments were the ordinary food of a +real Blazer, who was supposed to add another foot of stonework and a sod +of turf when desirous of making himself conspicuous in his moments of +splendid ambition. Twenty years ago I rode in Galway now and then, and +I found the six-foot walls all shorn of their glory, and that men whose +necks were of any value were very anxious to have some preliminary +knowledge of the nature of the fabric, whether for instance it might +be solid or built of loose stones, before they trusted themselves to +an encounter with a wall of four feet and a half. And here, in England, +history, that nursing mother of fiction, has given hunting men honours +which they here never fairly earned. The traditional five-barred gate +is, as a rule, used by hunting men as it was intended to be used by the +world at large; that is to say, they open it; and the double posts and +rails which look so very pretty in the sporting pictures, are thought to +be very ugly things whenever an idea of riding at them presents itself. +It is well that mothers should know, mothers full of fear for their boys +who are beginning, that the necessary jumping of the hunting field is +not after all of so very tremendous a nature; and it may be well also to +explain to them and to others that many men hunt with great satisfaction +to themselves who never by any chance commit themselves to the peril of +a jump, either big or little. + +And there is much excellent good sense in the mode of riding adopted by +such gentlemen. Some men ride for hunting, some for jumping, and some +for exercise; some, no doubt, for all three of these things. Given a +man with a desire for the latter, no taste for the second, and some +partiality for the first, and he cannot do better than ride in the +manner I am describing. He may be sure that he will not find himself +alone; and he may be sure also that he will incur none of that ridicule +which the non-hunting man is disposed to think must be attached to such +a pursuit. But the man who hunts and never jumps, who deliberately makes +up his mind that he will amuse himself after that fashion, must always +remember his resolve, and be true to the conduct which he has laid down +for himself. He must jump not at all. He must not jump a little, when +some spurt or spirit may move him, or he will infallibly find himself in +trouble. There was an old Duke of Beaufort who was a keen and practical +sportsman, a master of hounds, and a known Nimrod on the face of the +earth; but he was a man who hunted and never jumped. His experience was +perfect, and he was always true to his resolution. Nothing ever tempted +him to cross the smallest fence. He used to say of a neighbour of his, +who was not so constant, "Jones is an ass. Look at him now. There he is, +and he can't get out. Jones doesn't like jumping, but he jumps a little, +and I see him pounded every day. I never jump at all, and I'm always +free to go where I like." The Duke was certainly right, and Jones was +certainly wrong. To get into a field, and then to have no way of getting +out of it, is very uncomfortable. As long as you are on the road you +have a way open before you to every spot on the world's surface, open, +or capable of being opened; or even if incapable of being opened, not +positively detrimental to you as long as you are on the right side. But +that feeling of a prison under the open air is very terrible, and is +rendered almost agonizing by the prisoner's consciousness that his +position is the result of his own imprudent temerity, of an audacity +which falls short of any efficacious purpose. When hounds are running, +the hunting man should always, at any rate, be able to ride on, to ride +in some direction, even though it be in a wrong direction. He can then +flatter himself that he is riding wide and making a line for himself. +But to be entrapped into a field without any power of getting out of it; +to see the red backs of the forward men becoming smaller and smaller in +the distance, till the last speck disappears over some hedge; to see the +fence before you and know that it is too much for you; to ride round and +round in an agony of despair which is by no means mute, and at last to +give sixpence to some boy to conduct you back into the road; that is +wretched: that is real unhappiness. I am, therefore, very persistent in +my advice to the man who purposes to hunt without jumping. Let him not +jump at all. To jump, but only to jump a little, is fatal. Let him think +of Jones. + +The man who hunts and doesn't jump, presuming him not to be a duke or +any man greatly established as a Nimrod in the hunting world, generally +comes out in a black coat and a hat, so that he may not be specially +conspicuous in his deviations from the line of the running. He began his +hunting probably in search of exercise, but has gradually come to add a +peculiar amusement to that pursuit; and of a certain phase of hunting he +at last learns more than most of those who ride closest to the hounds. +He becomes wonderfully skillful in surmising the line which a fox may +probably take, and in keeping himself upon roads parallel to the ruck +of the horsemen. He is studious of the wind, and knows to a point of +the compass whence it is blowing. He is intimately conversant with every +covert in the country; and, beyond this, is acquainted with every earth +in which foxes have had their nurseries, or are likely to locate them. +He remembers the drains on the different farms in which the hunted +animal may possible take refuge, and has a memory even for rabbit-holes. +His eye becomes accustomed to distinguish the form of a moving horseman +over half-a-dozen fields; and let him see but a cap of any leading man, +and he will know which way to turn himself. His knowledge of the country +is correct to a marvel. While the man who rides straight is altogether +ignorant of his whereabouts, and will not even distinguish the woods +through which he has ridden scores of times, the man who rides and never +jumps always knows where he is with the utmost accuracy. Where parish is +divided from parish and farm from farm, has been a study to him; and he +has learned the purpose and bearing of every lane. He is never thrown +out, and knows the nearest way from every point to point. If there be a +line of gates across from one road to another he will use them, but he +will commit himself to a line of gates on the land of no farmer who uses +padlocks. + +As he trots along the road, occasionally breaking into a gallop when he +perceives from some sign known to him that the hunt is turning from him, +he is generally accompanied by two or three unfortunates who have lost +their way and have straggled from the hounds; and to them he is a +guide, philosopher, and friend. He is good-natured for the moment, and +patronizes the lost ones. He informs them that they are at last in the +right way, and consoles them by assurances that they have lost nothing. + +"The fox broke, you know, from the sharp corner of Granby-wood," he +says; "the only spot that the crowd had left for him. I saw him come +out, standing on the bridge in the road. Then he ran up-wind as far +as Green's barn." "Of course he did," says one of the unfortunates +who thinks he remembers something of a barn in the early part of the +performance. "I was with the three or four first as far as that." "There +were twenty men before the hounds there," says our man of the road, who +is not without a grain of sarcasm, and can use it when he is strong +on his own ground. "Well, he turned there, and ran back very near the +corner; but he was headed by a sheep-dog, luckily, and went to the left +across the brook." "Ah, that's where I lost them," says one unfortunate. +"I was with them miles beyond that," says another. "There were five or +six men rode the brook," continues our philosopher, who names the four +or five, not mentioning the unfortunate who had spoken last as having +been among the number. "Well; then he went across by Ashby Grange, +and tried the drain at the back of the farmyard, but Bootle had had it +stopped. A fox got in there one day last March, and Bootle always stops +it since that. So he had to go on, and he crossed the turnpike close +by Ashby Church. I saw him cross, and the hounds were then full five +minutes behind him. He went through Frolic Wood, but he didn't hang a +minute, and right up the pastures to Morley Hall." "That's where I was +thrown out," says the unfortunate who had boasted before, and who is +still disposed to boast a little. But our philosopher assures him that +he has not in truth been near Morley Hall; and when the unfortunate one +makes an attempt to argue, puts him down thoroughly. "All I can say is, +you couldn't have been there and be here too at this moment. Morley Hall +is a mile and a half to our right, and now they're coming round to the +Linney. He'll go into the little wood there, and as there isn't as much +as a nutshell open for him, they'll kill him there. It'll have been a +tidy little thing, but not very fast. I've hardly been out of a trot +yet, but we may as well move on now." Then he breaks into an easy canter +by the side of the road, while the unfortunates, who have been rolling +among the heavy-ploughed ground in the early part of the day, make vain +efforts to ride by his side. They keep him, however, in sight, and are +comforted; for he is a man with a character, and knows what he is about. +He will never be utterly lost, and as long as they can remain in his +company they will not be subjected to that dreadful feeling of absolute +failure which comes upon an inexperienced sportsman when he finds +himself quite alone, and does not know which way to turn himself. + +A man will not learn to ride after this fashion in a day, nor yet in +a year. Of all fashions of hunting it requires, perhaps, the most +patience, the keenest observation, the strongest memory, and the +greatest efforts of intellect. But the power, when achieved, has its +triumph; it has its respect, and it has its admirers. Our friend, while +he was guiding the unfortunates on the road, knew his position, and rode +for a while as though he were a chief of men. He was the chief of men +there. He was doing what he knew how to do, and was not failing. He had +made no boasts which stern facts would afterwards disprove. And when +he rode up slowly to the wood-side, having from a distance heard the +huntsman's whoop that told him of the fox's fate, he found that he had +been right in every particular. No one at that moment knows the line +they have all ridden as well as he knows it. But now, among the crowd, +when men are turning their horses' heads to the wind, and loud questions +are being asked, and false answers are being given, and the ambitious +men are congratulating themselves on their deeds, he sits by listening +in sardonic silence. "Twelve miles of ground !" he says to himself, +repeating the words of some valiant youngster; "if it's eight, I'll eat +it." And then when he hears, for he is all ear as well as all eye, when +he hears a slight boast from one of his late unfortunate companions, a +first small blast of the trumpet which will become loud anon if it be +not checked, he smiles inwardly, and moralizes on the weakness of human +nature. But the man who never jumps is not usually of a benevolent +nature, and it is almost certain that he will make up a little story +against the boaster. + +Such is the amusement of the man who rides and never jumps. Attached to +every hunt there will be always one or two such men. Their evidence is +generally reliable; their knowledge of the country is not to be doubted; +they seldom come to any severe trouble; and have usually made for +themselves a very wide circle of hunting acquaintances by whom they +are quietly respected. But I think that men regard them as they do the +chaplain on board a man-of-war, or as they would regard a herald on +a field of battle. When men are assembled for fighting, the man who +notoriously does not fight must feel himself to be somewhat lower than +his brethren around him, and must be so esteemed by others. + + + + +THE HUNTING PARSON. + +I feel some difficulty in dealing with the character I am now about +to describe. The world at large is very prone to condemn the hunting +parson, regarding him as a man who is false to his profession; and, for +myself, I am not prepared to say that the world is wrong. Had my pastors +and masters, my father and mother, together with the other outward +circumstances of my early life, made a clergyman of me, I think that I +should not have hunted, or at least, I hope that I might have abstained; +and yet, for the life of me, I cannot see the reason against it, or tell +any man why a clergyman should not ride to hounds. In discussing the +subject, and I often do discuss it, the argument against the practice +which is finally adopted, the argument which is intended to be +conclusive, simply amounts to this, that a parish clergyman who does +his duty cannot find the time. But that argument might be used with much +more truth against other men of business, against those to whose hunting +the world takes no exception. Indeed, of all men, the ordinary parish +clergyman, is, perhaps, the least liable to such censure. He lives in +the country, and can hunt cheaper and with less sacrifice of time than +other men. His professional occupation does not absorb all his hours, +and he is too often an idle man, whether he hunt or whether he do not. +Nor is it desirable that any man should work always and never play. I +think it is certainly the fact that a clergyman may hunt twice a week +with less objection in regard to his time than any other man who has +to earn his bread by his profession. Indeed, this is so manifestly the +case, that I am sure that the argument in question, though it is the one +which is always intended to be conclusive, does not in the least convey +the objection which is really felt. The truth is, that a large and most +respectable section of the world still regards hunting as wicked. It is +supposed to be like the Cider Cellars or the Haymarket at twelve o'clock +at night. The old ladies know that the young men go to these wicked +places, and hope that no great harm is done; but it would be dreadful +to think that clergymen should so degrade themselves. Now I wish I could +make the old ladies understand that hunting is not wicked. + +But although that expressed plea as to the want of time really amounts +to nothing, and although the unexpressed feeling of old ladies as to the +wickedness of hunting does not in truth amount to much, I will not +say that there is no other impediment in the way of a hunting parson. +Indeed, there have come up of late years so many impediments in the way +of any amusement on the part of clergymen, that we must almost presume +them to be divested at their consecration of all human attributes except +hunger and thirst. In my younger days, and I am not as yet very old, +an elderly clergyman might play his rubber of whist whilst his younger +reverend brother was dancing a quadrille; and they might do this without +any risk of a rebuke from a bishop, or any probability that their +neighbours would look askance at them. Such recreations are now +unclerical in the highest degree, or if not in the highest, they are +only one degree less so than hunting. The theatre was especially a +respectable clerical resource, and we may still occasionally see +heads of colleges in the stalls, or perhaps a dean, or some rector, +unambitious of further promotion. But should a young curate show himself +in the pit, he would be but a lost sheep of the house of Israel. And +latterly there went forth, at any rate in one diocese, a firman against +cricket! Novels, too, are forbidden; though the fact that they may be +enjoyed in solitude saves the clergy from absolute ignorance as to that +branch of our national literature. All this is hard upon men who, let +them struggle as they may to love the asceticisms of a religious life, +are only men; and it has a strong tendency to keep out of the Church +that very class, the younger sons of country gentlemen, whom all +Churchmen should wish to see enter it. Young men who think of the matter +when the time for taking orders is coming near, do not feel themselves +qualified to rival St. Paul in their lives; and they who have not +thought of it find themselves to be cruelly used when they are expected +to make the attempt. + +But of all the amusements which a layman may follow and a clergyman may +not, hunting is thought to be by much the worst. There is a savour of +wickedness about it in the eyes of the old ladies which almost takes it +out of their list of innocent amusements even for laymen. By the term +old ladies it will be understood, perhaps, that I do not allude simply +to matrons and spinsters who may be over the age of sixty, but to that +most respectable portion of the world which has taught itself to abhor +the pomps and vanities. Pomps and vanities are undoubtedly bad, and +should be abhorred; but it behooves those who thus take upon themselves +the duties of censors to be sure that the practices abhorred are in +truth real pomps and actual vanities, not pomps and vanities of the +imagination. Now as to hunting, I maintain that it is of itself the +most innocent amusement going, and that it has none of that Cider-Cellar +flavour with which the old ladies think that it is so savoury. Hunting +is done by a crowd; but men who meet together to do wicked things meet +in small parties. Men cannot gamble in the hunting-field, and drinking +there is more difficult than in almost any other scene of life. Anonyma, +as we were told the other day, may show herself; but if so, she rides +alone. The young man must be a brazen sinner, too far gone for hunting +to hurt him, who will ride with Anonyma in the field. I know no vice +which hunting either produces or renders probable, except the vice of +extravagance; and to that, if a man be that way given, every pursuit in +life will equally lead him A seat for a Metropolitan borough, or a love +of ortolans, or a taste even for new boots will ruin a man who puts +himself in the way of ruin. The same may be said of hunting, the same +and no more. + +But not the less is the general feeling very strong against the hunting +parson; and not the less will it remain so in spite of anything that I +may say. Under these circumstances our friend the hunting parson usually +rides as though he were more or less under a cloud. The cloud is not +to be seen in a melancholy brow or a shamed demeanour; for the hunting +parson will have lived down those feelings, and is generally too +forcible a man to allow himself to be subjected to such annoyances; nor +is the cloud to be found in any gentle tardiness of his motions, or an +attempt at suppressed riding; for the hunting parson generally rides +hard. Unless he loved hunting much he would not be there. But the cloud +is to be perceived and heard in the manner in which he speaks of himself +and his own doings. He is never natural in his self-talk as is any +other man. He either flies at his own cloth at once, marring some false +apology for his presence, telling you that he is there just to see the +hounds, and hinting to you his own knowledge that he has no business to +ride after them; or else he drops his profession altogether, and speaks +to you in a tone which makes you feel that you would not dare to speak +to him about his parish. You can talk to the banker about his banking, +the brewer about his brewing, the farmer about his barley, or the +landlord about his land; but to a hunting parson of this latter class, +you may not say a word about his church. + +There are three modes in which a hunting parson may dress himself for +hunting, the variations having reference solely to the nether man. As +regards the upper man there can never be a difference. A chimney-pot +hat, a white neckerchief, somewhat broad in its folds and strong with +plentiful starch, a stout black coat, cut rather shorter than is common +with clergymen, and a modest, darksome waistcoat that shall attract no +attention, these are all matters of course. But the observer, if he will +allow his eye to descend below these upper garments, will perceive that +the clergyman may be comfortable and bold in breeches, or he may be +uncomfortable and semi-decorous in black trowsers. And there is another +mode of dress open to him, which I can assure my readers is not an +unknown costume, a tertium quid, by which semi-decorum and comfort are +combined. The hunting breeches are put on first, and the black trowsers +are drawn over them. + +But in whatever garb the hunting parson may ride, he almost invariably +rides well, and always enjoys the sport. If he did not, what would tempt +him to run counter, as he does, to his bishop and the old ladies? And +though, when the hounds are first dashing out of covert, and when +the sputtering is beginning and the eager impetuosity of the young is +driving men three at a time into the same gap, when that wild excitement +of a fox just away is at its height, and ordinary sportsmen are rushing +for places, though at these moments the hunting parson may be able to +restrain himself, and to declare by his momentary tranquillity that +he is only there to see the hounds, he will ever be found, seeing +the hounds also, when many of that eager crowd have lagged behind, +altogether out of sight of the last tail of them. He will drop into the +running, as it were out of the clouds, when the select few have settled +down steadily to their steady work; and the select few will never look +upon him as one who, after that, is likely to fall out of their number. +He goes on certainly to the kill, and then retires a little out of +the circle, as though he had trotted in at that spot from his ordinary +parochial occupations, just to see the hounds. + +For myself I own that I like the hunting parson. I generally find him +to be about the pleasantest man in the field, with the most to say for +himself, whether the talk be of hunting, of politics, of literature, or +of the country. He is never a hunting man unalloyed, unadulterated, and +unmixed, a class of man which is perhaps of all classes the most tedious +and heavy in hand. The tallow-chandler who can talk only of candles, +or the barrister who can talk only of his briefs, is very bad; but the +hunting man who can talk only of his runs, is, I think, worse even than +the unadulterated tallow-chandler, or the barrister unmixed. Let me +pause for a moment here to beg young sportsmen not to fall into this +terrible mistake. Such bores in the field are, alas, too common; but the +hunting parson never sins after that fashion. Though a keen sportsman, +he is something else besides a sportsman, and for that reason, if for no +other, is always a welcome addition to the crowd. + +But still I must confess at the end of this paper, as I hinted also +at the beginning of it, that the hunting parson seems to have made a +mistake. He is kicking against the pricks, and running counter to that +section of the world which should be his section. He is making +himself to stink in the nostrils of his bishop, and is becoming a +stumbling-block, and a rock of offence to his brethren. It is bootless +for him to argue, as I have here argued, that his amusement is in itself +innocent, and that some open-air recreation is necessary to him. Grant +him that the bishops and old ladies are wrong and that he is right in +principle, and still he will not be justified. Whatever may be our walk +in life, no man can walk well who does not walk with the esteem of his +fellows. Now those little walks by the covert sides, those pleasant +little walks of which I am writing, are not, unfortunately, held to be +estimable, or good for themselves, by English clergymen in general. + + + + +THE MASTER OF HOUNDS. + +The master of hounds best known by modern description is the master of +the Jorrocks type. Now, as I take it, this is not the type best known +by English sportsmen, nor do the Jorrocks ana, good though they be, give +any fair picture of such a master of hounds as ordinarily presides over +the hunt in English counties. Mr. Jorrocks comes into a hunt when no +one else can be found to undertake the work; when, in want of any one +better, the subscribers hire his services as those of an upper +servant; when, in fact, the hunt is at a low ebb, and is struggling for +existence. Mr. Jorrocks with his carpet-bag then makes his appearance, +driving the hardest bargain that he can, purposing to do the country +at the lowest possible figure, followed by a short train of most +undesirable nags, with reference to which the wonder is that Mr. +Jorrocks should be able to induce any hunting servant to trust his neck +to their custody. Mr. Jorrocks knows his work, and is generally a most +laborious man. Hunting is his profession, but it is one by which he can +barely exist. He hopes to sell a horse or two during the season, and in +this way adds something of the trade of a dealer to his other trade. But +his office is thankless, ill-paid, closely watched, and subject to all +manner of indignities. Men suspect him, and the best of those who ride +with him will hardly treat him as their equal. He is accepted as a +disagreeable necessity, and is dismissed as soon as the country can do +better for itself. Any hunt that has subjected itself to Mr. Jorrocks +knows that it is in disgrace, and will pass its itinerant master on to +some other district as soon as it can suit itself with a proper master +of the good old English sort. + +It is of such a master as this, a master of the good old English sort, +and not of an itinerant contractor for hunting, that I here intend to +speak. Such a master is usually an old resident in the county which he +hunts; one of those country noblemen or gentlemen whose parks are the +glory of our English landscape, and whose names are to be found in the +pages of our county records; or if not that, he is one who, with a view +to hunting, has brought his family and fortune into a new district, and +has found a ready place as a country gentleman among new neighbours. It +has been said that no one should become a member of Parliament unless +he be a man of fortune. I hold such a rule to be much more true with +reference to a master of hounds. For his own sake this should be so, and +much more so for the sake of those over whom he has to preside. It is +a position in which no man can be popular without wealth, and it is a +position which no man should seek to fill unless he be prepared to spend +his money for the gratification of others. It has been said of masters +of hounds that they must always have their hands in their pockets, and +must always have a guinea to find there; and nothing can be truer than +this if successful hunting is to be expected. Men have hunted countries, +doubtless, on economical principles, and the sport has been carried on +from year to year; but under such circumstances it is ever dwindling and +becoming frightfully less. The foxes disappear, and when found almost +instantly sink below ground. Distant coverts, which are ever the best +because less frequently drawn, are deserted, for distance of course adds +greatly to expense. The farmers round the centre of the county become +sullen, and those beyond are indifferent; and so, from bad to worse, +the famine goes on till the hunt has perished of atrophy. Grease to the +wheels, plentiful grease to the wheels, is needed in all machinery; but +I know of no machinery in which everrunning grease is so necessary as in +the machinery of hunting. + +Of such masters as I am now describing there are two sorts, of which, +however, the one is going rapidly and, I think, happily out of fashion. +There is the master of hounds who takes a subscription, and the master +who takes none. Of the latter class of sportsman, of the imperial head +of a country who looks upon the coverts of all his neighbours as being +almost his own property, there are, I believe, but few left. Nor is such +imperialism fitted for the present age. In the days of old of which we +read so often, the days of Squire Western, when fox-hunting was still +young among us, this was the fashion in which all hunts were maintained. +Any country gentleman who liked the sport kept a small pack of hounds, +and rode over his own lands or the lands of such of his neighbours as +had no similar establishments of their own. We never hear of Squire +Western that he hunted the county, or that he went far afield to his +meets. His tenants joined him, and by degrees men came to his hunt from +greater distances around him. As the necessity for space increased, +increasing from increase of hunting ambition, the richer and more +ambitious squires began to undertake the management of wider areas, and +so our hunting districts were formed. But with such extension of area +there came, of course, necessity of extended expenditure, and so the +fashion of subscription lists arose. There have remained some few great +Nimrods who have chosen to be magnanimous and to pay for everything, +despising the contributions of their followers. Such a one was the late +Earl Fitzhardinge, and after such manner in, as I believe, the Berkeley +hunt still conducted. But it need hardly be explained, that as +hunting is now conducted in England, such a system is neither fair nor +palatable. It is not fair that so great a cost for the amusement of +other men should fall upon any one man's pocket; nor is it palatable +to others that such unlimited power should be placed in any one +man's hands. The ordinary master of subscription hounds is no doubt +autocratic, but he is not autocratic with all the power of tyranny which +belongs to the despot who rules without taxation. I doubt whether any +master of a subscription pack would advertise his meets for eleven, with +an understanding that the hounds were never to move till twelve, when +he intended to be present in person. Such was the case with Lord +Fitzhardinge, and I do not know that it was generally thought that he +carried his power too far. And I think, too, that gentlemen feel that +they ride with more pleasure when they themselves contribute to the cost +of their own amusement. + +Our master of hounds shall be a country gentleman who takes a +subscription, and who therefore, on becoming autocratic, makes himself +answerable to certain general rules for the management of his autocracy. +He shall hunt not less, let us say, than three days a week; but though +not less, it will be expected probably that he will hunt oftener. That +is, he will advertise three days and throw a byeday in for the benefit +of his own immediate neighbourhood; and these byedays, it must be known, +are the cream of hunting, for there is no crowd, and the foxes break +sooner and run straighter. And he will be punctual to his time, giving +quarter to none and asking none himself. He will draw fairly through the +day, and indulge no caprices as to coverts. The laws, indeed, are +never written, but they exist and are understood; and when they be too +recklessly disobeyed, the master of hounds falls from his high place and +retires into private life, generally with a broken heart. In the hunting +field, as in all other communities, republics, and governments, the +power of the purse is everything. As long as that be retained, the +despotism of the master is tempered and his rule will be beneficent. + +Five hundred pounds a day is about the sum which a master should demand +for hunting an average country, that is, so many times five hundred +pounds a year as he may hunt days in the week. If four days a week be +required of him, two thousand a year will be little enough. But as a +rule, I think masters are generally supposed to charge only for the +advertised days, and to give the byedays out of their own pocket. Nor +must it be thought that the money so subscribed will leave the master +free of expense. As I have said before, he should be a rich man. +Whatever be the subscription paid to him, he must go beyond it, very +much beyond it, or there will grow up against him a feeling that he is +mean, and that feeling will rob him of all his comfort. Hunting men in +England wish to pay for their own amusement; but they desire that more +shall be spent than they pay. And in this there is a rough justice, +that roughness of justice which pervades our English institutions. To a +master of hounds is given a place of great influence, and into his +hands is confided an authority the possession of which among his +fellow-sportsmen is very pleasant to him. For this he is expected to +pay, and he does pay for it. A Lord Mayor is, I take it, much in the +same category. He has a salary as Lord Mayor, but if he do not spend +more than that on his office he becomes a byword for stinginess among +Lord Mayors To be Lord Mayor is his whistle, and he pays for it. + +For myself, if I found myself called upon to pay for one whistle or the +other, I would sooner be a master of hounds than a Lord Mayor. The power +is certainly more perfect, and the situation, I think, more splendid. +The master of hounds has no aldermen, no common council, no liverymen. +As long as he fairly performs his part of the compact, he is altogether +without control. He is not unlike the captain of a man-of-war; but, +unlike the captain of a man-of-war, he carries no sailing orders. He +is free to go where he lists, and is hardly expected to tell any one +whither he goeth. He is enveloped in a mystery which, to the young, adds +greatly to his grandeur; and he is one of those who, in spite of the +democratic tenderness of the age, may still be said to go about as a +king among men. No one contradicts him. No one speaks evil of him to +his face; and men tremble when they have whispered anything of some +half-drawn covert, of some unstopped earth, some fox that should not +have escaped, and, looking round, see that the master is within +earshot. He is flattered, too, if that be of any avail to him. How he +is flattered! What may be done in this way to Lord Mayors by common +councilmen who like Mansion-house crumbs, I do not know; but kennel +crumbs must be very sweet to a large class of sportsmen. Indeed, they +are so sweet that almost every man will condescend to flatter the master +of hounds. And ladies too, all the pretty girls delight to be spoken +to by the master! He needs no introduction, but is free to sip all the +sweets that come. Who will not kiss the toe of his boots, or refuse to +be blessed by the sunshine of his smile? + +But there are heavy duties, deep responsibilities, and much true +heart-felt anxiety to stand as makeweight against all these sweets. +The master of hounds, even though he take no part in the actual work of +hunting his own pack, has always his hands full of work. He is always +learning, and always called upon to act on his knowledge suddenly. A +Lord Mayor may sit at the Mansionhouse, I think, without knowing much of +the law. He may do so without discovery of his ignorance. But the master +of hounds who does not know his business is seen through at once. To +say what that business is would take a paper longer than this, and the +precept writer by no means considers himself equal to such a task. But +it is multifarious, and demands a special intellect for itself. The +master should have an eye like an eagle's, an ear like a thief's, and a +heart like a dog's that can be either soft or ruthless as occasion may +require. How he should love his foxes, and with what pertinacity he +should kill them! How he should rejoice when his skill has assisted in +giving the choice men of his hunt a run that they can remember for the +next six years! And how heavy should be his heart within him when he +trudges home with them, weary after a blank day, to the misery of which +his incompetency has, perhaps, contributed! A master of hounds should be +an anxious man; so anxious that the privilege of talking to pretty girls +should be of little service to him. + +One word I will say as to the manners of a master of hounds, and then I +will have done. He should be an urbane man, but not too urbane; and he +should certainly be capable of great austerity. It used to be said that +no captain of a man-of-war could hold his own without swearing. I will +not quite say the same of a master of hounds, or the old ladies who +think hunting to be wicked will have a handle against me. But I will +declare that if any man could be justified in swearing, it would be a +master of hounds. The troubles of the captain are as nothing to his. +The captain has the ultimate power of the sword, or at any rate of the +fetter, in his hands, while the master has but his own tongue to trust, +his tongue and a certain influence which his position gives him. The +master who can make that influence suffice without swearing is indeed a +great man. Now-a-days swearing is so distasteful to the world at large, +that great efforts are made to rule without it, and some such efforts +are successful; but any man who has hunted for the last twenty years +will bear me out in saying that hard words in a master's mouth used to +be considered indispensable. Now and then a little irony is tried. "I +wonder, sir, how much you'd take to go home?" I once heard a master ask +of a red-coated stranger who was certainly more often among the hounds +than he need have been. "Nothing on earth, sir, while you carry on as +you are doing just at present," said the stranger. The master accepted +the compliment, and the stranger sinned no more. + +There are some positions among mankind which are so peculiarly blessed +that the owners of them seem to have been specially selected by +Providence for happiness on earth in a degree sufficient to raise the +malice and envy of all the world around. An English country gentleman +with ten thousand a year must have been so selected. Members of +Parliament with seats for counties have been exalted after the same +unjust fashion. Popular masters of old-established hunts sin against +their fellows in the same way. But when it comes to a man to fill up all +these positions in England, envy and malice must be dead in the land if +he be left alive to enjoy their fruition. + + + + +HOW TO RIDE TO HOUNDS + +Now attend me, Diana and the Nymphs, Pan, Orion, and the Satyrs, for I +have a task in hand which may hardly be accomplished without some divine +aid. And the lesson I would teach is one as to which even gods must +differ, and no two men will ever hold exactly the same opinion. Indeed, +no written lesson, no spoken words, no lectures, be they ever so often +repeated, will teach any man to ride to hounds. The art must come of +nature and of experience; and Orion, were he here, could only tell the +tyro of some few blunders which he may avoid, or give him a hint or two +as to the manner in which he should begin. + +Let it be understood that I am speaking of fox-hunting, and let the +young beginner always remember that in hunting the fox a pack of hounds +is needed. The huntsman, with his servants, and all the scarlet-coated +horsemen in the field, can do nothing towards the end for which they are +assembled without hounds. He who as yet knows nothing of hunting will +imagine that I am laughing at him in saying this; but, after a while, he +will know how needful it is to bear in mind the caution I here give +him, and will see how frequently men seem to forget that a fox cannot be +hunted without hounds. A fox is seen to break from the covert, and men +ride after it; the first man, probably, being some cunning sinner, who +would fain get off alone if it were possible, and steal a march upon the +field. But in this case one knave makes many fools; and men will rush, +and ride along the track of the game, as though they could hunt it, and +will destroy the scent before the hounds are on it, following, in their +ignorance, the footsteps of the cunning sinner. Let me beg my young +friend not to be found among this odious crowd of marplots. His business +is to ride to hounds; and let him do so from the beginning of the run, +persevering through it all, taking no mean advantages, and allowing +himself to be betrayed into as few mistakes as possible; but let him +not begin before the beginning. If he could know all that is inside the +breast of that mean man who commenced the scurry, the cunning man who +desires to steal a march, my young friend would not wish to emulate +him. With nine-tenths of the men who flutter away after this ill fashion +there is no design of their own in their so riding. They simply wish to +get away, and in their impatience forget the little fact that a pack of +hounds is necessary for the hunting of a fox. + +I have found myself compelled to begin with this preliminary caution, as +all riding to hounds hangs on the fact in question. Men cannot ride to +hounds if the hounds be not there. They may ride one after another, +and that, indeed, suffices for many a keen sportsman; but I am now +addressing the youth who is ambitious of riding to hounds. But though I +have thus begun, striking first at the very root of the matter, I must +go back with my pupil into the covert before I carry him on through the +run. In riding to hounds there is much to do before the straight work +commences. Indeed, the straight work is, for the man, the easiest work, +or the work, I should say, which may be done with the least previous +knowledge. Then the horse, with his qualities, comes into play; and if +he be up to his business in skill, condition, and bottom, a man may go +well by simply keeping with others who go well also. Straight riding, +however, is the exception and not the rule. It comes sometimes, and is +the cream of hunting when it does come; but it does not come as often as +the enthusiastic beginner will have taught himself to expect. + +But now we will go back to the covert, and into the covert if it be a +large one. I will speak of three kinds of coverts, the gorse, the wood, +and the forest. There are others, but none other so distinct as to +require reference. As regards the gorse covert, which of all is the most +delightful, you, my disciple, need only be careful to keep in the crowd +when it is being drawn. You must understand that if the plantation +which you see before you, and which is the fox's home and homestead, +be surrounded, the owner of it will never leave it. A fox will run back +from a child among a pack of hounds, so much more terrible is to him the +human race even than the canine. The object of all men of course is that +the fox shall go, and from a gorse covert of five acres he must go very +quickly or die among the hounds. It will not be long before he starts if +there be space left for him to creep out, as he will hope, unobserved. +Unobserved he will not be, for the accustomed eye of some whip or +servant will have seen him from a corner. But if stray horsemen roaming +round the gorse give him no room for such hope, he will not go. All +which is so plainly intelligible, that you, my friend, will not fail +to understand why you are required to remain with the crowd. And with +simple gorse coverts there is no strong temptation to move about. They +are drawn quickly, and though there be a scramble for places when the +fox has broken, the whole thing is in so small a compass that there is +no difficulty in getting away with the hounds. In finding your right +place, and keeping it when it is found, you may have difficulty; but +in going away from a gorse the field will be open for you, and when +the hounds are well out and upon the scent, then remember your Latin; +Occupet extremum scabies. + +But for one fox found in a gorse you will, in ordinary countries, see +five found in woods; and as to the place and conduct of a hunting man +while woods are being drawn, there is room for much doubt. I presume +that you intend to ride one horse throughout the day, and that you wish +to see all the hunting that may come in your way. This being so, it will +be your study to economize your animal's power, and to keep him fresh +for the run when it comes. You will hardly assist your object in this +respect by seeing the wood drawn, and galloping up and down the rides as +the fox crosses and recrosses from one side of it to another. Such rides +are deep with mud, and become deeper as the work goes on; and foxes +are very obstinate, running, if the covert be thick, often for an hour +together without an attempt at breaking, and being driven back when they +do attempt by the horsemen whom they see on all sides of them. It is +very possible to continue at this work, seeing the hounds hunt, with +your ears rather than your eyes, till your nag has nearly done his day's +work. He will still carry you perhaps throughout a good run, but he +will not do so with that elasticity which you will love; and then, +after that, the journey home is, it is occasionally something almost too +frightful to be contemplated. You can, therefore, if it so please you, +station yourself with other patient long-suffering, mindful men at some +corner, or at some central point amidst the rides, biding your time, +consoling yourself with cigars, and not swearing at the vile perfidious, +unfoxlike fox more frequently than you can help. For the fox on such +occasions will be abused with all the calumnious epithets which the +ingenuity of angry men can devise, because he is exercising that +ingenuity the possession of which on his part is the foundation of +fox-hunting. There you will remain, nursing your horse, listening to +chaff, and hoping. But even when the fox does go, your difficulties may +be but beginning. + +It is possible he may have gone on your side of the wood; but much more +probable that he should have taken the other. He loves not that crowd +that has been abusing him, and steals away from some silent distant +corner. You, who are a beginner, hear nothing of his going; and when you +rush off, as you will do with others, you will hardly know at first why +the rush is made. But some one with older eyes and more experienced ears +has seen signs and heard sounds, and knows that the fox is away. Then, +my friend, you have your place to win, and it may be that the distance +shall be too great to allow of your winning it. Nothing but experience +will guide you safely through these difficulties. + +In drawing forests or woodlands your course is much clearer. There is +no question, then, of standing still and waiting with patience, tobacco, +and chaff for the coming start. The area to be drawn is too large to +admit of waiting, and your only duty is to stay as close to the hounds +as your ears and eyes will permit, remembering always that your ears +should serve you much more often than your eyes. And in woodland hunting +that which you thus see and hear is likely to be your amusement for the +day. There is "ample room and verge enough" to run a fox down without +any visit to the open country, and by degrees, as a true love of hunting +comes upon you in place of a love of riding, you will learn to think +that a day among the woodlands is a day not badly spent. At first, when +after an hour and a half the fox has been hunted to his death, or has +succeeded in finding some friendly hole, you will be wondering when the +fun is going to begin. Ah me! how often have I gone through all the fun, +have seen the fun finished, and then have wondered when it was going to +begin; and that, too, in other things besides hunting! + +But at present the fun shall not be finished, and we will go back to the +wood from which the fox is just breaking. You, my pupil, shall have been +patient, and your patience shall be rewarded by a good start. On the +present occasion I will give you the exquisite delight of knowing that +you are there, at the spot, as the hounds come out of the covert. Your +success, or want of success, throughout the run will depend on the way +in which you may now select to go over the three or four first fields. +It is not difficult to keep with hounds if you can get well away with +them, and be with them when they settle to their running. In a long and +fast run your horse may, of course, fail you. That must depend on his +power and his condition. But, presuming your horse to be able to go, +keeping with hounds is not difficult when you are once free from the +thick throng of the riders. And that thick throng soon makes itself +thin. The difficulty is in the start, and you will almost be offended +when I suggest to you what those difficulties are, and suggest also that +such as they are even they may overcome you. You have to choose your +line of riding. Do not let your horse choose it for you instead of +choosing it for yourself. He will probably make such attempts, and it is +not at all improbable that you should let him have his way. Your horse +will be as anxious to go as you are, but his anxiety will carry him +after some other special horse on which he has fixed his eyes. The rider +of that horse may not be the guide that you would select. But some human +guide you must select. Not at first will you, not at first does any man, +choose for himself with serene precision of confident judgment the +line which he will take. You will be flurried, anxious, self-diffident, +conscious of your own ignorance, and desirous of a leader. Many of those +men who are with you will have objects at heart very different from +your object. Some will ride for certain points, thinking that they can +foretell the run of the fox. They may be right; but you, in your new +ambition, are not solicitous to ride away to some other covert because +the fox may, perchance, be going there. Some are thinking of the roads. +Others are remembering that brook which is before them, and riding wide +for a ford. With none such, as I presume, do you wish to place yourself. +Let the hounds be your mark; and if, as may often be the case, you +cannot see them, then see the huntsman; or, if you cannot see him, +follow, at any rate, some one who does. If you can even do this as a +beginner, you will not do badly. + +But, whenever it be possible, let the hounds themselves be your mark, +and endeavour to remember that the leading hounds are those which should +guide you. A single hound who turns when he is heading the pack should +teach you to turn also. Of all the hounds you see there in the open, +probably not one-third are hunting. The others are doing as you do, +following where their guides lead them. It is for you to follow the real +guide, and not the followers, if only you can keep the real guide in +view. To keep the whole pack in view and to ride among them is easy +enough when the scent is slack and the pace is slow. At such times let +me counsel you to retire somewhat from the crowd, giving place to those +eager men who are breaking the huntsman's heart. When the hounds have +come nearer to their fox, and the pace is again good, then they will +retire and make room for you. + +Not behind hounds, but alongside of them, if only you can achieve such +position, it should be your honour and glory to place yourself; and you +should go so far wide of them as in no way to impede them or disturb +them, or even to remind them of your presence. If thus you live with +them, turning as they turn, but never turning among them, keeping your +distance, but losing no yard, and can do this for seven miles over a +grass country in forty-five minutes, then you can ride to hounds better +than nineteen men out of every twenty that you have seen at the meet, +and will have enjoyed the keenest pleasure that hunting, or perhaps, I +may say, that any other amusement, can give you. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Hunting Sketches, by Anthony Trollope + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HUNTING SKETCHES *** + +***** This file should be named 814.txt or 814.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/1/814/ + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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