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 cunningsinner, 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
cunningsinner. 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 enthusiasticbeginner 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