For many long, long years Sir Walter has been a M. F. H., and as the inclination and practice combined render most accomplishments attainable, it is somewhat superfluous to say that as a Sportsman he may be equalled but not surpassed. For reasons that will presently peep above the horison, I have not yet had the honor of seeing him in the field; but I have enjoyed the pleasure of seeing his hounds, both there and in "the old house at home"-i. e. the kennel; and if the capacities of a Master may in any way be judged from the stamp, condition, and working of his hounds, then have I sufficient basis for the decision already arrived at.

I have been speaking of Sir Walter as a Master of Fox-hounds, when perhaps, for the time being, I should have described him in strictness as a proprietor of them. I know not how many, but for a few seasons past he has joined the celebrated Quorn Hounds; and that his own wide and extensive country (not much less than fifty miles square) might continue to be as regularly hunted as heretofore, he lent his hounds, huntsman, and horses to those Gentlemen who now comprise the Members of the Tiverton Hunt.

Generally speaking, the management of hounds by a Committee may be summed up as a signal failure. There is a want of condensation of power and authority, and, like a petty republic, there are many voices where there should be but one. However, to all rules exceptions are said to be admissible, and most unquestionably the conducting of matters by the Tiverton Committee may be classed as one among them. The perfection of management in all sublunary matters is to make the means extend towards the end as far as practicability will permit. Now, in accordance with this admirable aphorism, the select few forming the Committee of the Tiverton Hunt act to the true intent and spirit. The subscription, although in the ascendant scale, does not justify the support or the attempted support of an extensive establishment. Indeed, for the efficient hunting of hounds, or, in explicit parlance, to get them to their work in style and finish, John Beale, the Huntsman, and old servant of Sir Walter, requires a helping hand in the field, and for his individual comfort a trifle of aid in the kennel. The office of Whipperin is performed by a Gentleman; and however good his judgment and experience, yet there are times, seasons, and occasions when a Gentleman-whip does not feel disposed to exercise his duties; and as he cannot be told of his passive omissions, or rated for his active erroneous commissions, it must be obvious that it is scarcely an office suitable for one independent of its fulfilment and quite out of the ring of directions.

The maxim has long since been received as decided and irrevocable, that a Whipper-in is as necessary in the field as the Huntsman is, and as a subordinate officer, he should be under the immediate orders of the Huntsman. Beckford or Daniel, I forget which, considers a Whipperin of more service than a Huntsman, if he comprehends his duties and performs them efficiently; and as the discipline and steadiness of the pack depend upon the former-as the Huntsman should seldom rate and never flog-there may be more truth in the allegation than there would seem from a superficial consideration.

Notwithstanding these wants and voids, however, which are threatened to be supplied and filled before the earth has made another twist

upon her axis, the foxes have cogent reasons for wishing with the condensed essence of sincerity, that, instead of facilities being increased for their destruction, means of escape were about to be multiplied tenfold. During the present short season, so, alas! unhappily interrupted by the early frost, many have been the long and gallant runs ending in the bowels of the earth or in glorious death; and if the weather but opens for a brief period, the check, I ween, will be made good by eager stomachs and speedy limbs now ready to fly as a stringed arrow drawn to the barbed head.

Since writing a foregoing article on "Sport in the West," it has been intimated to me that in my observations upon the duties of a Master of Fox-hounds, I carped at those things that I ought not to do; but, as if a mere cipher in my estimation, I in no way alluded to the active virtues of which he may be supposed to possess or to require. In all humility I confess the soft impeachment, setting down nothing by way of extenuation. Penance for my omission, however, shall here be performed, and should the punishment be shared by a few of my Readers, let them remember, that, like the rising bubbles on the surface of the stream occasioned by the specific gravity of a pebble, effects are often seen and felt remote from causes.

And now for a few fleeting reflections on those things which may be primarily deemed as the active duties of a Master of Fox-hounds, or of those, respectively and collectively, who have their management. With the former, however, I shall select to deal in the singular number.

In the first place, he should be popular. Now this per se is often a very difficult and very expensive attribute to possess. The man whose study it is to please the many has a task of no easy description; and yet, unless a Master cau accomplish it, he can neither expect a subscription sufficient to meet his expenses, preservation of foxes, nor anything like an extent of country. I should here state that I am alluding particularly to the Master of a Subscription Pack; for it must be obvious that if a Gentleman hunts his own hounds, without receiving subscriptions, he is not open to the same difficulties, and is not so dependent upon his powers of pleasing everybody. At the same time, the latter more enviable description of "the Head of the Hunt" is far from being independent of his capacities of giving-the Yankees call it -"soft sawder;" for there are no pains, penalties, or inflictions for setting gins, and landowners and occupiers of land are not compelled to permit twenty or five-and-twenty couples of hounds to draw a covert in their possession because a fox may be supposed to be ensconced within its precinets; neither are they obliged, by any written or underwritten law, to allow a hundred or so of horses to break down their gates, rails, and fences, or to gallop at discretion over their broad acres. At the same time, if the proper means be adopted, ninety-nine out of every hundred will gladly consent to the hunting over their lands, and reck little or nothing to the fair injuries that may be occasioned.

And now we will see what these means and appliances are. In the foremost rank stands civility and general courtesy to the Field. I am quite assured that this is one of the chief features, if not the principal, to be observed by a Master if his object be to shew and enjoy good port. We have heard many stories of Masters of the Old School pro

vocative of mirth, more from their want of refinement than their wit, and the roughness of bearing towards anybody and everybody; but the days for uncouth language and hard words have sunk upon the shores of Time, and that is an affront now that formerly might have been received as a good joke. Not a great many years since it was the settled opinion that if a man was a fox-hunter, and more especially if a Master of Hounds, he necessarily must be a swearing, drinking, reckless fellow; but "we change and others change," and thus it is the world becomes newly fashioned.

I remember being out with a well-known Master of the ilk I am alluding to, when, as was his custom, he lost his temper when his hounds lost their fox. Anathemas, maledictions, and oaths flew around upon every man, thing, and circumstance within hailing distance. The Huntsman-unhappy wight!-got more than his usual share; and, after being consigned to warmer regions than the charitable of heart would send a rat to dwell in, he inquired with a rueful visage, "What

he was to do?"

"D-n ye!" replied his irate master, scratching his left ear as if in want of a plea of justification; "why don't ye d-m me again ?"

I would not mention the name of my friend here for the solid consideration of the best mine in all Peru; for it might, and probably would, give offence to a noble but hasty sportsman, and one who occupies an oasis in my memory; but because I abstain from doing so, I trust the authenticity of what I am about to add will not be questioned. Although very wealthy, he professes to be the Master of a Subscription Pack; but I know that he does not receive sufficient to pay for the meal that his hounds consume; and when I was with him on the day I am referring to, I saw a fine large dox fox suspended by the neck to a branch of a tree in one of the best coverts that he draws. It may be said, "Then why does he not throw up the hounds?" The answer is, that he would as soon throw up his life.

My conviction is, that this state of affairs arises in consequence of giving his tongue license, and offending those on whose aid and good nature so much depends. He says, "that it is a want of spirit, and that he does not meet with support on account of the bad breed in the country." If this be so, it must an isolated spot; for throughout Old England, the land of stout hearts and well-strung thews and sinews, the love of hounds seems to be as innate as the love for roast beef and plumpudding, and who will gainsay that this is an innate affection?

To discountenance unfair riding in the field and unnecessarily injuring fences is a duty that the Master owes to the farmer, and if recompense should be given for that which may be unavoidably occasioned, it should be done with a good grace and a liberal spirit, but not of extravagance. It cannot be expected that farmers will preserve foxes if they are to be seriously injured by them.

To occasionally, perhaps often would be better, pay a visit to the kennel will be of very great advantage; and, first of all, being intimately acquainted with the duties to be observed there, the Master should permit no neglect to pass unnoticed or uncensured.

To observe a quiet demeanor in the field is one of his passive accomplishments, and to which I referred in a former paper. However,

it may not be amiss to rccur to it again in taking a bird's eye view of the sum total of the duties of a Master of Fox-hounds. A noisy example renders the Field so; and nothing is more likely to prevent good sport, as hounds become disobedient to the Huntsman, and are likely to divide and over-run their fox when a mob of hallooing noisy boys are shouting from all quarters of the compass. If the Master interferes with the office of the Huntsman, others naturally think that they have a right to do so; and whether they have or not so legitimate a title, still the thought is sufficient for the deed. In addition to this, a Huntsman, if he be worthy of his office, ought not to be interfered with in the field. It is his business to know the proper method to be adopted in hunting hounds; and if he be unacquainted with it, he is not fitted for the duty that he undertakes. Advice, for the most part is a boon most ungraciously received, and, considering that it so often comes in the shape of a reproof, the wonder need not us all "a-gape." It has seldom fallen to my lot to hear a suggestion given to a Huntsman in the field, but that either he was fully aware of the fact, or that it was a palpable error, to observe which would be to commit himself. I might, perchance, after a strong pressure on my store of reflections, manage to squeeze from them an exception or two; but it would be a work in ill accordance with my quasi patience to think long upon nothing.

If a servant does not please his Master, let him be told so, and the why and wherefore, when the blood is cool: hear what he has to say in defence, and be impartial in your judgment, not obstinate in your own conceit. As the leader in the establishment, towards whom the humblest menial connected with it should look with submission to his suggestions in the full confidence that they are right, the Master should be a thorough Sportsman from the hollow of his foot to his cerebrum. If he be not this, his distinction will sit uneasily upon him, and, far from being conducive to his pleasure, it will be frequently a worrying cause of annoyance, and his management, or mis-management, a task of irksome labor.

I must here observe nevertheless, that if a Gentleman be fitted for the office and study, observation, and experience cannot fail to render him so these is none perhaps more gratifying than the Mastership of a crack pack of foxhounds, an extensive country well-preserved, and ample funds to meet the expenses.

But what has this to do with the Tiverton foxhounds? may rationally and seasonably be asked. To continue, therefore, our history.Under the immediate Mastership of Mr. Thomas Carew, a brother of Sir Walter, and the regulation of the Committee, the Hunt is at present conducted-I say at present, because I have heard hopes expressed, and beliefs confirmatory of them, that Sir Walter will resume his Mastership when the leaves of 1845 shall become yellow and sered. I do not add my mite of sanguine desire to the already groaning scale from any selfish motive-for a hundred leagues may interfere between me and the West long ere that-but I do so because I know that it would gratify many a Sportsman in seeing him again in his country and among his old friends.

Accompanied by Mr. J. A. Toms, the Honorary Secretary-than

whom a more obliging Gentleman cannot be-I paid a visit to the kennel on a snowy morn when even the sparrows hopped about in a silent disconsolate mood. Beale, in anticipation of my call, was there, and at once commenced drafting the hounds in the approved order of succession. There are thirty-three couples in the whole, and the first that was selected as a specimen of the symmetrical for my admiration was Vulcan, a very fine young hound, and his two brothers Villager and Vanguard. The latter is somewhat "throaty;" but, barring this thickness of the neck, they are of a very superb shape. I will here class, although they were introduced subsequently, their three sisters, Venus, Vanity, and Virgin, and then, as a litter, I think few could be found to surpass them. Barrister, a grey-pied hound, and a great favorite from the many proofs that he has given of his goodness, caught my attention; but, notwithstanding the Huntsman's assertion to the contrary, I cannot but think that his legs were never so straight as his best friends could wish them to be. Whirligig, a noble hound, ranks among the head and front of the first flight; and Able also is highly prized as an excellent tormentor to pug in difficulties. Nonsuch, with the good old Segrave blood in his veins, and Governor are capital shaped hounds. Among the wonders of the past, Lunatic perhaps stands first. is a black-and-tan hound of neat and compact mould, and the present season makes the seventh since his entry. It is needless to say that the ravages of time and the effects of a fast life are visible; but, like a meteor, he will last bright to his close. Harasser may be termed the patriarch of the kennel; for his blood has been in it for thirty years, although not flowing for this measure of duration in the veins of any exclusive representative of his race.

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The dogs, taking them generally, are not so sizable and level as the eye of a connoisseur could desire; but the bitches, as will be found in most establishments, are far more so. These consist of fifteen couples and a half, and among them certainly are some of the quality unobjectionable. If not the best, yet no better can be found, is a black-and-white bitch called Nimble, and never did a name more befit so lively an animal. I noticed her in the field when quite unknown to me by repute, and her system of being ever at work quite delighted me. Bravery, a sister, but not of mercy, is as choice. She, to win honors and golden opinions, was sent into Leicestershire last season, where, with the Quorn, she took many a leaf of glory as her share in the victories. Watchful is another of those that are more than a match for the wind in speed and equal to the light. Angry, Bounty, and Anxious are too good to pass unnoticed, and so are many others. But to repeat the qualities of hounds in the same kennel seems a wearisome tautology, and so pass we on to deeds of merit that shall test them.

Through the liberality of Mr. Sanford, of Mynehead, and Mr. Cridland, of Spring Grove Park, a handsome subscription from the Somerset country has been added to the funds of the Hunt, which enables the Committee to give one week in five to the coverts in the Somerset district. During this period the pack are kenneled at Spring Grove Park, and the first fixture is made for that place, Mr. Cridland dispensing his proverbial hospitality to the large party invariably assembled on that

occasion.

VOL, V.-THIRD SERIES, N. S.-No. 25.

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