The first-whip being the disciplinarian of the pack, if I kept hounds one of the chief qualities I should make a point that he possessed, would be good temper. I would do so for humanity's sake, as regards the animals subject to his discipline; and I would do so from the conviction that an irritable savage as first whip would risk the spoiling any pack of fox-hounds in the kingdom; for where a man lets his bad temper blind his judgment, hounds will frequently get punished when they know not for what the punishment is inflicted, consequently will be as likely to be awed from doing right as wrong. The high blood and temper, and natural boldness of the fox-hound, must be kept in due bounds; but he must not be cowed, or his fine spirit broken; for destroy the dash of the fox-hound, and his great characteristic will be gone-he will become timid, morose, or sulky, and consequently worthless.

A man having gone through the ordeal I have in a summary way described, may fairly feel himself qualified to commence his career as a huntsman, in whose duties practice only will render him perfect.

I would not say it would be absolutely objectionable to make a man huntsman to the same pack to which he had acted as first-whip, but I would rather prefer a man who had not done so. It is true, he would have the recommendation of knowing the hounds, and the merits and demerits of each of them-no small advantage I admit; but against this the hounds know him, and will not readily forget the, discipline they have experienced at his hands; they should, and mostly do, love their huntsman; they fear, and in many cases, hate the first-whip as a supposed enemy; and it will be long ere they gain sufficient confidence to dash up with alacrity to the halloa or cheer of a voice from which they have so often heard a rate, or readily trust to the encouragement of one under whose lash they have so often cowered. We may awe a hound from hunting wrong game, skirting, lagging in cover, or even heedlessly rushing on when not certain he is on the line of his game; but we cannot flog or rate a hound into hunting. We may force a horse into the water, or a hound into cover; but we cannot make the one drink or the other hunt-both are voluntary acts. Hounds, to hunt with alacrity and attention, should at the time feel their spirits buoyant, their actions free, and their labour cheered by a voice they are accustomed to listen to with pleasure and confidence.

As I am in no way attempting a treatise on hunting, I have said enough for my purpose, if I have, as I trust is the case, shewn the numerous qualities required in a huntsman, and consequently the time it must occupy to learn his manifold duties and qualifications.

Now comes the consideration of the prudence of a man taking on himself the character of Amateur Huntsman.

That every man has a perfect right to follow the bent of his inclinations, where they are neither criminal nor absolutely wrong, no one would attempt to deny. We then come to the question as to how far the thus following them is to his credit or not; and, in deciding such question, we must not be guided, or even influenced by the particular opinion of a particular clique, but by the opinions of men in general, of good sense and good taste; for it is the suffrages of such we presume a man would wish to gain. As regards, then, our question in hand, namely, "how far, under ordinary circumstances, it is in a general way judicious in a gentleman to act the part of huntsman," we will not ask the

opinion of professional huntsmen, for we are quite sure what that opinion would be; we will not seek that of one who occasionally eschews the streets of London for a gallop with fox-hounds, for his opinion for or against would not be worth having. We will not ask that of a man who does not hunt at all, so knows nothing of hunting or hounds; nor of one who knows all about both, but knows nothing or little else; but we will zealously seek, and would with confidence be guided by the opinion of him whom we could recognise as a man of sense, a thorough sportsman, and at the same time a man of education and a perfect gentleman; I can but fancy he would say, that "take it on the broad scale, the gentleman would be the least likely to subject himself to unpleasantry and animadversion, who abstained from taking upon himself the office of amateur huntsman to a pack of fox-hounds."

A gentleman hunting his harriers is quite a different affair; he keeps them for his own amusement and that of his friends and acquaintance; his field is not usually numerous. If he is not extremely self-sufficient, he will probably leave his hounds a good deal to themselves, in which case, he will most likely get fair average sport. If he commits an error that a professional huntsman would not have done, no one in the shape of a gentleman would be rude enough to attempt to ridicule, or make offensive remarks on the circumstance; he is virtually a gentleman, taking his morning ride with the pleasing accompaniment of his pack of hounds, instead of doing the same thing without them. No one can condemn his taste.

If of more enthusiastic temperament, without pretending to keep an established pack, a man's taste induces him to exchange his twenty couple of harriers for a moderate pack of fox-hounds, and with a couple or three hunters for himself, and two good screws for his single whip, he hunts fox twice a week; he does not place himself in any objectionably ostensible situation in hunting his little scratch pack, and in proportion to the number of days he hunts during the season, may probably enough shew a very sporting number of noses at the end of it. He is nearly in the same position as a gentleman hunting his harriers; the chief difference being, the one hunts hare, the other fox.

We now come to the amateur taking upon himself the management and the hunting an established pack of fox-hounds, hunting three or four days a week, his fixtures made public, so as to ensure a large field-an arduous and truly hazardous undertaking for any one; how far more so then for a gentleman! Nor let him flatter himself that in so ostensible a situation, his being held as a gentleman will shield him from ridicule, and even rudeness, if he performs his office inefficiently; on the contrary, his self-estimation will be met with sarcasm by the higher class of his field, and the gentleman huntsman will be certain to challenge obloquy, rudeness, and probably impertinence, on the part of the lower.

I might be asked, why I consider it by no means objectionable, the gentleman acting the part of amateur jockey, yet so injudicious his performing or attempting to perform that of amateur huntsman? I judge on these premises: We may reasonably suppose no man would contemplate riding a race who had not from practice become a good general horseman, and (unless the business of a huntsman is over-rated in point of difficulty) one-twentieth part of the time requisite to qualify a

man to hunt a pack of foxhounds, would make a man already a horseman a quite sufficiently good jockey to ride an amateur race well; even if he does not, he mars the sport of no one, consequently calls forth no disappointed expectations from any one; whereas the errors of the huntsman call forth remark, and also anathemas, often both loud and deep, from a whole field-from which Gods of the Chase deliver us.

A gentleman hunting his harriers or private pack of fox-hounds is about on a footing with another who drives his four-in-hand. Hunting an established pack is, as it were, making himself body coachman. The question therefore merges into this, "Is it worth a gentleman's while to devote half a life to qualify himself to do that which, probably after all, a servant would do quite as well, or better?" If a man is content with the praises of a few boon companions, or a number of uneducated bruising yeoman riders, let him learn the duties of a huntsman to the neglect of higher attainments, and much good may his taste do him! But if he wishes to be admired by those whose admiration is worth having, let him keep his fox-hounds by all means; but let his huntsman hunt them. There is no reason then why he should not shine in the drawing-room at night as an accomplished man, as much as he did as a fine sportsman and fine horseman in the morning. But I much fear, yet say it with diffidence, that if a man has devoted enough of his time to the kennel and management of hounds to be held as a perfect huntsman, he runs no small risk of being estimated by men of education, fashion, and taste, as but a somewhat imperfect gentleman.

WILD RED-DEER HUNTING ON EXMOOR FOREST.

BY LINTON.

There are very many good people, who eat, drink, sleep, hunt, shoot, and fish, and amuse themselves in various pleasant ways, as will or occasion prompts them, having the wherewithal, health and inclination, who are nevertheless always ready to find fault with what is, and to refer with admiration to what has been. For my own part, I am quite ready to believe that what is termed "the good old times were good old times for those who then lived and hunted. Nevertheless, having compared them from report and some reading, which is all we can do, with the days we live in, I for one am perfectly satisfied with the present, and I trust I may be enabled to convince many a true-hearted sportsman that I am not far wrong.

For the last month, notwithstanding the brightest of suns, and, with a single check for forty days, the hottest of weather, our sportsmen in the west have been up and doing; leathers and tops, which elsewhere would have been looked on as absurd excentricities, are seen as a matter of course on the forest; and happily, most happily, those who really

have had practical evidence of a glorious run over the moor, and those who are not too bigoted to believe in such sport, having never tried it, have once more, notwithstanding the fears that there would be no staghunting this season, been gladdened by the sound of the huntsman's horn, on the heather-bedecked forest of Exmoor; have listened to the cheerful cheers of the huntsmen, and witnessed the death of many a noble hart and hind.

For several years it has been a pleasant task, to me, to chronicle in the pages of Maga the practical events of the deer-hunting season on Exmoor. My object has been two-fold-the one, that many a good sportsman who now from age or infirmity has ceased to mount the pigskin, or who is far away fighting for his country, and yet looks back to the period he has enjoyed on the bright moors, may read and follow the chase, in memory of other days, as, indeed, for all who love good sport and good fellowship in all their varied pleasures; the other, with the hope that hundreds who neither visit Scotland for grouse shooting, nor fish or yacht, yet have the means for all, and do hunt when the fox-hunting season opens, may be induced to wend their way to the beautiful little town of Lynmouth, in North Devon, or Porlock, or Dulverton, about the middle of August, remaining about two months, and assured am I they will never regret it. At the commencement of the season, either Lynmouth or Porlock is within reach of the hounds; but Lynmouth is decidedly for choice-there are the hounds kennelled, and there will be found scenery as beautiful, if not more beautiful, than any our Merrie England can boast of, combined with all that can make life agreeable. A sportsman, supposing him to be a Benedick, who, in addition to the happiness of possessing a charming wife, has also a lovely family-the natural consequences-and who desires, as of course he should do, that they should share in his pleasures, cannot do better than start, bag and baggage, leathers, wife, horses, and children, and take up his abode for a month at Lynmouth, in the deerhunting season; and assured am I, he will thank me for suggesting a period of enjoyment that he will never forget. The accommodation at Lynmouth is admirable, both for man and beast; and throughout England, though it be strong language, I know of no hotel which surpasses the Lyndale Hotel, at Lynmouth; all the conveniences, nay, luxuries of life, may there be had on very moderate terms. The owners are most civil and attentive; the bed-rooms are airy, and command charming views; and the stable is not only good, but the ostler, who has lived thirteen years in the same place-a strong recommendation-really feeds the horses submitted to his care, and has a thorough knowledge of, and love for the animal, to whom he devotes the labours of his life. I fancy I have already said enough to convince any reasonable man that Lynmouth is not a bad quarter for a sportsman to sojourn at. Let me add a few words more-a clear and sparkling stream, which rushes over rock and stone, through the richly wooded valley of the Lyn, empties itself into the Bristol channel, at the little port of Lynmouth. At this stream, beautiful beyond conception, the alternate days, when the huntsman's horn is silent in the forest, may be well employed in fishing. Or, if your pleasure be not to follow in the footsteps of Izaak Walton, and that perchance your stud admit not of rides over the Moor, or to the charming spots which on all sides surround you, plenty of those clever

and remarkably enduring race of Exmoor ponies will be found standing at all times, ready saddled at your command, and for a small outlay you may go anywhere or everywhere, up rocky hills, down slippery slopes, with wife or daughter or the lady of your heart, in safety; for these little animals possess undeniable qualities of elasticity and limb. Bathing is there, also, in the briny ocean; and when the weather is clear, the distant blue hills of Wales form a pleasing background to the broad waters of 'the Bristol Channel. So much for Lynmouth as an abiding place, apart from the pleasures of the chase. Moreover, though steep and rugged richly wooded hills surround it at all points, and the approaches from all sides are such as to unnerve the timid on their first approach from the heathered hills which surround it in the far distance, it is nevertheless easily reached, even from the Great Metropolis, during the long summer days and golden autumn time, between breakfast and dinner; and yet how few, how very few-notwithstanding the thousands who fly from east to west, north and south, beyond the white cliffs of Albion, in search of the picturesque, or for pastime, or novelty-comparatively, ever venture there! To those who may perchance read these pages, I would venture, with the hope they may be induced to prove the truth of my assertions, to point out to them how easily a sight of this spot, teeming with nature's beauties, may be obtained. The Great Western Railway-and who can deny the comfort of travelling thereby?-in a few short hours whirls you from Paddington to Bridgewater; arrived there, a mail-coach awaits you, which, passing through Minehead, Porlock, and over the moor, through some of the richest scenes of cultivation, varied by moorland beauties, deposits you, with little trouble or fatigue, at the hospitable portals of the Lyndale Hotel, in time for a late dinner; and having slept away the fatigues of travel, in the clean and downy couch, which will there await you, on awaking, throw awide your windows, and look forth and then, whether the clouds hang heavily on the woodlands, and the brook, full from recent rains, rush like a torrent over moss-covered rock and stone, or be it that the bright sun welcome you, as it has for a month past, and the stream flow placidly on towards the sea, your love of nature must be weak indeed, if the pulsations of your heart do not throb in delight that you gaze on such a picture, and be full of gratitude to God that he has made such scenes for man's enjoyment in this our noble England.

In previous papers on the subject of Wild Deer Hunting on Exmoor, as also in a humble work entitled "Exmoor," published by Mr. Newby, of Welbeck-street, I have already entered so fully into the details of the hounds and their owners, for more than half a century back, that it will not be well that I recapitulate it here; enough, that from the middle of August, the period when deer-hunting commences, till the middle of September, the hounds are kennelled at the beautiful spot I have endeavoured briefly to describe; they are then generally removed for a brief period to Exford, a small village equidistant from Lynmouth and Dulverton, and subsequently take up their quarters at Dulverton for the remainder of the season. While at Exford, sportsmen will find either Lynmouth or Dulverton convenient for their meets. At Dulverton, man and horse will obtain very fair accommodation at the Red Lion; though without favour or affection, I must admit that the Lyndale Hotel causes me to be somewhat fastidious as to a change of quarters.