fields, across which the hounds raced away, taking the lead of the horsemen-which is not invariably permitted in this flying district'; and after a slight check, which brought down their noses to hunting, No. 2 was marked to ground near Gaddesby. All seemed satisfied with this first appearance in public of the new Master and his establishment; and if he keeps his place, and can induce the Field to keep theirs, the days of the Old Squires may be revived in this most renowned and highly favoured of all fox-hunting countries. To hunt Leicestershire successfully, the Master who handles his own hounds must be possessed of adamantine nerves, and indomitable courage, like the late Assheton Smith. No other can long hold his ground there. We ought to have added, also, that he must be above dictation, with means of his own sufficient, to treat as of little importance the assistance of others.

As usual, complaints have been made of the failure of scent, even in the month of November, from hardness of ground; in contravention of which, reports reached us from all quarters nearly that the potato crop has been entirely destroyed by heavy rain. We can call to mind many sunshiny, dry Novembers, but this last, of '68, has not certainly been one of the number. In August and September the heat and state of the ground proved as adverse to cubhunting as to partridge-shooting; but in October and November there was sufficient distillation from the clouds to keep it in a moist state, and one not unfavourable to scent. Huntsmen, like farmers, are notoriously grumblers, unless they can have everything their own way, and even with this they would not be satisfied; yet notwithstanding all this grumbling about hard ground, and bad scenting weather, in the earlier months of the season, the noses or scalps of cubs pinned to the kennel-door proved that the generality of packs had had a bit of luck anyway. In short, adopting the old adage of 'making hay while the sun shines,' our enlightened huntsmen of the present age catch them whilst they can, and when they have not the strength or knowledge to escape their enemies. As to cub-hunting, therefore, an old hare Huntsman with his blue mottles would readily account for a whole litter, without the trouble of riding over a fence; so there is no merit in reckoning cubs' noses as equal to those of old foxes. Upon the whole, Squire Musters, as he is called, has had his full share of sport in his new country; and although knowledge of country and the run of foxes have been considered an indispensable, he and his Huntsman appear to have overcome this difficulty. In cub-hunting they could, and would make themselves acquainted with the ins and outs of all, or the principal portion of the coverts within their dominion; but cubs are not likely to contribute much to knowledge of country, in which they are as deficient as their pursuers. An old fox might occasionally lead them some distance into the terrum incognitum, yet, up to the end of October, the best staff of huntsmen and whips cannot be supposed to know any great deal. about the line of foxes in a new country, except that imparted to them by those better versed in its geography. There is,

however, one thing greatly in favour of hounds in a new countrythe Huntsman must trust more to their noses than to his own brains. He cannot take those liberties with the pack which men will do who have hunted a country for several years; and, we rather think, better sport is often afforded from the want of this knowledge than the possession of it. Sad mistakes are made by taking it for granted that one fox will, as a rule, take the same line of country as others found in the same covert have adopted on several occasions, and perhaps in successive seasons. No general rule can be laid down as absolute in this case. Foxes, like human beings, are very fanciful, and one may have good reasons for declining to follow his brother or sister in the beaten track. Vulpines are swayed by a variety of little circumstances, which may not enter into our calculation. Rude Boreas exercises a decided influence over their actions. A fox which, with wind and weather in his favour, would stretch his course over some ten or twelve miles of country to reach a certain asylum underground, is obliged, when stem and tide are against him, to shorten sail and turn down wind for some less secure hiding-place, or trust to his own devices, by short turnings and backslidings, to ease him of his enemies. In dry autumns, such as the past, drains afford good lodging-room, when this greatly persecuted race of animals are barred out from their legitimate homes in the bowels of the earth--since foxes will not lay (as some slip-slops say) above ground when they can lie under it. Leicestershire abounds in this percolating medium for carrying off the superfluity of rain-water from the surface of the soil; and therefore, when the coverts are disturbed too frequently, foxes become shy of visiting them, and prefer lying undisturbed among the tiles, or out in the hedge-rows or turnip-fields, when sufficient rain has fallen to fill the drains with water.

Small pet coverts ought not to be drawn more often than once in the month to insure a find; and although the Field-particularly one composed of Quornites-set their affections upon certain little patches of gorse and spinnies, from which they expect to get their burst or gallop of twenty minutes' best pace, yet to an experienced Master it must occur that such indulgences cannot be accorded without the risk of blank days. One thing is quite self-evident, that when foxes prefer lying anywhere outside their natural kennelling-ground that they have been disturbed too often. Masters of foxhounds who desire to show sport should hunt their country equally, taking the rough parts and the smooth in regular succession, and not think too much upon their mince-pies. Another drawback upon pet places is, the misfortune of killing a fox in them. It is impossible to prevent such a contretemps occurring sometimes; but when it does occur, foxes will naturally avoid the place which has been the scene of a family bereavement. The Quorn is a peculiar fox-hunting country, not blessed-or, as the fast men say, cursed-with an over-abundance of big woods; and therefore requiring a great deal of judicious management. Hitherto Mr. Musters in his new country has done well; and, when better acquainted

1

with it, he is certainly a Master of whom we expect great things -the great qualification to our recommendation being, his steady perseverance in making his hounds hunt through difficulties, which will as much contribute to the efficiency of his pack as to his own. success. A huntsman who will trust to his hounds without undue interference, never need feel apprehension of their appreciating the confidence placed in them. Complaints were made in November of the ground being still as hard as a brick: that complaint cannot be made through December and the beginning of January '69, when the rain has been coming down in torrents, and rivers running in dry places. The temperature of the air, however, notwithstanding hurricanes of wind, has been mild, and favourable to scent in almost all hunting countries, and foxes, upon the whole, plentiful enough.

Whether fox-hunting is to prevail in every county over pheasantshooting, is a question more easily asked than answered, since prcserving is carried on to an extent ruinous to foxes, and keepers will kill them, notwithstanding all they may say to the contrary; and the practice of renting shootings (as they are called) by money-made sporting men is still increasing. With these oppositions, it is of rare occurrence to find any one fox-hunting country undique tutus. Even in the great Shires there are parts unsafe to foxes, and forbidden ground to pink jackets; and it is astonishing what mischief may be caused to a whole Hunt by a surly, ill-favoured occupier of a favourite fox-covert, kept quiet for the sake of game. We have before suggested to Masters of foxhounds the absolute necessity of drawing every covert within their province regularly and methodically, whether large or small. The latter may lay claim to their forbearance sometimes; the former never and the neglect of this duty since duty it is-tends as certainly to the destruction of their sport, by calling too often upon pet places--and this is a crying evil in Leicestershire-foxes will fly to more remote and less often disturbed coverts, or to homes of refuge under the sod. We believe ourselves within compass when we say that the whole of the Quorndon country, now so designated, and Mr. Tailby's, ought, for four or five days a week, to be consolidated under one Master, as in bygone times. The two packs are now continually running into, and disturbing each other's coverts, at most inopportune moments; and in our opinion, founded upon experience, neutral coverts are a great nuisance, and productive of jealous feelings. There are enemies enough to fox-hunting without the camp; let not foxhunters create dissensions within it: they have difficulties sufficient to obtain a fair field without much favour.

We are sorry to find the Rufford and Bedale countries going down in the sporting world, and to read in a provincial paper that war has been declared, by a nobleman in that county, against the East Sussex foxhounds. This does not look promising for the future of fox-hunting in these districts. But, on the other hand, the South Staffordshire-hunted some years since by a very enthusiastic friend of ours-has been revived under the auspicious management

of Lord Henry Paget, whose family have considerable influence in that part of the country. Another new pack of foxhounds, called the Forest Vale Hounds, has also been set going by Major St. John, in the country lately hunted by Captain Dighton's harriers; and having some little knowledge of the woodlands in that locality, we must give the new M. F. H. kudos, and something more than that, for the resolution with which he has undertaken so hazardous an experiment.

'A RUM'UN TO FOLLOW-A BAD'UN TO BEAT.' BY G. J. WHYTE-MELVILLE.

COME, I'll give you the health of a man we all know,
Of a man we all swear by a friend of our own.
With the hounds running hardest, he's safest to go.
And he's always in front, and he's often alone.
A rider unequalled, a sportsman complete,
A rum'un to follow-a bad 'un to beat.

As he sits in the saddle, a baby could tell

He can hustle a sticker, a flyer can spare;
He has science, and nerve, and decision as well;
He knows where he's going, and means to be there.
The first day I saw him, they said at the Meet,
'That's a rum 'un to follow-a bad 'un to beat!"
We threw off at the Castle, we found in the Holt,
Like wildfire the beauties went streaming away!
From the rest of the Field he came out like a bolt,

And he tackled to work like a schoolboy to play,
As he crammed on his hat, and got down in his seat,
This rum 'un to follow-this bad 'un to beat.

'Twas a caution, I vow; but to see the man ride!

O'er the rough and the smooth he went sailing along;

And what Providence sent him he took in his stride,

Though the ditches were deep, and the fences were strong.
And I thought, 'If he leads me, I'm in for a treat,
With this rum 'un to follow-this bad 'un to beat!'
Ere we'd run for a mile, there was room in the front;
Such a scatter and squander I never did see!
And I honestly own, I'd been out of the hunt,

But the broad of his back was the beacon for me.
So I kept him in sight, and was proud of the feat,
'This rum 'un to follow-this bad 'un to beat-
Till we came to a rasper, as black as your hat,

You couldn't see over-you couldn't see through.
So he made for the gate, knowing what he was at,
And the chain being round it-why-over he flew !
While I swore a round oath that I needn't repeat,
At this rum 'un to follow-this bad 'un to beat.

For a place I liked better I hastened to seek;

But the place I liked better I sought for in vain;
And I freely confess, if the truth I must speak,

That I never set eyes on my leader again.
But I thought I'd give something to have the receipt
Of this rum 'un to follow-this bad 'un to beat.

They told me that night, he went best through the run;
They said that he hung up' a dozen 'to dry,'
When the brook in the bottom stopped most of their fun.
But I know that I never went near it—not I!
For I found it a fruitless attempt to compete
With this rum 'un to follow-this bad 'un to beat.
So we'll fill him a bumper, as deep as you please,

And we'll give him a cheer; for, deny it who can!
When the run is severest, he's most at his ease,

When the country is roughest he rides like a man.
And the pace cannot stop, nor the fences defeat,
This rum'un to follow-this bad 'un to beat.

STUD PROSPECTS.

BREEDING establishments are now in full swing, and the columns of Births and Marriages in the pages of the Sporting Press will soon be full to overflowing. Many worthless weeds will be suckled, and the births of many nonentities duly chronicled, during the next quarter of a year, and the death-rate will include many from whose judicious breeding men might justly anticipate a promise of good things to come. The names of some fathers of the Stud, whose success has shone so prominently during the past year, may haply be consigned to comparative oblivion in the ensuing season, and some hitherto unnoticed and unknown may so leave their mark that men may hasten from the setting to fall down before the rising sun, and to bask indiscriminately in his beams, not knowing that they may be blinded by excess of light, or how diversely the powerful rays of the luminary they adore may affect the various currents of the blood of his worshippers. The announcement of the progeny of many an illustrious matron will be anxiously looked for, and their misfortunes lamented as national calamities; while the owners of untried horses will be unceasing in their endeavours to obtain for their young sires that chance,' which fashion often denies to the stoutest, and confers on the flashiest of the young aspirants to Turf honours. Breeders will yearn in vain for the services of Buccaneer; and Mr. Cookson will gaze ruefully at that Gem, albeit of purest ray serene,' for which he exchanged him; while the scions of many a departed hero may bid their progenitors live again in our memories, as we gaze regretfully on the last fruit from an old tree.' Full of years and honours,