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.
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