登陆注册
5218100000016

第16章 THE MASTER OF HOUNDS(1)

The master of hounds best known by modern deion is the master of the Jorrocks type.Now,as I take it,this is not the type best known by English sportsmen,nor do the Jorrocks ana,good though they be,give any fair picture of such a master of hounds as ordinarily presides over the hunt in English counties.

Mr.Jorrocks comes into a hunt when no one else can be found to undertake the work;when,in want of any one better,the subscribers hire his services as those of an upper servant;when,in fact,the hunt is at a low ebb,and is struggling for existence.Mr.Jorrocks with his carpet-bag then makes his appearance,driving the hardest bargain that he can,purposing to do the country at the lowest possible figure,followed by a short train of most undesirable nags,with reference to which the wonder is that Mr.Jorrocks should be able to induce any hunting servant to trust his neck to their custody.

Mr.Jorrocks knows his work,and is generally a most laborious man.Hunting is his profession,but it is one by which he can barely exist.He hopes to sell a horse or two during the season,and in this way adds something of the trade of a dealer to his other trade.But his office is thankless,ill-paid,closely watched,and subject to all manner of indignities.Men suspect him,and the best of those who ride with him will hardly treat him as their equal.He is accepted as a disagreeable necessity,and is dismissed as soon as the country can do better for itself.

Any hunt that has subjected itself to Mr.Jorrocks knows that it is in disgrace,and will pass its itinerant master on to some other district as soon as it can suit itself with a proper master of the good old English sort.

It is of such a master as this,a master of the good old English sort,and not of an itinerant contractor for hunting,that Ihere intend to speak.Such a master is usually an old resident in the county which he hunts;one of those country noblemen or gentlemen whose parks are the glory of our English landscape,and whose names are to be found in the pages of our county records;or if not that,he is one who,with a view to hunting,has brought his family and fortune into a new district,and has found a ready place as a country gentleman among new neighbours.It has been said that no one should become a member of Parliament unless he be a man of fortune.I hold such a rule to be much more true with reference to a master of hounds.For his own sake this should be so,and much more so for the sake of those over whom he has to preside.It is a position in which no man can be popular without wealth,and it is a position which no man should seek to fill unless he be prepared to spend his money for the gratification of others.It has been said of masters of hounds that they must always have their hands in their pockets,and must always have a guinea to find there;and nothing can be truer than this if successful hunting is to be expected.Men have hunted countries,doubtless,on economical principles,and the sport has been carried on from year to year;but under such circumstances it is ever dwindling and becoming frightfully less.The foxes disappear,and when found almost instantly sink below ground.

Distant coverts,which are ever the best because less frequently drawn,are deserted,for distance of course adds greatly to expense.The farmers round the centre of the county become sullen,and those beyond are indifferent;and so,from bad to worse,the famine goes on till the hunt has perished of atrophy.

Grease to the wheels,plentiful grease to the wheels,is needed in all machinery;but I know of no machinery in which everrunning grease is so necessary as in the machinery of hunting.

Of such masters as I am now describing there are two sorts,of which,however,the one is going rapidly and,I think,happily out of fashion.There is the master of hounds who takes a subion,and the master who takes none.Of the latter class of sportsman,of the imperial head of a country who looks upon the coverts of all his neighbours as being almost his own property,there are,I believe,but few left.Nor is such imperialism fitted for the present age.In the days of old of which we read so often,the days of Squire Western,when fox-hunting was still young among us,this was the fashion in which all hunts were maintained.Any country gentleman who liked the sport kept a small pack of hounds,and rode over his own lands or the lands of such of his neighbours as had no similar establishments of their own.We never hear of Squire Western that he hunted the county,or that he went far afield to his meets.

同类推荐
  • History of Friedrich II of Prussia

    History of Friedrich II of Prussia

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 不退转法轮经

    不退转法轮经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 太上正一解五音咒诅秘箓

    太上正一解五音咒诅秘箓

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 得依释序文缘起

    得依释序文缘起

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 懒真子

    懒真子

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 快穿之男主大大很会撩

    快穿之男主大大很会撩

    原谅作者很懒,不会写简介,但会好好写作的w唔嘻嘻嘻
  • 龙吟惊九霄

    龙吟惊九霄

    故事讲的是一个和外挂走散的新时代穿越好少年的修真生涯。剑斩苍天,斩尽阻我求道之物;枪挑四野,挑起世间风云变幻。龙吟惊九霄,风云皆退散!
  • 司少老婆是大佬

    司少老婆是大佬

    【正文已完结,推荐系列文《顶级老公,太嚣张!》】被算计的成人礼,她一舞惊人,他宠她蚀骨。然而……他亲睹她纵身跳入悬崖,尸骨无存……六年后,她携龙凤胎萌宝再次出现,却视他为陌路。他粗暴地逼近性情大变的她:“女人,偷了我的基因敢不认账?”她笑靥如花:“先生,我已婚!”“离!”他邪魅一笑:“我不介意回收二手!”“我对渣男不感兴趣。”他是玩世不恭的京中权贵,掌握庞大商业帝国,她是曾经寄人篱下乖巧隐忍的孤女。可当她亮出真实身份时,又是谁高攀了谁?读者群:140463347
  • 你的口才价值百万

    你的口才价值百万

    本书在充分展示口才的巨大威力和价值的基础上,以丰富的事例深入浅出地阐述了练就卓越口才的基本途径、必须知道的各种说话技巧,以及口才在面试、推销、谈判、与同事和上司相处、恋爱、交友中的实际运用,帮助读者掌握各个领域的说话艺术,练就高超的沟通技巧,提前进入成功之途。
  • 妃来雀仙:不嫁腹黑皇上(完结)

    妃来雀仙:不嫁腹黑皇上(完结)

    此文原名《鸾宫:麻雀皇后》,作品宣言:以小白的方式写不小白的文!如果喜欢,请收藏!----------------------------宰相府内,某女使劲扯着嗓门吼道:“来来来,快来下注啦,再不下注就要开啦!机不可失失不再来诶~”没错,她就是相府内那个嗜赌如命的大千金,骨牌,麻将,二十四点无所不会。又一次聚众赌博被狐狸般的老爹抓到,拿出一卷圣旨,爱情戏苦情戏悲情戏亲情戏,总之先骗入宫再说。“哎,雪儿啊,爹也是没有办法啊……”既然要当国之栋梁,那就一栋到底吧,家里的小狐狸女儿也奉献出去好了。出嫁,当今皇上广纳后宫,车辇还没进宫门,三大妃子就先在街口交汇处大打出手。不想夺宠。却无心插柳柳成阴,一曲乐曲,弹死了一个中书令,毁了一个良淑妃。他设计让她做皇后。她却一一化解。精彩片段欣赏:⑴“皇上,臣妾真不会弹琴……”她可怜兮兮的说道。“爱妃……君无戏言,你不要让朕食言嘛”“那……好吧”她敛眉遮住眼中的笑意,小手开始庄正的一挥:“嘎吱……噼里啪啦……啪哒……”“抱歉,我真的不会弹琴……”⑵“爱妃,听说,你这落雪殿出了百鸟朝凤的奇景?”“是呐,可是,鸟儿都没了……”她摆摆手无奈的说道。他的表情露出了一丝的阴沉:“嗯?爱妃,鸟儿没了?”“是啊……因为——臣妾把它们全烤了!”她笑得没心没肺的反问道:“皇上,你要尝尝那烤鸟肉吗?可香,可好吃了”⑶天气晴朗,皇宫上头万里无云。观星台上,他说:“你是我这辈子里遇上的最烂的那一朵桃花”她不乐意了,问道:“江山和美人,你选哪个?”他贪心道:“都要。”
  • 农家小少奶

    农家小少奶

    (已完结)穿越成小村姑?好吧,可以重新活一次。吃不饱穿不暖?没事,姐儿带你们发家致富奔小康。可是,那个比她大七岁的未婚夫怎么破?本宝宝才八岁,前不凸后不翘的,为毛就被看上了?退婚,他不肯;想用银子砸他,悲催的发现,她的银子还没有他的零头;想揭秘身份以势压他,那曾想他隐藏的身份比她牛叉一百倍!婚没退成,反被他压……本文一V一 新文已发《农女艾丁香》求收藏求抱养
  • 豆浆·米糊·果蔬汁

    豆浆·米糊·果蔬汁

    养生豆浆、滋补米糊、健康果蔬汁,营养美味、制作简单,可强身健体、美肤养颜。《美食天下(第2辑):豆浆 米糊果蔬汁》让你学会在家自制天然饮品,让您每天健康多一点。
  • 野性的呼唤

    野性的呼唤

    《野性的呼唤》以美国阿拉斯加淘金热为故事背景,以一只狗——本书的主人公巴克被迫回归野蛮的冒险经历为核心展开故事,表面上讲述了聪明强壮的巴克为了在阿拉斯加荒野的残酷环境中寻求生存与狗群殊死搏斗的冒险故事。但实际上却真实的揭露了处于尔虞我诈、弱肉强食的资本主义发展时期的美国社会现实生活的真实写照,反映了资本主义社会冷酷的优胜劣汰、适者生存的冷酷现实。故事的最后,巴克的野性逐渐被唤醒,它最终选择走向荒野,回归自然,这也正体现了处于封建社会底层的人民对自由的向往与渴望,以及本书的作者杰克·伦敦的追求与理想。
  • 宠眷

    宠眷

    起死回生未必是好事,温灵筠刚在异世重生,就发现自己已经陷入前狼后虎的境地。惹不起总躲得起吧,温灵筠打定主意远离是非,安心做着各种美食,看看宅斗宫斗神马的丰富生活,可偏偏有人不容许她作壁上观。
  • The Story of Mankind

    The Story of Mankind

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。