diversion more for air and exercise than for amusement, and
if I could have persuaded myself to ride on the turnpike road
to the three-mile stone and back again, I should have thought
I had no need of a pack of harriers.”
Peter Beckford.
I OWE too many pleasant hours to hunting hares to damn the sport with faint praise, but, kind reader, if you notice a want of enthusiasm in the following chapter, pray do not ascribe it so much to my sympathy with the quotation2 that heads this article, as to my desire to pose as an impartial3 critic. Silence, care, and science are the [Pg 106] qualities that a hare-hunter should pride himself on; youth and high spirits, eagerness and impetuosity are the life and soul of fox-hunting—dangerous qualities in the chase of the timid little hare. I have had many a day with beagles and harriers—many a happy one; and yet in fairness I must make the confession4 that the days I enjoyed best were those when they got on to a fox. Ah! I fear if I made a clean breast of it, I should have to tell of days when my brother (who had a fine little cry of beagles) and I used to get up before daybreak, mount our horses, and hie off to the moors5 by ourselves, out of the ear of the sleeping world, to give a belated marauder a jolly good dusting before he made his distant and unstopped earth; and, more rarely [Pg 107] perhaps, the eternal craving6 for “a run” was so great that a man with a bag shook “something” out of it in a lonely spot. Dear me! I could tell some tales. I have in my mind’s eye a day when my brother, with another more famous master of harriers (now, like some others, an M.F.H.), and myself were beaten by the little hounds as they raced away over the moors after an extraordinarily7 fine-smelling fox; but I must check myself, or my style will degenerate8 into that of a fox-hunter’s.
After all, I have a conviction that many a green-coated gentleman has a sneaking10 sympathy with my sins and want of orthodoxy. If these lines meet the eye of any hare-hunter, whose indignation and contempt [Pg 108] is becoming too strong for words at the levity11 with which I speak of his sport, let him keep cool and take comfort, for have not I, as prescribed by the ancient rules of the Cleveland Hunt Club, laid my right hand on the hunting-horn and solemnly declared myself to be “no enemy to fox-hunting and harriers.” Let me answer such an one that I, like him, regard the man who is so innocent of sport that he declares the triumph over the timid hare to be poor, as an ignorant simpleton; and if any one with superior airs were to hazard such a statement to me, my reply would be “All right, my boy! you try your hand on an old buck12 hare on a cold scenting14 day in February, on horseback, if you like; or, if that is too easy, get off and hunt them on foot, be up [Pg 109] to them, see them from start to finish, and tell me how you got on and what you think of it.”
Personally, were I to criticise15 hare-hunting, I should say that too much of the chief diversion is the monopoly of the huntsmen—certainly the days I have thoroughly16 enjoyed have been those when I carried the horn myself. Again, with fast harriers or 20-inch fox-hounds, you must ride, but then you would do better with fox-hounds. If you went on foot, nature must have been lavish17 in her gifts if you have the physical power, courage, and endurance to enable you to keep near enough to see the beautiful detail of harrier work; and, finally, when you have killed your hare, it is rather a miserable-looking trophy18 that is yours. You may ornament19 your smoking-room with your [Pg 110] hares’ heads, but you alone will feel that they are appropriate mural decorations; for your friends a few lop-eared rabbits would be more interesting.
I notice that all authorities on this subject dwell on the fact that hare-hunting is an ancient sport; that old writers describe with great ingenuity20 and veracity21 all the qualities and ways of this clever little beast. Some of these descriptions are most quaint22, for example, the following:—“There are four kind of Hares: some live in the Mountains, some in the Fields, some in the Marshes23, some everywhere, without any place of abode24. They of the Mountains are most swift, they of the Fields less nimble, they of the Marshes most slow, and the wandering Hares are most dangerous to follow.” The habits noted25 by [Pg 111] the naturalist-sportsmen of this period are as wonderful, and bespeak26 as much observation, with almost as excellent results, as those given by certain writers on natural history of our own day; for instance, we are told of the hare: “Her ears lead her the way in her chase, for with one of them she hearkeneth to the cry of the dogs, and the other she stretches forth27 like a sail to hasten her course.”... “Tho’ their sight be dim, yet have they visum indefessum.”... “When they watch they shut their Eyes, when they sleep they open them.”... In these good old times they used the correct terms for all the proceedings28 of the chase, and for every habit and description of each and several kind of beast they had the appropriate language. The hare was a beast of [Pg 112] “venery,” and her meat “venison”; whilst, for dislodging a hart, you used the word “unharbour,” for a buck “rouse”; you “start” a hare, “rear” the boar, and “unkennel” the fox. When once the hare is on foot, if she takes the open field, she “soreth”; when she winds about, she “doubleth”; she “pricketh” on the road, and you “trace” her in the snow. Hounds “hunt change,” “hunt counter,” “draw amiss,” “hunt the foil”; when first they find, they “challenge.” If they are assisted by a relay of hounds, it is called a “vaunt-lay”; if the hare tries a place and gives it up, it is called a “blemish.” When hounds kill, and the hare or any part is given to them, it is the “reward.” The hare was always reckoned among the beasts of chase, and sometimes as the [Pg 113] “king of beasts”; her order amongst beasts of venery came third or first, according to the fancy of the period, but always far ahead of the fox, which was vermin. Here is one list of the “Beasts of venery.” “Hart, hinde, hare, wild boar, wolf. Beasts for hunting: ye hare, hart, wolf, wild boar. Beasts for the chase: ye buck, ye doe, fox, marten, roe29. Beasts which afford greate dysporte: badger30, wild cat, otter31.”
It is interesting, I mean for a fox-hunter, to try and discover why the hare was so much preferred to the fox by the sportsmen of two hundred years ago. One of them gives this reason: “The Fox never flies far before the Hounds, trusting not on his Legs, Strength or Champion [Pg 114] ground [champaign = open country] but strongest Coverts32,” and “when he can no longer stand up before the Hounds, he then taketh Earth, and then must he be digged out.” From these two sentences it is obvious that harriers, accustomed as they were to find their game in the open country, had not developed the habit of drawing thick coverts, and were probably poor hands at bustling33 a fox in a whin cover and at forcing him out. Indeed, we find that they were not always good at finding a hare in the open, for it was a custom to employ “hare-finders,” and Peter Beckford, though he admits paying two guineas in a single day to the men who were thus employed, laments34 the demoralisation of hounds, consequent on the custom making them bad finders. But there were other reasons. Hares were “game”; they were protected under the Game Laws and by special statutes35, such as that of 15 Henry VIII. cap. 18, which made it a penal36 offence to destroy hares in the snow. The hare was, moreover, ubiquitous, whilst foxes were vermin, and regarded as noxious37 animals with a price on their heads, fixed38 by law or local custom—they were scarce and held in contempt when packs of hounds first came in vogue39.
Miss Lavender Pease on “Zaccheus.”
[Pg 115]
Since penning this sentence I have turned over my Beckford. He says: “The hounds most likely to show you sport are between the large, slow-hunting harrier and the little fox-beagle. The former are too dull, too heavy, and too slow; the latter too lively, too light, and [Pg 116] too fleet.” He thinks that if the day is long enough you might kill with the first species, and if the country was deep and wet, the others might be drowned. Beckford bred for many years an “infinity of hounds” before he got what he wanted, but at last he had the pleasure to see them “very handsome,” “small yet bony,” after which, he cynically41 remarks, “when they were thus perfect, I did as many others do, I parted with them.”
Again, the hounds of those earlier days were not, in point of pace and quality, equal to hunting such wild foxes as there were. It was only as the small harriers were improved into the type of what we call fox-hounds, that hunting-men realised that fox-hunting was a high-class sport. Harriers were first turned into regular fox-hounds about the [Pg 117] year 1740. From this date, then, we can begin to class hounds into two divisions: the harriers, kept small, active, but slow, and, above all, sure with their noses; and those improved in size, gradually acquiring the dash and pace necessary for pursuing the fox. Success in hare-hunting depends more on perseverance42; that in fox-hunting, on pace. It is curious to note that the old harrier type is being destroyed. The slow, deep-mouthed southern hound, the beagle, and the light, active, snipey-nosed harrier are going out before the modern craze to have harriers dwarf43 fox-hounds. My own idea is that no sport can be obtained equal to that which was afforded by harriers of the stamp that distinguished44 the pack until lately hunted by Mr. Robert [Pg 118] Fellowes, of Shotesman,—little beauties, all quality and activity, not too fast and flighty to hunt a cold line or a doubling hare, and yet able to drive along when the opportunity arrived, and requiring a good hunter under one when they meant going. It may be replied that in adopting the dwarf fox-hound type, present Masters are reverting45 to a still older standard. I readily admit it. Indeed, I was recently looking at a print of Mr. Astley’s harriers in 1810, in which they are something like “dwarf fox-hounds,” but they are “dwarf,” and, behold46, a terrier accompanies the pack, telling the tale that they hunted the fox as well as the hare. If the old type of hound had answered its purpose, those generations which were hare-hunters rather than [Pg 119] fox-hunters would not have abandoned the dwarf fox-hound type for that which was properly regarded as pure harrier. It is more than doubtful if harriers ought to be more than eighteen inches high; and beagles, for following on foot, should not exceed fourteen inches.
Certainly hare-hunting affords the greatest scope for the huntsman’s craft and the finest exhibition of hound work. The hare is really a much more rusé animal than the fox; she can steal away better, and, once started, there is no end to her wiles47 and dodges48. She runs craftily49 and cunningly, doubling back on her own foil, pricking50 her way down watery51 furrows52, or lobbing along the high road. She will “squat” or “clap” just as hounds are carrying a head, or turn out [Pg 120] a fresh hare; if her pursuers overshoot her, she will sneak9 back in the least expected direction. Hare-hunters are fond of talking about straight-necked hares. My experience has been unfortunate. I have not seen many good points made by hares, and it is not in the straight run that the art of the huntsman and the virtues53 of the harrier are tested and brought into play. To enjoy the regular sport with a pack, you must have a keen appreciation54 of all the niceties of the game, and be able to watch with pleasure all the ins and outs, the windings55 and twistings so neatly56 unravelled57 with such a pretty hubbub58 of bass59 and treble music from the busy little hounds. There is a joy quite of its own in the cry of harriers and beagles (I am not speaking of dwarf fox-hounds). [Pg 121] A minute’s silence at the fault, the competition of all the little beauties casting round—a sight delightful60 to the eye;—then a full note of the pure truth, the rush up to the speaking hound, the chorus of consent from a score of throats, swelling61 to the full cry of the whole pack as they go driving away as if possessed62 by one soul—a sound delightful to the ears, and not exactly described to me by a farmer as “joost like a flock o’ craws gettin’ out ov a tater field.”
Every man has a right to his own opinion, and mine is that the perfection of hare-hunting is with beagles. The average hare is overmatched by the modern harrier. The beagle is not too fast, his nose is finer, he far excels the harrier in vigilance, energy, and persistency63, whilst the music of a pack of beagles is unequalled. But [Pg 122] we live in fast times; we have not the leisure even to enjoy the time it takes for a pack of 10 or 11-inch beagles to trace and puzzle out the course of a hare with beautiful exactness till their perseverance is at length rewarded. We must find a hare at once, and kill her in a few minutes, and, if she is lost, find another without waste of time. This, however, is not the spirit of hare-hunting, but the fever of our day. As a spectacle, as a wonder, and an exhibition of the marvellous senses and powers with which nature has endowed both hare and hound, give me a pack of beagles at work. The present generation of followers64 of harriers are scarcely aware of the perfection to which beagles can be brought, and how undefeated even a 10-inch pack can prove itself to [Pg 123] be with the best of hares. I do not suppose there exists to-day a pack like that of Mr. Honeywood’s, fifty or sixty years ago, not a hound above 10 inches, all level, and every one pure white, a perfect little lot. One contemporary writer said: “It is quite beyond credence65 the number of hares they kill in the course of a season. When running with a good scent13, they might belong to the Fairy Queen, so small, fast, and handsome are they.”
Hare-hunting ought to preserve an honoured place amongst our national sports. For the young on foot it is a manly66 and healthy pursuit; for those who have to ride, a pleasant and pretty pastime. It gives those whose stud is too limited for fox-hunting an opportunity of sharing the incomparable pleasures of the chase. The man on foot, if wind [Pg 124] and limb will not allow him to be with them, can see much of the game from the hill-top, if not from the gate-post; while the man on his only mount may see every detail of the hunt and have his three days a week; he has, too, one advantage over the fox-hunter, that he is more sure of his entertainment. His disappointments are fewer, for he does not expect a 9-mile point or forty minutes racing67 across country. It is a sport for rich and poor, for tender youth and old age, and for all those who enjoy the niceties of the huntsman’s craft tested at its highest.
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1
inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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2
quotation
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| n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情 | |
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3
impartial
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| adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的 | |
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4
confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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5
moors
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| v.停泊，系泊（船只）( moor的第三人称单数 ) | |
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6
craving
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| n.渴望,热望 | |
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7
extraordinarily
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| adv.格外地；极端地 | |
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8
degenerate
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| v.退步，堕落；adj.退步的，堕落的；n.堕落者 | |
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9
sneak
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| vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行 | |
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10
sneaking
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| a.秘密的，不公开的 | |
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11
levity
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| n.轻率，轻浮，不稳定，多变 | |
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12
buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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13
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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14
scenting
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| vt.闻到（scent的现在分词形式） | |
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15
criticise
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| v.批评，评论；非难 | |
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16
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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17
lavish
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| adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍 | |
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18
trophy
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| n.优胜旗，奖品，奖杯，战胜品，纪念品 | |
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19
ornament
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| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
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20
ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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21
veracity
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| n.诚实 | |
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22
quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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23
marshes
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| n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 ) | |
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24
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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25
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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26
bespeak
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| v.预定；预先请求 | |
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27
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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28
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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29
roe
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| n.鱼卵；獐鹿 | |
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30
badger
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| v.一再烦扰，一再要求，纠缠 | |
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31
otter
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| n.水獭 | |
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32
coverts
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| n.隐蔽的，不公开的，秘密的( covert的名词复数 )；复羽 | |
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33
bustling
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| adj.喧闹的 | |
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34
laments
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| n.悲恸，哀歌，挽歌( lament的名词复数 )v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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35
statutes
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| 成文法( statute的名词复数 )； 法令； 法规； 章程 | |
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36
penal
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| adj.刑罚的；刑法上的 | |
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37
noxious
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| adj.有害的，有毒的；使道德败坏的，讨厌的 | |
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38
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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39
Vogue
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| n.时髦，时尚；adj.流行的 | |
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40
hardy
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| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
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41
cynically
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| adv.爱嘲笑地，冷笑地 | |
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42
perseverance
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| n.坚持不懈，不屈不挠 | |
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43
dwarf
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| n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小 | |
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44
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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45
reverting
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| 恢复( revert的现在分词 )； 重提； 回到…上； 归还 | |
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46
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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47
wiles
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| n.（旨在欺骗或吸引人的）诡计，花招；欺骗，欺诈( wile的名词复数 ) | |
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48
dodges
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| n.闪躲( dodge的名词复数 )；躲避；伎俩；妙计v.闪躲( dodge的第三人称单数 )；回避 | |
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49
craftily
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| 狡猾地，狡诈地 | |
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50
pricking
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| 刺，刺痕，刺痛感 | |
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51
watery
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| adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的 | |
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52
furrows
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| n.犁沟( furrow的名词复数 )；（脸上的）皱纹v.犁田，开沟( furrow的第三人称单数 ) | |
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53
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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54
appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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55
windings
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| （道路、河流等）蜿蜒的，弯曲的( winding的名词复数 )； 缠绕( wind的现在分词 )； 卷绕； 转动（把手） | |
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56
neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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57
unravelled
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| 解开，拆散，散开( unravel的过去式和过去分词 )； 阐明； 澄清； 弄清楚 | |
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58
hubbub
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| n.嘈杂；骚乱 | |
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59
bass
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| n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴 | |
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60
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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61
swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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62
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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63
persistency
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| n. 坚持(余辉, 时间常数) | |
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64
followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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65
credence
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| n.信用，祭器台，供桌，凭证 | |
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66
manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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67
racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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