latter not always flattering). Every booby is loud in his assertions as to the size, colour, and sex of bold Reynard: every soul in the field saw the jump into the pound, and out again, that young Blazes, on Skyscraper, did so cleverly; but scarcely half a dozen of you know the size, shape, dash, powers, or even sex of the hounds you are riding to, and whose support and character is one of the glories of old England. You go scrambling and struggling along, sprawling over rails, and rolling into ditches-and call it hunting. The oftener down, the bigger the jumps, and the greater the pace, the better the sport : whilst some quiet old stager, who does not want to break his own neck, or toss up in a brook for first shot with the man he has first ridden over and then sworn at, is called a pottering old idiot, because he will not lift his hounds to a hallo three miles off, or listen to all the advice he gets from his hard-riding field.

When you get to the meet, go first and look at the hounds; make your own remarks to yourself upon them; and then look at the dogs

-the “sadde dogges” who are going to ride over them if they can catch them; and I should advise you to make any remarks upon them entirely to yourself, as they will not always be so complimentary as they might be.

A meet with a crack pack of foxhounds is a small world; and whilst one reason seems to have brought the inhabitants of it together, their real inducements are as various as you can well conceive. You will see a fastish-looking man, with very elaborate whiskers, and altogether somewhat got-up, having turned the corner of true propriety. Look at his horse-nothing can be neater; not a buckle out of place; the appointments first-rate ; evidently, too, a workman. He has eight of those good-looking animals, upon scarcely as many hundreds a-year. How fond he must be of the sport! what cutting and contriving, self-denial and economy, for the sake of enjoying himself in the fullest perfection of his favourite diversion! What a brick ! generous soul--one of the right sort! Yes he is, if general dealer to the establishment will make him so. He cares no more for hunting than his washerwoman does; he jumps a few big fences to show off the nicest young horse in the world; and would rob & church, or sell his own grandmother to a down-away Yankee slavedealer, if he could do so without detection. Gentlemen-dealers are as common as blackberries.

Here comes another sort. The last specimen was all “ horse." This fellow is all “self.” There's a collar--double-buckram, doublestitched, and double-starched ; no escape for the perspiration through that. Look at those sleeves, those buttons, those tops, and that upper lip, which is just gone into mourning for his brains ! A young nobleman-one of those jolly fellows of high rank, who assist in forming the manly character of an Englishman, and who loves to hide under those little eccentricities of puppyism the pluck that licked Napoleon's garde at Waterloo. Precisely, you have hit it. Old Sugarplum, his father, left him £100,000—all niade in the crockery-line (China trade he calls it): he's just got in for the borough of Sloppington, and is “ hunting” himself into a seat on the treasury-benches of society. He does not know a dog-fox from a buck-rabbit; but money and impudence, with a good cook, would buy anything.

There's a young farmer who is perishing from want--of protection; however, he has just refused £120 for his horse, and is obliged in these hard times to live upon plain port and sherry. To be sure, he has some capital of his own, which he lays out on the land, but which his father made when wheat was a guinea a bushel.

And here is a pretty specimen- all legs and wings, and ends of hair, like a drunken giblet-pie, on a pony out of a circus, squeaking about to everybody for information about his horse. He knows very well the poor old screw is in his stable at home, having had his turn the day before yesterday, and patiently awaiting the morrow. But the pleasure of riding through the High-street of a county-town in his pink, only two miles out of his way, brought him out for the sixth time to exhibit his melancholy gammon about his lost horse, and his servant's stupidity.

There's a gentleman who came here after the odds on the next Derby : and here's another who wants to invite Ryder Bullfinch 10 meet Lord Harkforward, and takes this opportunity of astonishing himself, his wife's maid, and his best buggy horse.

There's a long-backed curate with a black coat and a white choker, on one of the leaders of the late Dublin mail, by Pioneer, dam by Birdcatcher, who knows he won't meet the Bishop of Oxbridge at the cover-side, and who has an eye to the sport, the sale of his horse, and a small but snug piece of preferment, in the gift of one of his hard-riding neighbours.

And there are about half a dozen well-dressed, well-behaved, quiet, gentlemenly men, who are watching the hounds, taking notice of the wind, and hardening their hearts, and who will not be heard of again until the end of the run, when they will most probably turn up within a few yards of where the fox will be pulled down.

I should recommend you to follow the example, and the line of the latter assortment.

If we were living in the good old days when George the Third was king, instead of getting a comfortable breakfast at a reasonable hour, we should have been at the cover-side about sunrise. But as we do not live in those days, but in the present degenerate times, it will be half-past eleven before any really swell-buntsman will move off with his hounds. Eleven o'clock is the time; ten minutes' law for himself makes it 11.10 more railwayorum ; ten minutes more for the master makes it 11.20; and ten minutes more for the heavy subscribers brings it to 11.30. If the Emperor of China (I mean the real original-not the Melton cove, nor the begotten of Sugarplum), or the Khan of Tartary, or a Prince of the blood royal, with a Lord of the Bedchamber, who,

" Rursus molli languore solutum

Deposuitque caput, stratoque recondidit alto," intends to honour you with his company, you may wait any length of time. Let us hope, however, that such may not be the case; and then about half-past eleven you will have an opportunity of putting in practice a few useful hints which your slow old uncle will venture to give you.

The huntsman, if he is worth his bread and cheese, will throw his hounds into cover as quietly as he possibly can; and it will not be necessary for you to distract his attention by any unseasonable queries as to the country, the hounds, or the number of cubs you have heard of, or he may have seen. You may observe the same silence with regard to the whips, who will be wide of him, and listening to his voice, to encourage or rate, as necessity may require. They want all their ears for their business, and not for your twaddle.

If you can set a good example to your brother-sportsmen at this time, and keep them quiet, you will be doing good service. A very amiable and natural weakness is a desire to view the fox away. If you only view him, so much the better, only

“You sportsmen when the sport 's a-going,

Are all so fond of tallyhoing !" A Lincoln and Bennett, or even a good four-and-nine, on the top of your whip, is worth all the hallooing in the world. If you could all squeeze yourselves into the cover, instead of outside of it, your sport would most probably be all the better for it.

Eschew jealousy: do not on any account distract or attract attention by larking; the last may be first; sit quietly upon your horse, if he will let you, and watch that most beautiful sight in the worlda pack of hounds spreading in quest of their game. “Not a hound speaks, and yet none are idle," says our old friend Beckford. A slight mistake-there's music: a find, and

« On the drag I hear , Their doubtful notes, preluding to a cry

More nobly full, and swelled with every mouth " excepting your own, let it be.

This is a trying moment to the youngsters. Away goes a flight of beggars, and you after them. One fool makes many; and as you rush round the corner, determined to be in time, you find you are so, just in time to head the fox, who slips into cover again. But experience makes fools wise; and this will not happen more than four or five times, if your field is tolerably manageable. In a moderatelysized cover, by the time you have pretty well pumped your horse, and find yourself at your old corner once more, things begin to wear a brighter aspect. By Jove! they'll chop him—that chorus proclaims a very unpleasant vicinity to their fox, and he dare not break under such very formidable circumstances. “May I trouble you for a light-we shall be here for an hour ?" With a mental grunt, and an oral politeness worthy of Chesterfield (him of the “ Letters ") you hand out your silver match-box. A few seconds of awful silence a still more awful scream-and by Jove! he's away.

A desperate jam at your hat; both heels well in ; your reins gathered up short; and your thong falling gracefully through your hand ; and your cares, your sorrows, your pains, and your aches, your debts and difficulties, are all gone with him. The smoking stranger is quietly buttoning his coat over your property, and will take his chance of hitting upon you again at the first check.

Now, my boy, we've both started fair; so come along by the side of

Your affectionate Uncle,

SCRIBBLE. Oct. 14, 1852.

AUTUMNAL MUSINGS.

BY CECIL.

Atmospheric Influcnres : their Effects on Vegetation, and on the Insect Tribe,

and through the medium of Food on Auimals-Examples in the Potato-Hops and their Enemies : a comparison-Young Animals greatly affected by Weather, Racing Stock in particular--Comparison between clever and inexperienced Trainers—An Explanation-Young Hounds of 1850 and 1851-Rearing Hounds in Kennel : Arguments held in favour of the Practice-Confutations—SheepKilling: how that vice is promoted—Voluntary Hunting-Entering Hounds to Hare: checking them from Riot-Exercise during the Summer-Summer Rambles in the Kennels-An observation from Notitia Venatica--The Ascot Kennels—The Duke of Beaufort's—Pedigree of Potentate-Earl Fitzhardinge's Kennels—The Worcestershire Kennels : their dependence on Drafts—The Bads. worth Kennels--The H. H. Kennels-Discrimination necessary in introducing a Diversity of Blood-Various Characters of Hounds-Fast and Slow Hounds Olfactory Powers-Slack Huntsmen-Superior Speed enables Hounds to kill Foxes -On Purchasing Hounds-Price and the usual Customs-Unentered Puppies-Reasons for Drafting—Vices-Mute Hounds, and a distinctionSummering Hunters in the Field-Economy-A Calculation-Comparison of Value-Effects of Grazing-Absurd Practice-Effect of Grass on the WindThe Cubhunting Season - Favourable Reports - Deficiency of Foxes in Wor. cestershire, and the Cause-Feeding Vixens and Cubs—Abundance of Foxes in the Duke of Beaufort's Country-Mr. Holford's Coverts and his KeeperPublic Notoriety.

Peculiar influences prevail during certain seasons, which exercise their powers over the living creation in a most extraordinary manner : neither is vegetation exempt; and thus all nature seems to be connected directly or indirectly by predisposing causes. On some occasions vegetation is the medium by which animated creatures are affected ; on others, as if by an impulse of retaliation, the plants of the earth are destroyed by hosts of insects, whose nature it is to attack and consume such productions as may be suitable to their tastes and habits. The disease which injures the potatoes is an annual visitor ; and as no alternative proves effectual in checking the malady, we may presume that ere long the cultivation of that esculent will be considerably decreased. That animals which partake of bad food are affected thereby, no doubt can exist. Those precarious plants, the hops, which are susceptible of so many injuries, and ranking among their most formidable enemies the aphides afford an instance illustrative of the effect of seasons. During the past summer those pestilential insects have not exercised their accustomed depredations. But why have they not? is the consequent inquiry. Simply because they have not been brought forth in their usual numbers to run their course, enjoy their pleasures of destruction, deposit their ova, and depart this life. Whether it was that the atmosphere was not favourable to their production, or subsequently to their existence, is a question for the learned in entomology. Thus, however propitious the season may be to the growth of a plant, if at the same time it is genial to the existence of creatures which destroy that plant, the consequences are identical, although brought about by different means, to what they would be if a temperature prevailed unsuited to vegetation. The state of the weather has a very striking effect on young animals ;

A A

and on many occasions this is so strongly exemplified in certain individuals, that when they arrive at maturity they do not possess vigorous development and health. This may be distinctly observed in racing stock by the superiority of animals foaled in propitious years over those which are brought to life when the weather is unfavourable ; the respective performances being carefully scrutinized, in comparison with the capabilities each possess, when they are tried at two and three years old. Experienced trainers are thoroughly cognizant of this fact, and by welldirected trials can determine with much accuracy the class to which their juveniles belong. The state of the betting clearly indicates this assertion. Under the care of a clever trainer a moderate three-year-old is seldom a great favourite for the Derby : he knows he has not a good horse. But a muff, not having sufficient experience, flatters himself and his employer that a moderate animal has first-rate pretensions : thus if the animal runs respectably as a two-year-old, he is backed heavily by the public and the confidants of the stable at very trifling odds. There are many examples of this, and some of very recent date. When such an event happens as a horse winning a Derby out of the stable of a renowned trainer, with the odds twenty or thirty to one against him, many persons are apt to question the judgment; but that is not a correct inference. Knowing the animal's qualifications are not of a high grade, he is unwilling to induce his patrons and friends to invest heavily ; ard it must always be remembered that however extensive a trainer's experience may be, and however excellent his judgment, although he may know the exact form of the colt under his care, he cannot know the merits of all those which are opposed to him.

Similar influences--that is, atmospheric causes-reign over the canine species. During the early part of the summers of 1850 and 1851 I visited several kennels of celebrity, and at most of them I found the puppies not then sent out to their walks were looking shabby, unkind, and weakly. In one large and admirably-conducted establishment this was particularly obvious: they lost more than the usual average while with their mothers, and many more were taken off at their juvenile quarters. The entries of young hounds both of this year and the last which I have seen, and others which I have heard spoken of, are decidedly not so clever as the average of previous years.

The practice of rearing young hounds in kennels, with extensive grass courts for exercise, has been experimentalized upon in a few cases by persons not having command of numerous walks ; and I have heard the plan highly eulogized by some, whose opinions in such matters are generally correct. The arguments which I have heard in favour of the system are that puppies are exonerated from the kicks and cuffs they sometimes experience at their walks, should they excite the ire of the farmer's “ missus," or incur the displeasure of a choleric dairy-maid ; and that the food with which they may be supplied at walks is not always of a proper kind, or given with regularity: again, that thoy get off hare-hunting or sheep-killing, learning riot and mischief, for which they are subsequently chastised. In confutation of these opinions, practical experience proves the plan to be unfavourable to the symmetry, growth, and power of hounds. Unless they have liberty they grow-in at their elbows, and weak over the loins, and generally speaking the accusation of ill-treatment is unfounded. There may now and then be