ready character gone for ever. But to say that the manifold changes which have affected the old style, and converted it into the easy, luxurious, and certain pastime which it now is, have not improved that style in many respects, would be at once unjust and incorrect. The author of "The Chase" very graphically describes the difference in the position of the ancient and modern fox-hunter :- Compared with the luxurious ease with which the modern sportsman is conveyed to the field-either lolling in his chaise and four, or galloping along at the rate of twenty miles an hour on a hundred-guinea hack-the situation of his predecessor was all but distressing. In proportion to the distance he had to ride by starlight were his hours of rest broken in upon; and, exclusive of the time which that operation might consume, another serious one was to be provided for this was, the filling his hair with powder and pomatum until it could hold no more, and forming it into a well-turned knot or club (as it was called by his valet), which cost commonly a good hour's work. The protecting mud-boot, the cantering hack, the second horse in the field, were luxuries unknown to him; and his well-soiled buckskins and brown-topped boots would have cut an indifferent figure in the presence of a modern connoisseur by a Leicestershire cover-side. Notwithstanding all this, however, we are inclined strongly to suspect that, out of a given number of gentlemen taking the field with hounds, the proportion of really scientific sportsmen may have been in favour of the olden times."

But, on the other hand, have we not sacrificed many substantial advantages to mere show? have we not supplanted our old-fashioned Englishmen, with their tops and cords of honest brown, and driven them from the field to make way for modern coxcombs apparelled in pink and patent leather boots? and have we not given up our fine wild sport at the dawn of day, for a thirty minutes' burst at noon, with a fox, forsooth, whipped out of an acre of gorse, or disturbed from a mere willow spinny? No; there cannot be a doubt in the mind of any one who is devoted to the chase, that for real hunting and hounds' work the modern practice is far inferior to the ancient. Fashion, and the love of hard riding, or rather over-riding, is the attraction that brings more than half the men of the present day into the hunting field. The work of the hound is the last thing thought of; but the business of pulling on the boots, or guiding the steed over a double post and rails, are subjects of the utmost interest and concern. Ask, for instance, nineteen men out of twenty the name of any distinguished hound in the pack, with which they have hunted through a whole season; and it is all Lombard-street to a China orange that you do not get the information you require. But ask the same men to tell you who first charged the brook or who dropped into it, who led up to the first check or dashed over the strong timber, and you will at once hear all particulars. Undoubtedly it is a noble sight to see a man handle a horse gallantly and scientifically across country; but why it should be done so often to the exclusion of all that relates to the work of hounds it is difficult to conceive. This certainly is the besetting sin of the modern fcx-hunter.

In the West of England fox-hunting flourishes with perhaps a stronger regard for hounds' work than exists in most other countries. At all events the love of hunting and riding is happily combined in the sportsmen of the west; and such combination cannot but lead to the true

enjoyment of the chase. Ivy-bridge, a small town in the centre of Mr. Trelawny's country, and bordering on the wild Dartmoor, has again witnessed a gathering such as it was wont to witness in former days; we will not say in better days, for though many a stout heart and manly tongue of those who were formerly first and foremost in the chase have long ago ceased to enliven the meeting or to cheer the pack over the Western Beacon, yet on the present occasion there was no lack of the good men and true with which that country abounds. To mention by name all the cover-owners and sportsmen who met at Ivy-bridge during the hunt-week for the purpose of fox-hunting would be an endless task; it might, too, be an invidious one:

"Crawford, Glencairn, Montrose, Argyle,
Ross, Bothwell, Forbes, Lennox, Lyle;
Why should I tell their separate style?"

Suffice it to say that three distinguished packs of fox-hounds, the properties severally of Sir Henry Seale, Mr. Russell, and Mr. Trelawny, met there during the second week in November. Mr. Trelawny, being the host, served out the meets; and if the relative sport which each pack obtained be any criterion of their quality or eligibility, he certainly did not appropriate the lion's share to himself; nor did he imitate the gourmand mentioned by Le Sage, who helped himself, then cut for his company." On the whole, however, the three masters were thoroughly satisfied with the performances of their hounds; nor could the field be otherwise. But Mr. Russell's day was, par excellence, the day of the week. To him especially pertained the felicity of showing an undeniably good run, and of testing the condition of artificial life, the blood, bone, and mettle of the kennel against the stout denizen of the forest-the wild fox of Dartmoor. They found him in Over-Brent Wood, and were quickly aware that the gentleman meant running. He broke away for Woolholes; and, with short shrift, the pack broke after him-as the thunder-clap follows the flash. He pointed for Dockhill Ridge and Hayford; and led them, at a slapping pace, over some of the finest grass sward in England. He then crossed the river under Huntingdon Warren and up to Whiteyborough, where he turned for Zeal Tor. From this point the short chop-notes of the leading hounds became less frequent; death was in the sound, and under Shipley Bridge they caught sight of him, and killed him in the river. Time, fifty-two minutes, without the shadow of a check. The hounds carried a fine head throughout; and it was impossible for any pack to do their work in better form. The turn at Zeal Tor was favourable to the horses, and afforded the field a glorious opportunity of seeing and enjoying the whole run. Mr. Russell was delighted, so was Mr. Trelawny at the success of his guest and old college friend.

Those who live in cultivated lands have little conception of the wild scenery and country over which our western friends revel; grass, old rough grass, sown at the Deluge, is the carpet which Nature has spread for their pastime; every brook has a visible bottom, the broadest road is but a sheep-track, and the inclosures are only bounded by the horizon. Such is the country of Dartmoor.

Sir Henry Seale had a capital day's sport on the Monday, and ended with a kill, in the Dean country. His hounds have greatly improved

within the last season or two, and bid fair, in course of time, to be as clever in appearance as they are now in work. Few men have undertaken a country under greater disadvantages than Sir Henry. When he first entered upon it, with a scratch pack gathered together from the four winds of heaven, he could scarcely reckon upon finding a fox oftener than every second day-except, indeed, in his home covers, where he took care there should always be one or two in reserve; but then those covers were completely at one end of his country, and close to the cliffs, to which, if a fox once became accustomed, he would seldom or ever leave them, under the most pressing circumstances. It has been our dreary lot to see eight blank days in succession in that extreme country of hills and bottoms, where the lanes are like railway tunnels, and the banks as frequent and as high as billows of the sea on a stormy day; and yet we have seen one man, and one only, cross it as though there were none but ordinary impediments to check his career: he was, and is still, indeed, by far the most brilliant performer on a horse that we ever had the good fortune and honour to know had he been bred to the profession of arms, like his gallant brother, rather than to that of peace, he must have been, like him, a very distinguished soldier, and an ornament to his country. But to return to Sir Henry's hounds. They have been very successful, not only in finding plenty of foxes, but in killing them, during the present season. The Fallapit district, through the instrumentality of a true friend to fox-hunting, the owner of Fallapit, can now show as good a head of foxes as most countries; besides which, the addition of the Stover country provides Sir Henry with a more extensive field for operations, and affords, at the same time, an extensive prospect of future sport to the several members of his hunt. Hitherto, politics-the gall and wormwood of social life-have materially affected the power of producing a head of foxes on one side of Sir Henry's country; but, supposing these evils still to exist, the additional country we have alluded to will render the master of it wholly independent of that paltry and short-sighted spirit that would deny to the public the opportunity of enjoying the finest, the most rational, and the most manly of our national sports. G.

BITS AND BITTING.

BY HARRY HIEOVER.

Every horseman knows, and those who are not horsemen will soon learn (if they ride at all), that on the properly bitting the horse, the comfort, safety, and appearance, both of horse and rider, most materially depend. However good may be the natural carriage of the horse, if an unsuitable bit is put into his mouth, it will greatly counteract both the inclination and ability of the horse to carry himself handsomely, and this will of course prevent rider and horse looking to advantage, for the proper carriage of the animal goes very far in setting off the seat and position of the body of the rider. On the other hand, if the natural carriage

of the horse is bad, properly bitting him is the chief means by which we can remedy the defect.

It must, however, be borne in mind that this proper bitting must not only relate to the mouth of the animal, but must be arranged with reference to the hands of the rider; for that bit which is the very one to suit a particular mouth, when given to a man with fine hands, would be quite an improper one to give to one whose hands are only fit to lug at the mouth of a donkey: an expert fly-fisher will play and kill a very heavy fish with a single hair—so could I; but I should bargain that the hair should be of the size and strength of whipcord, otherwise if I depended on the fish for my dinner, my stomach would not be likely to suffer by repletion.

It is quite certain that the mouths of some colts are naturally more sensible, or insensible, to the touch than others; and here the judgment, or the want of it, is shown in the colt-breaker, by the selection of the bit best adapted to the colt's mouth, and afterwards on the goodness of the breaker's hands and temper depends whether he turns out the colt with a good or bad mouth.

In a general way the colt's bit is the large heavy snaffle with a ring in the centre, from which hangs some loose tackling which hangs on the tongue, and by producing probably somewhat of a tickling sensation, induces the colt to keep his mouth more or less in motion. With the rality of colts their first bit cannot be too easy; but if the mouth be naturally callous, it must be rendered amenable to the bit by using a severer one, or by using the easy one with a severer touch.

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Any part of the flesh of either man or beast, that has been frequently galled and then healed, becomes more callous each time this occurs; for this reason the bars of the mouth of young horses should never be galled (if it can be avoided); but if the mouth be naturally so hard as to be almost insensible to the pressure of the bit, it may under such unusual circumstances be necessary to treat the mouth with sufficient severity to render it somewhat sore, so that while it is in that state the colt may be brought to carry himself properly, which possibly could not be done while the mouth was in its callous state-the having felt the action of the bit in the mouth while in its sore or tender state would make the colt fear it, and from habit he would afterwards obey its touch, though the mouth was no longer in a bruised state. This severity should, however, never be resorted to but as a last resource against a mouth that, either from its natural calosity, or vice in the horse, refuses to yield to the touch of the bit and the hand of the rider.

The mouths of some young horses are, on the other hand, so exceedingly tender that it is difficult to get them to face the bit sufficiently to bring their heads into a proper position. As I have said that a horse's mouth becomes callous from being galled and healed, it might strike some one that if a mouth was too tender the best way to render it hard would be to gall it and heal it; I am not prepared to say that such means might not produce such an effect, but against making such an experiment, it would be a cruel one; and further than this, the naturally tender mouth if rendered pro tempore still more tender, would cause the animal so to dread the bit, that he would give us no stay on his head at all; so-like most, indeed all, acts of severity against the horse, where no vice is exhibited-it would render bad worse.

In bitting a horse, and more particularly a young one, in any peculiar manner, so as to endeavour to remedy any peculiar defect, persons very rarely do it gradually enough. It is no uncommon thing to see and hear a man conduct and express himself in something like the following manner. We will say a colt or horse has a habit of getting his head up; the man mentally or verbally says, "I'll bring your (. . . . . ) head down, I'll warrant me." He puts on a pair of side-reins, or a martingale going to the bit itself, so short that the horse is obliged to carry his head as much below where it ought to be, as before he carried it above the proper position; this generally produces resistance to the constraint, and he fights resolutely against it, instead of yielding to its influence; whereas if the restraint is gradually brought to the desired pitch, as the animal each day becomes more used to it, so each day he more and more yields to it without becoming irritated or alarmed. I happen to be able to mention a case in point, that occurred to a valuable young horse now in my possession. He had an unpleasant trick of getting his head up, and his nose out. Not having any retired place of my own fit for schooling a horse, I went with him to a riding-school, and saw him ridden with running reins it was there proposed to lunge him with side-reins to the girths; these the riding master insisted on buckling tighter than I approved; the result was, the horse resisted, and would not go round. He was struck with the whip: at this he kicked and plunged violently; he was flogged for this. He then turned sulky, got to a corner of the school, and would not stir a foot; it now became a fight whether the horse should have his way or the riding-master his: had the horse got the better he probably would have always tried to do so afterward; so I was obliged to allow his being severely flogged till he did what was wanted, or have him spoiled by getting the mastery; I felt I was permitting cruelty and oppression to be used. The struggle never should have been provoked or have taken place, nor would it have done so had I insisted on having the reins loosened; but the fight having been begun, it was necessary, right or wrong, to conquer. But it was an unjust victory, arising from the ignorance and obstinacy of him who ought to have been the more sensible animal of the two-many a horse is spoiled from very similar conduct on the part of his breaker. Even those who undertake the education of youth are not always exempt from conduct pretty much on a par with that of the riding-master: when they are, I know who should get the flogging.

We will now return to the subject of bits as they rank; of these, whether destined for the colt or mature horse, the snaffle is the simplest. It is true there are various forms of snaffles, some of them so made as to become an engine (if the expression may be allowed) of very great severity; the plain large-sized one, with a ring instead of joint in the centre, is the easiest, inasmuch as the ring, allowing of, say an inch in width, in the centre, does not convert the bit into an acute angle when acted on by the reins, whereas when the centre is a joint without going into the mathematical demonstration of the angle being forty-five degrees or any other degree, it becomes a much more acute angle or kind of skeleton wedge in the animal's mouth, and pinches the bars laterally like a vice; in short, by passing the off-side rein through the near-side ring of the bit, and the near-side rein through the off ring, and pulling both reins, we make the bit actually a pair of pincers; and if