King John was particularly attached to the sports of the field; and his partiality for fine horses, hounds, and hawks, is evident, from his frequently receiving such animals, by way of payment, instead of money, for the renewal of grants, fines, and forfeitures, belonging to the crown.
Edward III. took so much delight in hunting, that even at the time he was engaged in war with France, and resident in that country, he had with him in his army sixty couple of stag hounds, and as many hare hounds, and every day he amused himself with hunting or hawking.
James I. preferred the amusement of hunting to hawking or shooting. It is said of this monarch, that he divided his time betwixt his standish, his bottle, and his hunting; the last had his fair weather, the two former his dull and cloudy.
It would be a needless task, to quote the passages in the poetical and prose writings of the last three centuries, which prove that this favourite pastime has lost nothing of its relish in modern times, but, on the contrary, seems to be more generally practised.
If you have the whole country to yourself, and can hunt on either side of your house, as you please, never (when you can help it) fix your place of hunting till you see what the weather is.
Before a huntsman goes into the kennel to draft his hounds, let him determine within himself the number of hounds he intends to take out; as likewise the number of young hounds that he can venture in the country where he is going to hunt. Different countries may require different hounds: some may require more hounds than others. It is not an easy matter to draft hounds properly; nor can any expedition be made in it without some method.
When the place of meeting and time are fixed, every huntsman ought to be as exact to them as it is possible for him to be. On no account is he to be before the time; yet, on some occasions, it might be better, perhaps, for the diversion, were he permitted to be after it. The course your huntsman intends to take in drawing ought always to be well understood before he leaves the kennel.
If your huntsman, without inconvenience, can begin drawing at the farthest cover down the wind, and so draw from cover to cover up the wind till you find, let him do it.—Vide Cover.
While hounds are drawing for a fox, let your people place themselves in such a manner that he cannot go off unseen. I have known them lie in sheep’s scrapes on the side of hills, and in small bushes, where huntsmen never think of looking for them; yet, when they hear a hound, they generally shift their quarters, and make for closer covers. Gentlemen should take this necessary part of fox-hunting on themselves, for the whipper-in has other business to attend to.