HUNTING-CAP
—is a cap made of leather, and covered with black velvet, fitting close to the head behind, and having a semicircular peak before, for the protection of the face in case of falls, as well as in passing through strong coverts during the chase. In the sporting world it is termed A DASHER, and is supposed to confirm a generally received opinion, that the wearer never swerves from any difficulty that may occur, or refuses any LEAP in the field, but takes them all in stroke.
HUNTING-WHIP
.—The whip so called, is of different lengths in the handle or stock; having at one end a long thong and lash, to assist occasionally in managing the hounds; and at the other, a HOOK, HAMMER, or CLAW, for the purpose of holding or opening gates.
HUNTSMAN
.—The huntsman is a person whose entire business it is to superintend every department of a hunting establishment, as well as to hunt the hounds. As it is an office of considerable trust and responsibility, so it requires no inconsiderable share of those qualifications which constitute some part of the approach to human perfection. It is indispensibly necessary he should be possessed of a comprehensive mind, a clear head, and humane heart; of affable and easy manners; not prone to peevish petulance, or rude brutality. He should be of consistent sobriety, ready observation, quick conception, great personal fortitude, patience, and activity; have a good constitution, an excellent ear, and a sonorous voice. As, however, it may not be inapplicable to have the necessary qualifications more forcibly depicted from the very words of the best experimental authority extant, the opinion of Mr. Beckford is literally introduced, who says,
"I will endeavour to describe what a good huntsman should be. He should be young, strong, active, bold, and enterprising; fond of the diversion, and indefatigable in the pursuit of it: he should be sensible and good-tempered: he ought also to be sober, exact, civil, and cleanly: he should be a good groom, and an excellent horseman: his voice should be strong and clear; and he should have an eye so quick, as to perceive which of his hounds carries the scent when all are running; and should have so excellent an ear, as always to distinguish the foremost hounds when he does not see them. He should be quiet, patient, and without conceit. Such are the excellencies which constitute a good huntsman. He should not, however, be too fond of displaying them, till necessity calls them forth. He should let his hounds alone, whilst they can hunt; and he should have genius to assist them, when they cannot."
Although the qualifications of a HUNTSMAN, upon the great scale of universality, should be precisely the same, yet there is an infinite contrast in the various points of execution. No distinct difference of light and shade upon the CANVAS, no effect of the ELEMENTS upon the human frame, can be productive of more opposite sensations, than the requisites necessary to form a proper distinction between the modes of hunting HARE or FOX; for the very means calculated for the successful promotion of the one, would in a few minutes prove the evident destruction of the other: from which it is natural to infer, that a huntsman eminently qualified to hunt either, would never be likely to acquire CELEBRITY for hunting both; for as the accustomed spirit, speed, and dashing impetuosity, of the FOX-HUNTER would soon lose a HARE, so the philosophic patience, and constitutional tardiness, of the HARE-HUNTER would never kill a FOX.
Of this, corroborative proof may be adduced in a subsequent passage from the before-mentioned AUTHOR, where he observes, "It may be necessary to unsay, now that I am turned hare-hunter again, many things I have been saying as a fox-hunter; as I hardly know any two things of the same genus (if I may be allowed the expression) that differ so entirely. What I said, in a former letter, about the huntsman and whipper-in, is in the number. As to the huntsman, he should not be young; I should most certainly prefer one, as the French call it, d'une certain age, as he is to be quiet and patient: for patience he should be a very grizzle; and the more quiet he is, the better. He should have infinite perseverance; for a hare should never be given up whilst it is possible to hunt her: she is sure to stop, and therefore may always be recovered. Were it usual to attend to the breed of our huntsmen, as well as to that of our hounds, I know no family that would furnish a better cross than that of the silent gentleman mentioned by the Spectator: a female of his line, crossed with a knowing huntsman, would probably produce a perfect hare-hunter."
The scent of the STAG, the FOX, and the HARE, is so exceedingly different in the duration of each, that it requires a method as proportionally different in the pursuit of either; all which is practically known to huntsmen, who have no alternative, but to render their endeavours applicable to the kind of chase they are destined to pursue. The scent of the FOX is well known to be the most powerful, as well as the most volatile, of any; the scent of the STAG is equally grateful to hounds, but is known to evaporate sooner than the scent of the HARE. In the two first, clamorous exultation upon view, is more customary, and more to be justified, than in the latter. Stag or FOX breaks away with the most undaunted fortitude, seeking safety in a rapidity of flight to even a distant and unknown country; in both which the hounds cannot be too fleet; nor can they be laid on too close to the GAME; both deer and fox run the better for it. Not so with the latter; where a general silence should prevail, and the industrious endeavours of the pack should never be obstructed by the busy tongues of officious obtruders; and upon this well-founded position, if they receive no assistance, they encounter no interruption. Harriers (as well as their huntsman) should never be permitted to hunt FOX: the strong scent which he leaves, the difference of his running, the indescribable eagerness and noise of the pursuit, all contribute to spoil a harrier, and render no service to the huntsman when they return to HARE again. It is a very prevalent error of the present time, to have bred and crossed harriers to too much speed: the hare is but a mere inoffensive, timid animal, and fully entitled to all the little artifices she can avail herself of to shield her from destruction.