Their price will naturally be estimated in proportion to their value. It may likewise happen that a gentleman purchases a pack for the sake of making additions to that which he has already formed. In either case it cannot be supposed that he will part with the best; and no cautious purchaser would negotiate without knowing the merits of every hound for which he is about to deal. To obtain good ones he must naturally expect to take also some middling ones, and some very bad ones. There are no circumstances under which all will be good, unless an exorbitant price be given for the selection of a few choice favourites from an established pack, an event which seldom happens, as few masters are willing to part with favourites for any pecuniary consideration. The most usua and satisfactory custom of keeping up the requisite number of hounds in small establishments not having a command of walks, is to purchase the unentered puppies from some of the extensive breeders, of whom there are not many; for unless a master of hounds is fortunate enough to be a large landed proprietor, it is utterly impossible for him to rear many puppies. Few farmers will take them for choice; therefore, however popular a master may be, he will not be able to have many kept, except by his own tenants. No deception can be practised in purchasing these drafts; as a matter of course, the pedigree is given with each; the size and description are visible to the eye, and an experienced observer can form a tolerably just opinion what they will work into by the assistance of condition. It must not, however, be expected that all will turn out well; the bad ones will therefore be drafted again; and if any enterprising gentleman is courageous enough to procure those which are drafted a second time by an original purchaser, he cannot justly com plain if he finds most or all of them worthless.

It is obvious that hounds are drafted from some cause; to ascertain that cause must be a circumstance worthy of a purchaser's investigation. Unentered puppies from any of the celebrated breeding-kennels are, as a matter of course, parted with because they exceed the number required. Some will be above, others below the standard, but in other respects they may be unobjectionable, and therefore valuable to any gentleman to whom their size is suitable. But when the draft consists of hounds of all ages, it must be taken for granted many of them are parted with for some fault, unless under peculiar circumstances, such as the reduction of the establishment, or the purchase of other hounds; and even should either case exist, some failings are very likely to be found. Age, babbling, muteness, skirting, incorrigible hare-hunting, sheep-killing, lameness, especially kennel lameness, and bad constitutions are the most prominent imperfections.

Aged draft-hounds may sometimes be serviceable for cub-hunting, to enter young hounds with, but beyond that they can seldom be useful; and any that are young, when found to possess any of the aforesaid vices, must be worthless, and the sooner they are put away the better. Muteness is as great a fault as a hound can possess; I remember one hound in particular, which was very skilful in finding his fox, and on two or three occasions, having done so, went away without ever throwing his tongue at all, as if jealous of what he had done, and ambitious to have all the glory to himself. He was an old offender, and ought to have been drafted, but strange to say, he was a great favourite with his huntsman. There is, however, a distinction to be drawn between what

may be termed individual muteness, and hounds running in a body with a burning scent, with little or no cry. With a good scent, and running at a great pace, there are times when they are scarcely able to say much about it. In some packs this is very conspicuous; it is a fault, certainly, but one which many masters of hounds appear to consider a venial one; over the open it may not be of great consequence, but in woodlands their whereabouts cannot always be known, unless they afford a little music.

On visiting an old and very celebrated hunting establishment last summer, I was much surprised at seeing all the horses turned out to grass, for I thought the custom was nearly obsolete, at least in all well regulated stables. A considerable number were in one field, as near as I can judge about fifteen acres; the pasturage was luxuriant, and they were as fat as Smithfield-bullocks. They were standing about, principally under the shade of the trees, looking the picture of idleness. How many of them have come up roarers, broken-winded, or lame from this mode of summer treatment I have not had an opportunity of ascertaining; but I anticipate the average of about one in seven or eight. There are persons who look upon this mode of summering hunters as a species of economy, although I do not suppose that to be the motive in the case to which I allude. But supposing only one in fifteen to be rendered worthless by a run at grass, and thirty horses are turned out, two of which, at fifty pounds each, being rendered useless, will occasion a loss of one hundred pounds. Allowing four shillings per week for each horse at grass during a period of twelve weeks, the cost of thirty will be seventy-two pounds. Each horse may be kept on hay and corn for six shillings per week, which, for thirty, amounts to one hundred and eight pounds; thus the difference is only thirty-six pounds, or one pound four shillings each horse; when the loss of two horses worth one hundred pounds is considered, the economy in favour of the hay and corn system will be sixty-four pounds. There is, likewise, another material point to be mentioned; the value of a hunter on the first of November, which has been grazed, compared with his value if kept on hay and corn, will far exceed the four-and-twenty shillings difference of the twelve weeks' maintenance. Passing over the effects which such a change of diet produces on the system, it is difficult to determine the motive which induces persons to turn their horses out. I have heard it argued that the change is beneficial, but in what way or upon what principle I could never gain an explanation. Muscular fibre soon loses its texture when supplied with improper food; and once lost it requires considerable time for its restoration. Grass has likewise the property of producing fat, which, accumulating internally, is accompanied with considerable danger. In the stable this may be regulated by reducing the quantity of food, or giving an occasional dose of physic; in a field it cannot. Advocates for the grazing system conceive that horses obtain more exercise in a large field than in a small paddock; but that is imaginative, in fact it is the reverse. When first turned out they are very likely to gallop about, and probably injure themselves; but after they have been enlarged a day or two they are seldom seen moving faster than a walk. For the purpose of preventing horses galloping to their prejudice when first turned out, I have heard, but certainly never saw it practised, of their feet being pared down so thin as to render

them sore. A more wanton act of cruelty can scarcely be suggested, or one more likely to produce inflammation, and subsequent lameness. As a convincing proof that horses take very little exercise at grass calculated to produce any beneficial effects, I may add that no horse, when so treated, is in good wind; and that it requires some time after he is taken into work before the important functions of the lungs can be brought into a proper state.

As a contrast to the generality of autumnal seasons, and especially the two last, which were very dry, up to the present time the weather has been quite the reverse. The rain which fell during the summer has rendered the land in good order; and the exceedingly heavy dews which prevail, and which are not dispelled before the powers of the midday sun, have had their effect; the earth is kept in a moist and highly favourable state for hunting. In many countries the fields not being cleared of the crops, the necessary preliminaries of cub-hunting have been postponed beyond the period which an early harvest permits. The reports from most quarters respecting the foxes are highly satisfactory; with few exceptions the vulpine race is abundant, and I imagine, taking the kingdom throughout, they were never before so numerous. A few game-preservers may still listen to their keepers, and yield to their persuasions in allowing the foxes to be destroyed; but the number of vulpesides are daily decreasing, and those who sanction such proceedings scarcely ever acknowledge the fact. It is, however, a source of great annoyance to the Worcestershire Hunt, that their sport is very seriously injured by the hostility shewn by one gentleman, and from which circumstance many blank days were the result last season. The coverts being centrically situated, the devastation is extensive. The practice has been continued on the estate to which I allude for years. The motive cannot arise from any objection or disapproval of the respective masters of the hounds, because the same course has been persevered in during the management of at least four different gentlemen; but rather in a mistaken notion as to the imaginary depredations of the foxes, and a morbid indifference about the sports of the country; and, withal, there is not that abundance of game which may be seen on many other estates where the foxes are held sacred. Indeed, I have almost invariably found it to be the case, that where foxes are recklessly murdered, the game is not so extensively numerous as that circumstance would lead one to expect. This arises either from incompetence or far more discreditable failings in keepers.

If gentlemen who are so exceedingly opposed to the preservation of foxes, and consequently to the amusement of their friends and neighbours, the country in general, and the welfare of the farmers, would content themselves with preventing the vixens from laying down cubs on their estates, so much dissatisfaction would not exist. This is very easily accomplished, by disturbing without destroying them, at the proper period; but when all sorts of devices are resorted to in the way of traps, engines, guns, or poison, for the purpose of killing them, old or young, whenever they come upon the property, the havoc made among those bred on other estates is very extensive. They are almost invariably taken by what may be termed clandestine means. Now, suppose a great game-preserver were to have his pheasants lured away to an adjoining estate, and there trapped, slaughtered, and taken, by means

not recognised in the vocabulary of fair sporting, how would he like that ? There are methods of attracting pheasants great distances, and literally it would be quite as justifiable as the destruction of foxes bred in neighbouring coverts. Any depredations which foxes commit among game are very insignificant; unless during the breeding season they may surprise a hen pheasant on her nest; and that they would not do if they were liberally supplied, as they ought to be, with rabbits, rooks, and such like vermin, laid about the vicinity of the earths. The trouble which this occasions to keepers is an inducement to some to wish for the destruction of the whole of the wily family; but if this duty is assiduously performed, the vixens will not stray far for food.

Any sceptical individual, who requires conviction on the practicability of preserving both game and foxes, need only take the opportunity of meeting the Duke of Beaufort's hounds when they draw Mr. Holford's coverts at Weston Birt, or other parts of that gentleman's extensive estates. Great credit is due to the keeper, Garland, for strict attention in this respect to his master's orders; and nothing affords me greater satisfaction than encomiums on the good conduct of a meritorious servant, especially when his services are prominent in what can be fairly denominated public occasions; under which character the preservation of foxes is justly included. It would be a very disagreeable task to enumerate the keepers who, whether with or without their employers' directions, are in the habit of destroying the foxes; but it is quite a different affair to mention those in favourable terms where the execution of their duties manifests itself every time the coverts are drawn of which they have the charge. It then becomes a matter of public notoriety whether foxes are preserved or not. I do not, however, wish to be misunderstood on this point, that the circumstance of a favourite covert being occasionally drawn blank is to draw forth denouncement on the head of the keeper; but when coverts are generally drawn without finding in them, there must be causes whereof the keeper is the instrument.

JULES GERARD, THE AFRICAN LION KILLER.

BY WILLIAM JONES.

It was at the commencement of the year 1848, at a dinner given at Havre to Jules Gerard by a few of his countrymen, to celebrate his return from Algeria, that I became acquainted with this intrepid hunter, whose encounters with the king of beasts in the wilds of Africa, not only excited the wonder of the Arab population, but have resounded throughout the length and breadth of Christendom.

Figuring to myself a species of Gorgantua, a Van Amburgh, endowed with herculean properties, added to the vivacious temperament of a Frenchman, I was greatly surprised to find myself in the presence of a Young man, delicate, and almost feminine in appearance, with small White hands, and a look in which sweetness was blended with a calm and serious expression of countenance, although a close observer might remark traces of that energy and indomitable courage which have so

remarkably distinguished his career. From having so long sojourned amongst the children of the Desert, Gerard appeared to have acquired much of the tranquil dignity of their manners. Taciturn, the few words which he uttered were pointed and expressive; and the rich costume which he wore as Marechal de Logis of the Spahis, rendered him an object from which it was difficult to withdraw the attention during the evening. Near to him was seated M. Delegorgue, the cele brated traveller and elephant hunter; and the rest of the company consisted of about fifty choice and frank convives, lovers of the chace, well prepared to do honour to the festive occasion which had united them.

The banquet took place in a large saloon of the Hotel Frascati, which was brilliantly lighted and hung around with implements of the chase used in various countries; while upon the table was placed an enormous lion, flanked on either side by a gazelle and antelope, stuffed with great skill. The president on this occasion was Count d'Houdelot, a keen and thorough sportsman, and a type of the perfect French gentlemanaffable, intelligent, and self-possessed. He acquitted himself to the evident satisfaction of all present; and in awarding all the honours of the entertainment to the two distinguished guests of the evening, contrived adroitly to bring into play the convivial talents of all the company, aiding with his own voice to chaunt the glories of the chace.

The memory of this very pleasant and social meeting will not easily be effaced; especially as Count d'Houdelot (with his usual kindness) procured me some particulars of the life of Jules Gerard, which have never yet been brought before the public.

The Lion-slayer," as he is emphatically termed by the Arabs, was born in 1817 at Pignans, in the arrondissement of Toulon; and is the son of an honourable functionary of the place, who, prematurely removed from his children by death, left a reputation for kindness of heart and integrity, which is the most precious patrimony to a family. At the age of fifteen years Jules had nearly completed his education; and being of a robust frame, entered with ardour into all sports of a violent character, and especially that of hunting, in which he soon obtained a high character for courage and dexterity.

On the attainment of his majority, feeling predisposed to a soldier's life, Gerard resolved to enlist in a regiment; but was prevented in his purpose by the entreaties of his mother-in-law. To conceal his mortifi cation he determined upon travelling, thinking that time and change of scene would dissipate the ideas of military glory which he had encouraged; and with this view he proceeded to Italy and Malta, but finding it impossible to overcome his predilections for the army he finally obtained the consent of his friends and embarked for Algeria, where, after assisting in several campaigns, he voluntarily entered himself in the 3rd Regiment of Spahis, then quartered at Boue.

Africa at that time was in commotion; the holy war had roused the Arabs from their habitual torpor. Abd-el-Kader, at the head of a numerous body of troops, animated with a desire of vengeance against the infidels, had obtained some advantages over the French army, and a frightful massacre of the invaders inaugurated on every side the second occupation of the country; but the Arabs soon lost ground, and a season of comparative tranquillity ensued.

On his first arrival in the corps Gerard, completely absorbed in his