THE MASTER OF HOUNDS.

The master of hounds best known by modern description is the
master of the Jorrocks type. Now, as I take it, this is not the
type best known by English sportsmen, nor do the Jorrocks ana,
good though they be, give any fair picture of such a master of
hounds as ordinarily presides over the hunt in English counties.
Mr. Jorrocks comes into a hunt when no one else can be found to
undertake the work; when, in want of any one better, the
subscribers hire his services as those of an upper
servant; when, in fact, the hunt is at a low ebb, and is
struggling for existence. Mr. Jorrocks with his carpet-bag then
makes his appearance, driving the hardest bargain that he can,
purposing to do the country at the lowest possible figure,
followed by a short train of most undesirable nags, with
reference to which the wonder is that Mr. Jorrocks should be able
to induce any hunting servant to trust his neck to their custody.
Mr. Jorrocks knows his work, and is generally a most laborious
man. Hunting is his profession, but it is one by which he can
barely exist. He hopes to sell a horse or two during the season,
and in this way adds something of the trade of a dealer to his
other trade. But his office is thankless, ill-paid, closely
watched, and subject to all manner of indignities. Men suspect
him, and the best of those who ride with him will hardly treat
him as their equal. He is accepted as a disagreeable necessity,
and is dismissed as soon as the country can do better for itself.
Any hunt that has subjected itself to Mr. Jorrocks knows that it
is in disgrace, and will pass its itinerant master on to some
other district as soon as it can suit itself with a proper master
of the good old English sort.