THE NEW YEAR.

OLD year, farewell! thy sands are run;
Come, as a meet adieu,

Drain the bright cup to FORTY-ONE,

And fill to FORTY-TWO.

Wert blithe old year? Hopes thus begun,
Were omens for the new;
Guerdon, the buds of FORTY-ONE,

Should bloom in FORTY-TWO.

Wert sad? As brighter dawns the sun,
That sets in clouds and dew;
The eyes that wept in FORTY-ONE,
Shall smile in FORTY-TWO.

No memories of the storm that's done

Perplex the jocund crew;

Nor should the cares of FORTY-ONE
Embitter FORTY-TWO-

Though Fate allots each hour its own

Its trials great or fewAppoints this task to FORTY-ONE,

And that to FORTY-TWO

Our fortunes by ourselves are won:
Resolved the right to do;

The goal we missed in FORTY-ONE,

We'll find in FORTY-TWO.

Thus, then, we'll read the year that's gone,

Its vain pursuits eschew,

And make the lore of FORTY-ONE

The guide of FORTY-TWO.

Pilgrim of life! hold boldly on,

In purpose just and true;

And all you wish'd in FORTY-ONE,
You'll win in FORTY-TWO.

J. W. C.

DESULTORY HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

BY ROBERT THOMAS VYNER, ESQ.,

Author of "Notitia Venatica."

MR. BECKFORD says, in his "Thoughts on Hunting," that foxhunting would be perfect, if it were possible to teach hounds to distinguish between a fresh fox and the hunted one. It certainly would be reaching a high step in the ladder, as the property of invariably distinguishing between the scent of a hare, and that of a fox, would be a far more desirable acquirement, than speed and beauty, the sole recommendations that some of the highflyers of the present day can boast of. It is a question that has been often mooted, amongst sportsmen, why some packs of hounds are so much wilder, and more vicious, than others? Whether vice descends in the blood; or if it proceeds from an injudicious and unskilful management of the pack when at work or exercise? I should say, undoubtedly, from both these sources, and also from other causes, over which a huntsman has no control, viz., scarcity of foxes, and the circumstance of covers and country being, in their nature, inaccessible to whippers-in. Hounds invariably imbibe the nature and temperament of their huntsman, and are, according as they are generaled, flighty, or slow and plodding, shifty, or line hunters, steady, or incurable hare-hunters, as the case may be. Although vice of all descriptions (and none more so than unsteadiness in drawing, or, in other words, speaking to a hare scent), is proved to be transmitted, in the breed of hounds, from one generation to another, still, a great deal towards eradicating this evil may be done, by persevering exertions, after cub-hunting has commenced. Where things are done on a grand scale, and there are plenty of horses at command, there can be no excuse for vicious hounds. On the rest-days, the rogues can, without trouble or inconvenience, be taken out early in a morning, well drilled amongst deer or hares, and brought in again, time enough to be fed with the lot drawn for the next day's hunting, of which they may form a part. But in small and "scratch" establishments, where, in nine instances out of ten, matters are conducted on a more than economical plan, few hacks are kept, perhaps not more than one for all purposes, and the hunting stable not affording any spare nags, the employés are glad of an excuse to give the cavalry a chance. In these cases the hounds only get an extra cut or two, in going to cover the next morning, instead of three good hours' drilling, on the previous day, over some neighbouring manor, where the proprietor has given permission for the foxhounds to be exercised and awed from riot, whenever their huntsman may be disposed to take them. Amongst the various descriptions of riot that are met with, none is more vexatious, and destructive to good sport, than the roe-deer (luckily confined to part of Scotland, and the West of England). They are animals that seldom show themselves in the open at any season of the year, but abide, perpetually, in the most thick and remote covers; consequently, it is impossible, when exercising and breaking young hounds, to show and awe them from them, with any effect. Various schemes have been attempted to make

hounds familiar with them, by bringing up the fawns tame, to live about the kennel, &c.; but the plan adopted by Captain Barclay, when he hunted the Turriff country in Aberdeenshire (where the roe abounds more than in any other county in Scotland), was one of the most extraordinary. He procured a dead roe, which he had stuffed, and placed upon wheels, and by this means dragged about the neighbouring fields, when the pack were at exercise, and he declared, that the practice rendered his hounds infinitely more steady than they had been before this novel experiment had been tried.

Although in all packs some hounds are to be met with, of so impatient a disposition, that, if a fox cannot be found in the first or second cover drawn, they must have a fling at something or other; yet thorough bred foxhounds will invariably prefer a vermin scent to that of hares, or other game; and I have frequently seen them throw their tongues on a polecat, or fitchet, as also the stoat and common house cat, when met with in woods, at a distance from home. An extraordinary instance of running a polecat to ground, occurred, with the Warwickshire hounds, some years ago, when Jack Wood hunted them. I was very young at the time, and had only just begun to take notice of the work of hounds; but knew, pretty well, when they turned in a big wood of 300 acres, or if they were running in two or three bodies: however, to hunt up to my story-we found a fox in the Kenilworth woods, and, after giving him a devil of a dusting for about two hours, ran him to ground in a small head of earths, in that well known cover, Long Meadow Wood. I was attending to the cry of the hounds, just before they went to ground, expecting to hear them stop and kill their fox, when suddenly they were divided into two bodies, both of which ran to ground at the same place, and within one minute of each other. Upon going down to the earth, I remarked to Jack Wood, that there were two scents, and I fancied a brace of foxes had gone to ground. "There were two scents," said Wood, "but I am sure there have never been two foxes before the hounds this morning; it certainly did appear very strange for them to divide, as they did, during the last ring; however, we shall see." We dug down, and, first of all, found a huge polecat, and, in a few more minutes, (the terrier still keeping at work), the hunted fox. "Well done, master," said Jack Wood, you have got the best ear, for a young un, I ever met with in my life." I felt half a foot higher upon the strength of such a compliment from such a quarter.

In the spring of the year hounds are frequently more inclined to be riotous than earlier in the season, for the following reasons:-In the first place, March winds are great promoters of wildness, and, in the next, the old Jack-hares smell so awfully strong, during that peculiar period, that old hounds, which were considered perfectly steady before, have suddenly broke away, on hare scents, in the most determined and ungovernable manner. Moreover, when there is any vice bred in young hounds, it is allowed, by all huntsmen, to show itself at that peculiar season of the year. In the spring, I have also frequently seen a pack of hounds leave the line of a vixen fox, and refuse to hunt her; this may appear strange, but it is perfectly true; and I have no hesitation in saying, that nine old huntsmen out of ten will confirm what I have written, from their own experience.

Hounds should, undoubtedly, be kept to their own game, if they are expected to hunt and run together in anything like decent order, and with credit; playing tricks with drugs of aniseed, or "nineted bagmen,"* as old Tom Wingfield used to call them, is one of the most unpardonable insults that can be offered to a master of hounds; but such things have been done, to the everlasting disgrace of the perpetrators. No doubt a pack of foxhounds would run anything they were capped on to; and some of those who read this article may recollect Mr. Osbaldeston going to draw for a wolf, in the neighbourhood of Sibbertoft, which had escaped from a caravan at Lutterworth, and had devoured a considerable number of sheep. The wolf, however, was not found, but was afterwards shot by some farmers near that place. The pack out on that day was what the Squire called his Saturday pack, which consisted of a mixed lot of dogs and bitches, considered inferior to either of his other packs. As to the hounds running this wolf, is one thing, and as to whether the novelty of the chase would injure them in point of steadiness, is another; at any rate I do not suppose the Squire would have attempted it with either of his other packs.

This anecdote recalls to my recollection another, related of a hound-bitch of the late John Mitton, of Halston. A litter of cubs having been brought to the kennels, and the said bitch having lost her whelps, she was introduced to them in the capacity of a foster-mother, which office she performed with wonderful care and affection, so long as their infancy lasted. In course of time, however, when the young foxes were turned out into the neighbouring covers, and, of course, all recollection of her darlings had vanished, she, without remorse, assisted in tearing and eating those very bantlings which, but a few weeks before, she would have defended from injury to the last drop of her blood.

(To be continued.)

THE RACE-HORSE.

A TALE.

BY SIR JOHN DEAN PAUL, BART.

PART I.-THE STUD.

DID man but use one half the care to find
The likeliest means to meliorate his kind,
That to his stud he gives, and, for his guide,

Take prudent forethought ere he sought a bride;

Anointed, or rubbed over with aniseed. Some years ago, a "scratch" pack of hounds were kept up by some Oxonians, who used to hunt bag-foxes, abstracted from the covers of the Duke of Beaufort and Sir Thomas Mostyn This, of course, gave great offence; and, upon some of the party coming out with Sir T. Mostyn's hounds afterwards, old Tom Wingfield, the huntsman, observed, that he did not wish to see any one out with their hounds who hunted "nineted bagmen."

Then temper, talent, form, and health, and size,
Would be the magnets in the lover's eyes.
In his selection, we should mark, combined,
The varied excellence of human kind:
The dark and fair, the roseate and the pale,
The short and tall, the tender and the hale.
Thus might he give his kind its pristine state,
And man, to what he fell from, elevate.
But, now, alas! less wisely he employs
His time, and lavishes his means on toys;
To some base object vulgarly is sold,
And barters hope and happiness for gold;
To some soft baby-face, and beaming eye,
Submits him in a fond captivity;

Nor dreams how soon the rose of beauty dies,
That charms take wing, but folly never flies.
For virtue, health! do suitors patient wait?
They watch sick fathers, and a large estate—
Despise the worth, alone in virtue found-
Appraise the blighted heiress by the pound :
With tainted blood their own sound natures blend,
And gout and palsy to their heirs descend.
Not so the breeder for the turf; with care
He first procures some all accomplish'd mare,
Whose pedigree, through long successions traced,
The earliest annals of the stud-books graced;
There he begins, and then, with practised eye,
Notes all the points of her fair symmetry ;
And where she fails, his skill supplies the loss,
With care he chooses some judicious cross;
And thus the produce shall in season prove
How wise the choice of well assorted love.
New interests rise whence novel pleasures flow-
His lady love will to his paddocks go,
Where the young colt doth tame and quiet stand,
To take the proffered gâteau from her hand;
Or, wheeling round, in playful circles fly,
Watch'd by the mother's never sleeping eye.
Each day, each week, delighted to the place
That lady comes, and sees some opening grace;
Herself a mother marks, without surprise,
How closely instinct draws maternal ties.
How much there is of wisdom in the wife

Who shares her husband's estimates of life,

*The attachment of high-bred brood mares to their offspring, is very remarkable; and it is absolutely dangerous to enter the paddock, so violent is the vigilance of the

mother.