Chapter D (6)

Hares bred upon the downs, or in hilly countries, are always the stoutest, and best enabled to escape from GREYHOUNDS; of which they are so conscious, that they always make for the nearest rising ground, so soon as started. When so severely distrest that they plainly perceive there is no other means of escape, they will take to a brick or wooden drain for security, or even _run to earth_, if one should luckily present itself in the emergency. They are thought to foresee a CHANGE in the WEATHER, and to regulate their _sitting_ accordingly. After harvest they are found in stubbles, banks of hedges, woods, and thickets; during the fall of the leaf, they seat themselves more in open fields; and when the severity of winter begins to decline, warm, dry, hilly fallows are hardly ever without them. As one species of GAME, they are held in high estimation; and, notwithstanding the utmost efforts, by every degree of interdiction, with all the _pains_ and _penalties_ that successive parliaments could devise, from RICHARD the Second to the present day, for their preservation, and appropriation to the use of the superior classes, yet no laws ever proved more fallacious or deceptive; for the infinity of POACHERS, with which every rural district abounds, and the alacrity with which STAGE COACHMEN and COUNTRY HIGLERS supply their _friends_, will never let any inquirer be in want of A HARE, who has his _five shillings_ in hand as a means of retribution. This INSUFFICIENCY of the LAW to check nocturnal depredation, and progressive infamy, is most sincerely to be regretted; but experience has long held forth ample conviction, that regret cannot produce redress.

HARE-HUNTING—is a well-known sport, of very ancient and enthusiastic enjoyment, reported, by the most celebrated ANTIQUARIES, to have been established more than _two thousand_ years before the CHRISTIAN ÆRA. Various opinions have been occasionally promulgated, and perseveringly supported, (by cynical rigidity, and religious severity,) upon the "cruelty of the chase;" which, however, is now _never_ likely to be shaken in either _theory_ or _practice_, as to almost every PACK OF HOUNDS in the kingdom there are clerical devotees, who are by no means unworthy MEMBERS of the CHURCH.

HARE-HUNTING, though universal in every part of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, is in the highest estimation in those open and champaign counties where, from want of covert, a STAG or FOX is never seen. Here the hares are stouter, more accustomed to long nightly exercise, more frequently disturbed, more inured to severe courses before GREYHOUNDS, and hard runs before hounds; consequently, calculated to afford much better sport than can be expected in either an inclosed or woodland country. There are three distinct kinds of hounds, with which this particular chase is pursued, according to the soil and natural face of the district where it is enjoyed. The large slow SOUTHERN HOUND is adapted to the low swampy, marshy lands, so conspicuous in many parts of Lancashire; as well as those in Norfolk, and various others bordering upon the sea. The small, busy, indefatigable BEAGLE seems appropriated by nature to those steep, hilly and mountainous parts, where it is impossible for the best horse and boldest rider to keep constantly with the hounds. The hounds now called HARRIERS, and originally produced by a cross between the SOUTHERN HOUND and the DWARF FOX, are the only hounds to succeed in those open countries, where, for want of covert, the hare goes five or six miles an end _without a turn_; as is frequently the case in many parts of Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Wiltshire, Hampshire, and other counties; constituting chases _very superior_ to many FOX HOUNDS, hunting beechen coverts and woodland districts.

HARE-HUNTING, when put in competition with the pursuit of STAG or FOX, is much more gratifying to the ruminative and reflecting mind, than either of the other two; as it affords a more ample field for minute observation upon the instinctive sagacity of the GAME, and the patient, persevering fortitude of the HOUND, in the various _heads_, _turns_, and _doubles_, of the chase. Hence it is that hare-hunting is principally followed, and most enjoyed, by sportsmen in the decline of life; but with the younger branches it is held in very slender estimation, as they in general appreciate the _excellence_ of _sport_ more by the difficulty in pursuing it, than by its duration. Hare-hunting, in a woody or inclosed country, is such a perpetual routine of repetition within a small sphere, affording no more than a continual succession of the _same thing_, that with a zealous rider, and a high-mettled horse, it soon palls upon the appetite of both. Young men, from emulative motives, (naturally appertaining to their time of life,) feel a pressing propensity to encounter obstacles, and surmount difficulties, where the effect of vigour and manly courage can be displayed, and consequently prefer the kind of chase where personal fortitude, and bodily exertion, are brought more to the proof; and where, by covering a larger scope of country, and with a much greater proportional rapidity, a more pleasing and extensive variety is obtained.

Another cause of mortification constantly presents itself to young sportsmen with HARRIERS, or BEAGLES, in the field: a valuable horse, or a bold rider, are equally unnecessary in HARE-HUNTING, and this is eternally brought to an incontrovertible proof; for after a burst of five minutes, in which a perfect hunter has an opportunity of displaying his speed, and, after _clearing_ some dangerous _leaps_, a sudden turn or _double_ of the HARE, brings him by the side of a rustic upon a poney of _five pounds value_, who is _nine_ times out of _ten_ as forward as himself. The infinite time lost in _finding_, where hares are not in great plenty; the frequency of _faults_; the persecuting tediousness of _cold hunting_; and the injury done to HORSES in drizzling dreary days, during hours of slow action, are great drawbacks to the pleasure this species of hunting would otherwise afford.

MODERATE SPORTSMEN will never avail themselves of _immoderate_ means to occasion a contraction of their own sport, by a wanton or unnecessary destruction of hares; too great a body of hounds should never be brought into the field, or any _unfair_ modes adopted during the chase: _pricking a hare_ in the paths, or upon the highways, as well as placing emissaries upon _the soil_, are paltry, mean, and disgraceful artifices, that no genuine, well-bred, HONEST SPORTSMAN, will ever permit; but candidly acknowledge, if the HOUNDS cannot _kill her_, she ought to ESCAPE. In respect to numbers, _less_ than TWELVE, or _more_ than EIGHTEEN couple ought never to be brought from the kennel to the chase; nor, indeed, seldom are, unless with those who think much less of SPORT, than of personal _pride_ and _ostentation_.

MR. BECKFORD, who is a perfect master of this subject, has so completely investigated, and minutely explained, every particular appertaining to the _chase_ of both HARE and FOX, that as it is absolutely impossible to suggest an _idea_, or communicate a _thought_, but what must carry with it the appearance of plagiarism; it will be more candid, (evidently more honest) to introduce occasional passages in his own words, as language more expressive, by which they will be infinitely better understood. He says, "By inclination he was never a hare-hunter; but followed the diversion more for air and exercise than amusement; and if he could have persuaded himself to ride on the turnpike road to the three mile stone, and back again, he never should have thought himself in need of a pack of harriers."

He then apologizes to "his brother HARE-HUNTERS for holding the sport so cheap, not wishing to offend; alluding more relatively to his own particular situation in a country where hare-hunting is so bad, that it is more extraordinary he should have persevered in it so long, than he should have forsaken it then." Adding, "how much he respects hunting in whatever shape it appears; that it is a manly and a wholesome exercise, and seems by nature designed to be the amusement of a Briton." He is of opinion that more than twenty couple of hounds should never be brought into the field; supposing it difficult for a greater number to run well together; and a pack of harriers can never be complete who do not. He thinks the fewer hounds you have, the less you soil the ground, which sometimes proves a hindrance to the chase.

Custom has greatly varied in the practice of HARE-HUNTING during the last thirty years: at that time the hounds left the kennel at day-light, _took trail_ upon being _thrown off_, and soon went up to their GAME; which having the pleasure to find by their own instinctive sagacity, they pursued with the more determined alacrity: a brace or leash of hares were then killed, and the sport of the day concluded, by the hour it is now _the fashion_ for the company to take the field. As the _trail_ of a hare lays both partially and imperfectly when it gets late in the day, so the difficulty of _finding_ is increased, in proportion to the lateness of the hour at which the hounds are thrown off; hence it is that HARE-FINDERS, so little known at that time, are now become so truly instrumental to the sport of the day.

Although their services are welcome to the eager and expectant sportsman, yet it is on all hands admitted, they are prejudicial to the discipline of hounds; for having such assistance, they become habitually _idle_, and individually _wild_: expecting the game to be readily found for them, they become totally indifferent to the task of finding it themselves. HOUNDS of this description know the hare-finder as well as they know the HUNTSMAN, and will not only, upon sight, set off to meet him, but have eternally their heads thrown up in the air, in expectation of a view HOLLOA!

With all well-managed packs, they are quietly brought up to the place of meeting; and when _thrown off_, a general silence should prevail, that every hound may be permitted to do his own work. Hounds well bred, and well broke to their business, seldom want assistance. Officious intrusions frequently do more harm than good: nothing requires greater judgment, or nicer observation in speaking to a hound, than to know the critical time when a word is wanting. Young men, like young hounds, are frequently accustomed to _babble_ when newly entered, and, by their frivolous questions or conversation, attract the attention of the hounds, and insure the silent _curse_ of the HUNTSMAN, as well as the contemptuous indifference of every experienced sportsman in the field.

Whenever a hare is turned out of her form, or jumps up before the hounds, a general shout of clamorous exultation too frequently prevails, by which the hare's intentional course is perverted, and she is often _headed_, or turned into the body of the HOUNDS to a _certain death_; when, on the contrary, was she permitted to go off with less alarm, and to break view, without being so closely pressed at starting, there is no doubt but much better runs would be more generally obtained. Individual emulation, or individual _obstinacy_, invariably occasions horsemen in hare-hunting to be too near the hounds, who, being naturally urged by the rattling of the horses, and the exulting zeal of the riders, often very much over-run the scent, and have no alternative but to _turn_ and _divide_ amidst the legs of the horses, so soon as they have lost it; and to this circumstance may be justly attributed many of the long and tedious _faults_ which so frequently occur, and render this kind of chase the less attracting.

Gentlemen who keep HARRIERS vary much in their modes of hunting them; but the true sportsman never deviates from the strict impartiality of the chase. If a hare is found _sitting_, and the hounds too near at hand, they are immediately drawn off, to prevent her being _chopped_ in her _form_: the hare is then silently walked up by the individual who previously found her, and she is permitted to go off at her _own pace_, and her _own way_. The hounds are then drawn over the spot from whence she started, where taking the scent, they go off in a style of uniformity, constituting what may be fairly termed the consistency of the chase. Others there are who never can, or _never will_, resist the temptation of giving _the hounds a view_, and never fail to tell you, both HARE and HOUNDS run the better for it. In addition to this _humane_ method of beginning the chase, every advantage is taken of the poor affrighted animal's distress, amidst all its little instinctive efforts for the preservation of life. The hounds, instead of being permitted to run the soil, and kill the hare by dint of their own persevering labour, are constantly _capped_ from _chase_ to _view_; and the object of the sport most wantonly and uncharitably destroyed; for nothing less than a miracle can effect its escape.

Those of nicer sensations enjoy the sport, but enjoy it much more mercifully; and would rather see their own hounds occasionally _beaten_, than, by any unfair or unsportsman-like introduction, kill their hare. These never permit a profusion of vociferous assistance from the huntsman, who is enjoined to an almost silent execution of his own duty, that the hounds may not be prevented (by _his noise_) from a strict and attentive performance of theirs. If they _throw up_, upon a dry or greasy fallow, a footpath, a highway, or a turnpike-road, a thousand busy bustling endeavours are to be self-made for a recovery of the scent, before any one effort is permitted to assist in _lifting them along_; and even then, not till every patient and persevering struggle has failed of success. The sportsman of this description admits of no device, stratagem, or _foul play_ whatever; the HOUNDS must _hunt_ the hare; they must go over every inch of ground she has gone before them; they must _hit off_ their own checks, recover their _faults_; and, by cold hunting, _pick it along_, where, in passing through a flock of sheep, the ground has been foiled, and the chase proportionally retarded. Early and extensive _casts_ are unjust, unless upon some unexpected or unavoidable emergency; as the repeated interventions of sheep, or intersections of roads, or fallows in a dry season; when it would be impossible to make the least progress in getting the hounds along without assistance.

When hounds come to a check, not a horse should move, not a voice should be heard: every hound is eagerly employed, exerting all his powers for a recovery of the scent, in which, if not officiously obstructed, they will most probably soon succeed. At such times there is generally, and unluckily, some _popinjay_ in the field, who, unfortunately for himself, never speaks but upon the most _improper_ occasion; rendering, at such moment, the judicious observation of MR. BECKFORD truly neat and applicable, that "when in the field, he never desires to hear any other _tongue_ than a HOUND." Whenever assistance to hounds is become unavoidably necessary, and the chase cannot be carried on without, sound judgment, and long experience, are necessary to speedy success. Casts cannot be made by any fixed, certain, or invariable rules, but must, at different times, be differently dependent upon the _chase_, the _soil_, the _weather_, and the _kind_ of _country_ you are hunting in. It may, in one instance, be prudent to try _forward_ first; in another, to try _back_; as it may be judicious, or necessary, to make a _small_ circular cast at one time, and a much _larger_ at another; and although to one of the field, circumstances may appear, in _either_ instance, to have been nearly the same, yet they have not been so in the "mind's eye" of the HUNTSMAN, (or the person hunting the hounds,) upon whose superior knowledge, or circumspection, the _good_ or _ill_ effect of the experiment must depend.

None, but weak or inexperienced sportsmen, ever presume to obtrude their opinions when hounds are _at fault_; those who do it, soon find the interference is _ill-timed_, and that it only excites a contemptuous indifference. Strangers cannot be too cautious and circumspect in the field, if they wish to avoid just reproofs, and not to encounter rebuffs: some there are, whose hard fate it is to become conspicuously ridiculous upon every occasion that can occur, and to such, unfortunately for them, occasions are seldom wanting. During the chase, they are riding _into_, _over_, or _before_, the HOUNDS; and at every _check_, asking some vexatious, trifling question of the HUNTSMAN; or entering into a frivolous conversation with what seems _to them_ the most vulnerable subject of the company. Officious individuals of this description, whose error too frequently originates in a certain degree of personal pride, and unbounded confidence, should learn to know, that "the post of honour is a private station;" as well as that an _old pollard_ in a painting, might be admirably calculated to form a respectable object in the back-ground, but never intended by the artist to become a principal figure in the front of the picture.

HARE NETS—are of two sorts, one of which will be found described under the head "GATE-NETS;" the other are called PURSE-NETS, and are exactly in the form of cabbage-nets, but of larger and stronger construction. These occasionally afford collateral aid to the former; for being fixed at the different meuses (either in hedges, or to paling) where HARES are expected to pass, and the ground being scoured by a _mute lurcher_, as there described, the destruction is certain. These nets are the nocturnal engines of old and experienced POACHERS, doing more mischief where hares are plenty, in _one_ _night_, than the _wire_ manufacturers can accomplish in a week.

"HARK FORWARD!"—is a sporting exclamation, well known in the practice of the field, and affords to every distant hearer, authentic information, that the hounds are _a-head_, and going on with the chase. It sometimes happens, that, in very large and thick coverts, no man or horse existing can be in with the hounds; at which times (particularly in stormy weather) recourse must be had to every means for general accommodation. The best sportsmen are often thrown out _for miles_, and not unfrequently for _the day_, by various turns of the CHASE in COVERT, and then breaking _up the wind_ on a contrary side, leaving every listening expectant in an awkward predicament, if not relieved by the friendly communication of "HOIC FORWARD!" from one to another, enabling the whole to continue the sport.

HARE-PIPES—were instruments so curiously constructed, to imitate the whining whimper of A HARE, that, being formerly found a very destructive nocturnal engine in attracting the attention of hares, and bringing them within the certain possession of the POACHER, their use was prohibited (by particular specification) in every Act of Parliament for the preservation of game, from the reign of Richard the Second, to the present time; although it is natural to conclude, there is not _now_ such an article to be seen, or found in the kingdom.

HARRIERS—are the species of hound appropriated solely to the pursuit of the HARE, and from thence derived their present appellation. The breeding experiments so long made, and the various crosses so repeatedly tried, by the best judges in the kingdom, seem at length to have centered between the old southern and the dwarf fox hound. MR. BECKFORD, whose "Thoughts" no sensible man, or judicious sportsman, will presume to dispute, was entirely of this opinion, and proved it by his practice; for he says, "his hounds were a cross of both these kinds, in which it was his endeavour to get as much bone and strength, in as small a compass as possible. It was a difficult undertaking. He bred many years, and an infinity of hounds, before he could get what he wanted, and had at last the pleasure to see them very handsome; small, yet very bony: they ran remarkably well together; ran fast enough; had all the alacrity that could be desired, and would hunt the coldest scent. When they were thus perfect, he did as many others do—he parted with them."

Notwithstanding the criterion of excellence thus laid down, the same sort of hound (as a harrier) is by no means applicable to every soil: the southern hound will be always in possession of THE SWAMPS, as will the beagles of the mountainous and hilly countries. Those who delight in seeing hounds bred and drafted to a certain degree of uniformity, in _size_, _bone_, _strength_, and _speed_, strictly corresponding with the opinion of MR. BECKFORD, will not find it time lost, to take the field with the _harriers_ of his MAJESTY, kept at Windsor: they are, as they ought to be, the best pack, and the best hunted, this day in the kingdom. See the Frontispiece; where every MAN, HORSE, and HOUND, is individually a portrait.

HART—is the sporting term synonimous with STAG, (which SEE,) and was, in all forest laws and records, constantly in use to signify the same. At present, however, it is considered almost obsolete, and never so expressed in sporting report, or conversation.

HART ROYAL.—A stag hunted by KING or QUEEN, obtaining his perfect liberty by beating the hounds, was formerly called a hart royal; and proclamation was immediately made, in the towns and villages of the neighbourhood where he was lost, that he should not be molested, or his life attempted by any farther pursuit; but that he should continue in a state of unrestrained freedom, with power to return to the FOREST or CHACE from whence he was taken at his OWN FREE WILL. This ceremony is, however, discontinued, and bids fair to be buried in a perpetual oblivion; as two instances have recently occurred worthy recital: one in the neighbourhood of HIGH WYCOMBE, where the STAG was killed before the hounds, by a rustic, during the heat of the chase, in which the KING at the time was personally engaged. And another at MAPLEDURHAM, near READING, where the deer was wantonly shot, as he lay in a willow bank near the Thames, two days after he had beaten the hounds; yet it is publicly known, that no steps were taken to prosecute the offenders, which probably originated in his Majesty's clemency.

HAUNCH AND HIP—of a horse, have been hitherto (but not with strict propriety) used in a similar sense: nice observers might say one begins where the other ends, or that one immediately succeeds the other. The haunch is that part of the hind quarter extending from the point of the hip-bone, down the thigh to the hock; but as it is a part well known, and but little subject to partial disease or accident, it lays claim to no particular description. The term of "putting a horse upon his haunches," implies the making him constantly fix the principal weight of the frame upon his hind quarters, by which practice he bears less upon the bit, and becomes habitually light in hand. Horses hard in mouth, and heavy in hand, frequently undergo the ceremony of being put upon their haunches in the trammels of a RIDING SCHOOL, where, by too severe and inconsiderate exertions, sudden _twists_, _distortions_, and _strains_, are sustained in the HOCKS, which terminate in CURBS and SPAVINS never to be obliterated.

HAUNCH OF VENISON—implies the hind quarter of a FALLOW DEER, (either buck or doe,) cut in a particular form for the table. The hind quarter of a STAG, or HIND, also passes under the same denomination; but it is more applicable to form a distinction, and call the former a haunch of venison; the latter, a haunch of red deer.

HAW.—The haw is that cartilaginous part of a horse's eye, plainly perceptible at the inner corner next the forehead, which internally constitutes a circular groove for the easier acceleration of the eye in its orbit. When confined within its natural and proper sphere, it is but just in sight, when taking a front view of the horse; but when it has acquired a preternatural degree of enlargement, it protrudes over part of the orb, partially obstructs the sight, particularly in that direction, and constitutes no small disfiguration of the horse. Ingenuity heretofore suggested the possibility of extirpation with the knife, which operation has been frequently performed, but with too little success to justify a continuance of the practice. It having been found, that when the haw was taken away by a regular process, and by the hand of the most expert OPERATOR, yet the eye, for want of its former support, was observed to become contracted in the socket, and a total deprivation of sight to follow, evidently demonstrating "the REMEDY worse than the DISEASE;" as well as to convince us, it is sometimes more prudent

"—— to bear those ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of."

HAWKS,—as birds of prey, are divided into two sorts, called long and short winged hawks: of the former there are ten, and of the latter eight; but their names, and particular description, is so remote from the language and manners of the present time, and their use so nearly obsolete, that the least animadversion would prove entirely superfluous.

HAWKING—was some centuries since a sport of much fashion and celebrity; the HAWKS being as regularly broke and trained to the pursuit and taking of game, as are the best SETTERS and POINTERS of the present day. It is, however, so completely grown into disuse, and buried in oblivion, that there does not appear the least glimmering of its ever attaining a chance of SPORTING resurrection.

HAY—is the well-known article of grass, cut in its most luxuriant and nutritious state during the months of JUNE and JULY; when the succulent parts, tending most to putrefaction, being extracted by the powerful rays of the sun, it acquires (if the season should prove dry, and favourable for the operation) a degree of fragrancy nearly equal to a collection of aromatic herbs. HAY, in this state, is a most attracting sort of ALIMENT to horses of every description, and is so truly grateful to the appetite, that it is often accepted when corn is refused. Of hay there are different kinds; as MEADOW hay, CLOVER hay, and SAINFOIN. The first is called natural grass, as the spontaneous produce of what is termed pasture land: the two latter are deemed artificial, as being cultivated upon arable land, and affording crops of only BIENNIAL and TRIENNIAL duration; when the fertility of which is so far exhausted, as to render a crop of the ensuing year an _unprofitable_ prospect, the land is ploughed up, to undergo its regular routine of cultivation, when crops of this description are renewed, by sowing the seed previously preserved for the purpose.

Fine, rich, short, fragrant meadow hay, has by much the preference with the SPORTING world; as well as with all those who employ horses in light work, and expeditious action: it varies much in its property; not more in respect to the manner in which it is made, than to the soil it is produced from. Those who are anxious for the HEALTH and CONDITION of their horses, are always as judiciously circumspect in the choice of their hay as their corn; experimentally knowing, as much depends upon the excellence of one as the other. Hay produced from rushy land, or mossy moors, is always of inferior quality, and impoverishes the blood of the horses who eat it, in proportion to its own sterility. Those who inconsiderately purchase _cheap hay_ upon the score of economy, will have to repent their want of liberality. Whether it is _coarse_, and barren of nutritious property, or _ill-made_, _musty_, and repugnant to appetite, the effect sooner or later will be much the same; and those who imprudently make the experiment, will soon find, that horses ill-kept, and less fed than nature requires, for the support of the frame, and the supply of the various secretions by the different emunctories, will soon display, in their external appearance, a tendency to disease.

CLOVER HAY is produced in most counties in the kingdom; it is generally sown with BARLEY, sometimes with OATS, and least of all with WHEAT: it constitutes, upon dry ground, a profitable and convenient pasture in the autumn, and affords its general crop the following season. If luxuriant, it is mown twice in the same summer; but the second crop is not considered equal in value to the first. This hay is said, by those who ought to be the best enabled to judge and decide, superior to every other as to its nutritious property: this may be admitted in a certain degree, so far as its increasing the crassamentum of the blood, and proportionally promoting its viscidity; rendering horses who are constantly fed upon it (for instance, farmers horses) fuller in flesh, duller in action, and thicker in the wind, than those who are supported upon food of a lighter description. Although well calculated for slow and heavy draft horses, it is by no means adapted to those of expeditious action; for the blood thus thickened, becoming more languid or tardy in its circulation, would, when propelled through the vessels with great and sudden velocity, in hunting, or journies of speed upon the road, inevitably lay the foundation of different inflammatory disorders.

SAINFOIN is rather an article of necessity than choice, and very little known in some parts of England, where nature has been more liberal in her diversity of vegetation: it is principally cultivated in the upland counties, where neither a meadow, stream, or rivulet, is to be seen for a great number of miles in succession. Many very extensive farms in the lower counties west of the metropolis, feel the want of pasture land, not having a single acre of meadow or natural grass in possession. Necessity, the mother of invention, has, however, so amply furnished a variety of substitutes, that their horses, and stock of every kind, seem equal, upon the average, to what is produced in any other part of the kingdom.

HAYS—are a particular kind of nets for taking RABBITS and HARES, the use of which are proscribed in almost every Act to be found in the penal statutes for the PRESERVATION of GAME. They are made from sixty to one hundred and twenty feet long, and six feet deep; constituting the most destructive engine of any ever yet invented to _strip a country_, by the mode in which they are used. They are only in the possession of POACHERS of the first magnitude, (in the neighbourhoods of PARKS, HARE WARRENS, and PRESERVES,) by whose desperate and determined _nocturnal_ exertions the WHOLESALE trade of the metropolis is invariably supplied.

HAYWARD—is a manorial parochial officer, appointed to preserve the privileges, and protect the rights, immunities, and cattle, of those who are entitled to commonage of certain lands, wastes, &c. He derives from his appointment, authority to drive his district at stated periods, well known in its vicinity; to impound strays, and to prevent nuisances of diseased cattle; or any other impropriety of cattle breaking bounds, and destroying fences, of which it comes within the intent of his office to take cognizance. To all which there are certain local fees appertaining, according to the custom of the country, for the support of an office very wisely instituted to prevent trifling law-suits and paltry litigations.

HAZARD—is, beyond a doubt, the most fashionable and fascinating GAME ever yet invented for the expeditious and instantaneous transfer of immense sums from one hand to another. It is a GAME of CHANCE; and, when _fairly_ played, is the FAIREST upon which a stake can possibly be made, from _one_ guinea to a THOUSAND, or to any amount whatever; the winning or losing of which is decided with so much rapidity, that the adventurer can never be more than a few moments in _suspense_, although he may be many years in REPENTANCE. Hazard is the game of _nocturnal_ celebrity, by which the best estates have been impoverished, and immense property destroyed: it is played with a box and pair of dice, and is of considerable antiquity, as noticed by SHAKESPEARE in Richard the Third, whom he has made to say,

"Slave, I have set my life upon a CAST,
"And I will stand the HAZARD of the DIE."

The person holding the BOX is called the CASTER, who having been _set_ as much money by the surrounding company (or any individual) as he proposes _to throw for_, and the STAKE or STAKES being deposited within a centrical circle upon the table, he then throws the _dice_ from the BOX, and whatever number appears upon the surface is termed "the MAIN;" and so vociferated loudly by a person called the GROOM PORTER, who stands above the rest, and whose business it is to call the _main_ and _chance_, furnish fresh _dice_ when demanded, and to receive the money for a _box-hand_ when due. So soon as the _main_ is declared, which, in fact, is the number by which the Caster's opponents must abide for themselves, the Caster throws a second time, and this number is called the _chance_, being his _own_ chance against the _main_ previously thrown; and so named, because it is the number of the MAIN of the PLAYERS against the _chance_ of the _individual_ who is the CASTER, and makes stakes against the whole, or any part of the rest.

The _main_ and _chance_ being proclaimed by the GROOM PORTER, odds are generally laid between the throws (upon the termination of the event) according to the numbers opposed to each other, and according to the scale by which all _bets_ upon the game are regulated, and strictly observed. The Caster may, or may not, engage in any of these bets, which he very frequently does, as a hedge (or fence) to his own stakes, when the odds are _six_ to _four_, or TWO to ONE, in his favour: at any rate, he continues to throw the dice in succession, till either the _main_ or _chance_ appears: if the main is _first_ thrown, those who "set the Caster" draw their money; the Caster is then said to have "thrown out," and passes the box to his next neighbour: on the contrary, should he have thrown his _own chance first_, he is then the winner, and of course not only draws all the money he _staked_ and _betted_, but continues to HOLD the BOX, and throw a "new main" for _any sum_ he wishes to be _set_, in which a Caster is never known to be disappointed.

When a CASTER has _thrown in_ (that is, has won) three times in succession, it is termed "a BOX HAND," and he then pays _half a guinea_ to the GROOM PORTER, for the privilege of playing, the use of box and dice, negus, &c. provided for the accommodation of the company. The box continues in the Caster's possession so long as he continues to _throw in_, (paying an additional half guinea every _third_ time of winning;) but the first time he loses, he resigns the box to the player sitting next to him, unless he requests, and is permitted to renew his _own play_, which is then called taking "a back hand." There are more minute distinctions, as well as a fixed table of the odds during the play; but they are too long for insertion; and could not be so clearly comprehended by theory, as understood by practice.

HEAD.—The correct formation of a horse's head is so indispensibly necessary to the striking symmetry and corresponding uniformity of the whole, that its make should never be inadvertently overlooked in a hasty purchase. The head, the crest, the curve of the neck, and the entire of the forehand, are what may be termed the predominant features, or distinguishing traits, which _alone seen_, hold forth, in general, a tolerably just idea of what may be expected to follow. In the present state of equestrian improvement, the beauty of a horse's head is too well known to require a literary description: nor would the word itself have been introduced, but to remind every class of sportsmen, that those who purchase a horse too _thick in the jole_, or a head _too large_ for the BODY, must never expect to be complimented upon the beauty of the acquisition.

HEAD, PAIN IN.—Horses, it is supposed and admitted, may be subject to pains in the head; and that such pains may proceed from causes it is impossible to explore. As, therefore, every attempt at definition must rest upon conjecture, it is evidently better not to advance opinions founded upon uncertainty, by which _many_ may be _misled_, none either INSTRUCTED or ENTERTAINED. For symptoms, see EARS.

HEAD OF A DEER. See ANTLERS.

HEAD-STALL—is the part of a caveson, bridle, or hunting-rein halter, which passes round, and on each side the head of the horse, and to which the reins of either are affixed, for use in the field or on the road, and for safety in the stable.

HEATH-FOWL—are a species of GROUSE, (passing under the denomination of BLACK GAME,) of which there are different sorts, individually expressed in the various acts of successive Parliaments for the preservation of the game; as "GROUSE, HEATH-COCK, MOOR-GAME, or any such fowl." To prevent the general destruction that must evidently follow, if game of this description was pursued and taken at all seasons of the year without restraint, the Legislature has wisely provided a remedy by the following prohibition, exclusive of the penalties annexed to other Acts for killing without the necessary qualifications.

By the 13th George Third, c. lv. s. 2, No person shall _kill_, _destroy_, _carry_, _sell_, _buy_, or have in his _possession_, any HEATH-FOWL, commonly called _black game_, between the _tenth_ day of _December_ and the _twentieth_ day of _August_; nor any GROUSE, commonly called _red game_, between the _tenth_ day of _December_ and the _twelfth_ day of _August_; nor any BUSTARD between the _first_ day of _March_ and the _first_ day of _September_, in any year, upon pain of forfeiting, for the FIRST OFFENCE, a sum not exceeding TWENTY, nor less than _ten pounds_; and for the SECOND, and every _subsequent_ offence, a sum not exceeding THIRTY, nor less than _twenty pounds_: One moiety thereof to go to the INFORMER, the other to the poor of the parish.

HEAVIER.—A STAG deprived of his testicles by CASTRATION, is then called a HEAVIER, which operation is occasionally performed, that a supply may not be wanting for the CHASE during the time of _rutting_; in which the STAG is perpetually ranging from one HIND to another, for three weeks or longer; not allowing himself the comforts of FOOD, SLEEP, or REST. Towards the termination he becomes lean, languid, and dejected; when, having executed the task prescribed by NATURE, he withdraws himself from society, to seek repose and food. At this period he is so ill-adapted for SPORT with the HOUNDS, that the operation of castrating was adopted as an alternative to the temporary suspension of the ROYAL CHASE.

It is worthy of remark, that if a stag undergoes the operation when his horns are SHED, they _never_ grow again; on the contrary, if it is performed while the horns are in perfection, they will never exfoliate; and it is equally remarkable, that being deprived of only _one_ testicle, the horn will not regenerate on _that_ side, but will continue to grow, and annually shed on the _other_, where the single testicle has not been taken away. HEAVIERS are of great strength, and stand a long time before hounds; for which reason the hunting establishment of his MAJESTY in WINDSOR FOREST is never without a regular succession.

HEAVY IN HAND.—A horse is said to be heavy in hand, when, from want of spirit, he goes sluggishly on, bearing his whole weight upon the BIT; as if the hand of the rider alone prevented his pitching upon his head; and this to a good horseman is one of the most unpleasing _defects_ a HORSE can possess. Horses of this description should be rode in a Weymouth bridle, (see BIT,) and constantly made to feel the CURB rein; when at the same moment, that useful monitor the _spur_ should be brought into brisk and sudden contact with the body; a perseverance in which practice will be found the only mode to remedy the inconvenience. See HAND.

HEELS.—The heels of a horse, critically speaking, imply only that part of the hoof which is the very reverse of the toe; seated behind, and forming the back of the foot, across the widest end of the frog, extending from one point of the heel to the other. Custom has, however, so far extended both the idea and the expression, that in the present general acceptation of the word, it is admitted to include the feet as high as the fetlock-joint; so that the heels are subject to accidents, inconveniencies, defects, and blemishes, as CRACKS, SCRATCHES, OVERREACHES, GREASE, &c. The heels of a horse, to be good, should be high, (that is, of a proper length from the hair above to the ground below,) firm, and substantial, open on each side the frog, and never should be cut down _too low_ by the destructive instrument of the SHOEING-SMITH; an error in both judgment and practice, to which may be justly attributed the frequent failure in the back sinews; for where the heels are unnaturally reduced, and the tendons in part deprived of their support, they have evidently to encounter a preternatural distension, by which the elasticity is partially destroyed, and some of the fibrous coats consequently ruptured.

HEELS NARROW—is a defect, or inconvenience, to which HORSES are constantly subject; but they are produced much more by the officious obtrusions of ART, than any deficiency in the original formation of NATURE. Horses with narrow heels are generally those who have had very little attention paid to the state of the feet, by either MASTER or _man_, during the operation of SHOEING; and where the journeyman smith too often, from absolute idleness, affixes a shoe _too narrow_ to the FOOT, and then, to increase the injury, reduces the FOOT to the dimensions of the _shoe_.

This grievance is much easier prevented than remedied; for when once a _destruction_ of _parts_ has been inconsiderately occasioned, a REGENERATION may not be easily obtained. The cruel and invincible practice of applying the _hot shoe_ to the FOOT (by way of fitting it) during the act of shoeing, contributes in no small degree to the contraction of the heel; and when this injury is once sustained, great care and constant attention become necessary to solicit a renovation. Whether it has been occasioned by the fatal operation of the _cutting-knife_, the fashionable back-stroke friction of the _rasp_, or the fiery effect of the _hot shoe_ when conveyed from the FORGE to the FOOT, the direct road to relief is precisely the same: nightly stopping with any applicable composition calculated to mollify the bottom of the hoof, and to promote its expansion, with a plentiful impregnation of sperma-cæti oil daily, are the only sure and certain means by which the heels can be restored to their original and proper formation.

HEELER—is the person who affixes the deadly weapon called A SPUR (made of either steel or silver) to the heel of a GAME COCK, when taken from the pen previous to his being carried to the COCK-PIT to fight his battle. A hard-hitting cock, who is perpetually fighting with effect, and gives his adversary no time to stand still, or look about him, is likewise called A HEELER.

HELPS, OR AIDS,—are terms appertaining solely to the MANEGE and RIDING-SCHOOL, little known elsewhere, and totally unconnected with the sports of the field. PROFESSORS technically describe _seven_ helps necessary to complete the lesson given to a horse; as the VOICE, WHIP, BIT, CALVES of the LEGS, the STIRRUPS, the SPUR, and the GROUND.

HEROD,—commonly called _King Herod_, was the first horse of his time as A RACER, and afterwards as A STALLION. He was bred by the then DUKE of CUMBERLAND, and got by _Tartar_ out of _Cypron_, who was got by _Blaze_; he was foaled in 1758, and, after beating every horse that could be brought against him at four, five, and six years old, he became a stallion of the first celebrity, and transmitted a greater progeny to posterity, than any other horse in the whole annals of sporting, unless _Eclipse_ and _Highflyer_ (his son) are admitted upon the score of equality.

HIDEBOUND—is an impoverished state of the frame and system to which horses are frequently reduced, and partakes much more of neglect in food and stable discipline, than of constitutional defect, or acquired disease. A horse said to be HIDEBOUND has the appearance of being emaciated; the coat is of a dingy variegated hue, staring different ways, with a scurfy dust underneath; the skin is of an unpliable rigidity, seeming to adhere closely to the internal parts, denoting a deficiency of the fluids, an obstruction of the porous system, and a languor in the circulation.

The whole, or any part of these, may originate in various causes; as a short allowance of GOOD and healthy food, or a profusion of _bad_. Nothing will produce it sooner than _hard_ work with _bad_ keep, and a constant exposure to all weathers, in the severity of the winter season. Musty oats, mouldy hay, and winter straw-yards, are generally the harbingers of this appearance, which in all cases is very easily removed: good stable discipline, in wisping and dressing, regular daily exercise, a few mashes nightly of ground malt and bran, equal parts, followed by a cordial ball every morning, or an antimonial alterative powder nightly in the mash, will soon be found to answer every expectation, and restore the subject to good condition.

HIGHFLYER—was the name of a late celebrated HORSE, that, taken "for all in all," (as a RACER and a STALLION,) far exceeded any other ever known in this kingdom. He was foaled in 1774; was got by _Herod_ out of _Rachel_, who was got by _Blank_; her dam by _Regulus_, &c. He was purchased of the breeder, when a colt rising two years old, by the late LORD BOLINGBROKE, and was then thought to be getting too large and unpromising for any capital performances upon the turf. It was, however, observed by the training groom, that he displayed astonishing powers in some of his first trials; and it was upon _his_ suggestion _Highflyer_ was immediately named in the most capital sweepstakes and subscriptions then open; winning all which with the greatest ease, he was at the very zenith of his celebrity as A RACER, when LORD BOLINGBROKE, disgusted with the villainous deceptions and variegated vicissitudes of THE TURF, as well as declining daily in his health, _Highflyer_ was purchased of his Lordship by MR. TATTERSAL, who fixed him as a stallion at a farm of his own near Ely, in Cambridgeshire, where his success soon stamped the spot with the name of HIGHFLYER HALL, which it will most probably ever retain. Here he covered for some years at THIRTY GUINEAS; and from the almost incredible number of mares he was permitted to cover, it was concluded he produced to his owner no less than from fifteen hundred to two thousand pounds a year, for many years in succession. His progeny of winners only exceeded THREE HUNDRED in number, who received, in subscriptions, plates and sweepstakes, above a THOUSAND PRIZES. Amongst the most celebrated of his get were _Escape_, (who once sold for 1500 guineas,) _Euphrosyne_, _Bashful_, _Maid of all Work_, _Plutitia_, _Sir Pepper_, _Sir Peter Teazle_, _Skylark_, _Skyrocket_, _Skyscraper_, _Spadille_, _Rockingham_, _Toby_, _Thalia_, _Walnut_, _Old Tat_, _Vermin_, _Skypeeper_, _Grouse_, _Oberon_, _Screveton_, _Diamond_, _Sparkler,_ _Guildford_, _Moorcock_, and _Stickler_: of whom several are now stallions in the highest reputation at ten and fifteen guineas each.

HIND—is the female of the species called RED DEER, the male of which is termed A STAG: the offspring of both is, during its first year, called A CALF; and these only are the deer hunted by the KING'S STAG-HOUNDS.

HIP-SHOT.—The DEFECT so termed is an injury frequently sustained in the HIP JOINT, but not always with the same degree of severity. It is a ligamentary twist, or distortion, by which the _junction_ of the _bones_ is materially affected, but not amounting to absolute DISLOCATION; although it may proceed from a variety of causes, in sudden shocks from the different prominences of, or cavities _in_, an uneven and irregular pavement; BLOWS, STRAINS, or WRENCHES, (in drawing heavy loads,) as well as by SLIDING, or FALLING; yet there is little doubt but it occurs much oftner from _carelessness_, _inattention_, and _brutality_, either by a violent blow from the post of the stable door, in being hastily led in or out, than by any other means whatever. Let what will be the cause, a cure is seldom completely effected; for as the injury is not only deeply, but critically seated, so if the horse, after any medical means have been used, is turned out to obtain strength, a repetition of work generally produces a relapse of the injury originally sustained.

HOCK, or HOUGH.—The joint of the leg _behind_, corresponding with the knee _before_, is so called. Its office, in sustaining the principal weight, and various turns of the body, renders it liable to injuries, which, when they happen, are not unfrequently both severe and permanent. BONE SPAVINS, BLOOD SPAVINS, and CURBS, are of this description.

HOLD—is a term of trifling import, yet, as it appertains to the important act of propagation between the HORSE and the MARE, its emphatic signification cannot be omitted. When a mare has taken the horse, that is, when copulation is completed, a doubt generally arises, whether the MARE will _hold_; that is, whether she sufficiently retains the male semen to constitute CONCEPTION. The mare being brought to the horse on the _ninth_ day, from the first time of covering, if she again receives the horse, that alone is held a sufficient proof she _did not hold_ before: she is, nevertheless, brought again to the horse at the end of another nine days, and when she has refused _twice_ to take the horse, she is then said to be STINTED, and no doubt entertained of her being in FOAL.

HOOF.—The hoof of a horse is that hard and horny substance at the lower extremity of the legs, coming into contact with the ground, and upon which are placed shoes, made of iron, for the preservation of the feet. The hoof, to be perfect and uniform, should nearly circumscribe five eighths of a circle, with a transverse line from one point of the heel to the other, as if a segment of three eighths was taken away; in addition to which form, it should be solid in substance, smooth to the hand, and free from the contracted rings, or wrinkles, similar to those upon the horns of cattle, by which the age is ascertained.

HOOFS are very different in both property and appearance, and a great deal of this depends upon the manner in which they are treated. The well-known and well-founded adage, that "DOCTORS DIFFER," was never more verified than in the subject before us; previous to the necessary remarks upon which, it will be proper to point out the distinct or opposite texture and property of such hoofs, before we advert to the most applicable mode of treatment for each. The hoofs of some horses are so naturally dry, and so defective in animal moisture, that they gradually contract, become apparently compressed, and narrow at the heel, as well as acquire a degree of _brittleness_ hardly to be believed; in which state _splinters_ are frequently scaling off from the EDGES of the HOOF, at many places where the nails are unavoidably inserted to secure the position of the SHOE, for the preservation of the FOOT.

These are the species of hoof much more susceptible of injury than any other, particularly of SANDCRACKS; defects which, when they happen, very much reduce the value of the horse if offered for sale; not more in respect to the BLEMISH, than the perpetual apprehension and expectation of his becoming irrecoverably LAME. Hoofs of this description should be plentifully impregnated with sperma-cæti oil every night all round the foot; and the bottom should be stopped with a composition of stiff cow-dung, and the skimming of the pot in which fat meat has been boiled, previously preserved, and well incorporated for that purpose. It has been asserted by those who speculate, and propagate the report of _fancy_ for FACT, that "unctuous or greasy applications are prejudicial to the feet," of which indefinite, vague and imperfect expression, the _weak_ and _wavering_ happily avail themselves, and boldly declare, under sanction of the equivocal mutation in meaning, that every thing _greasy_ is injurious to the HOOFS.