OTTER HUNTING IN 1851. BY GELERT. “ Hail, therefore, patroness of health and ease, And contemplation-heart-consoling joys, CowPER. We have had glorious weather for the water-hot, sunny, and settled ; and it must have been the otter-hunter's own fault if he have not turned it to good account. The bubbling streams have been brighter than crystal, and the gentle murmur that rose from their sparkling bosom sounded in our ears like the song of peace and contentment. We envy not the man, if any there be, who has no sympathy for such music. We know no greater pleasure than recurring ever and anon to the happiness of bygone days, passed upon the banks of a noisy, gurgling brook, fringed with alders and wild flowers, and struggling to escape from its mountain home. The speckled trout that eluded our grasp, or wriggled through our fingers just as we were about to toss him upon dry land ; the slippery eel that twisted off the tines of our three-pronged fork ; that most patient of all fishers, the shy heron, that defrauded us of our sport, and at last paid the penalty by the loss of his life ; all are remembered as freshly and distinctly as if our intercourse had been that of yesterday, instead of years, aye, decades of years gone by. Those scenes still continue to the memory as green spots in the desert of life. All was then sunshine ; no dark future obtruded on our thoughts ; no passing storm cast a gloom on the present. Well do we love, therefore, to take a peep over our shoulder through the shadowy vista behind us, and contemplate the unalloyed happiness of our early years; and well do we love the music of the never-failing brook that renews such thoughts within our bosom. Reader, if thou art not somewhat of a “ laudator temporis acti,” we crave thy pardon and will proceed at once to relieve thee from farther infliction. We will tell thee, instead, of the crafty otter and the sagacious hound ; of the midnight trail, and the morning “ mark ;" of dark pools, and mysterious hovers. In the west of England there lives a gentleman, now verging on the prime of life, who was born and bred an otter-hunter ; in the pursuit of his favourite sport he is a practical professor, and loves to be waistdeep in water, cheering and encouraging the hounds, rather than speculating on the bank as to the probable whereabouts of the game, Give him a pole, and he is at once in his element. Let a hound speak, and it has more charms for his ear than the finest passages in Haydn's “ Creation." His power of concentration with respect to the sport is somewhat wonderful : on the days in which he is engaged in the all. absoi bing pursuit, the otter is the sole pivot on which his conversation turns ; how he was found, how bolted; what hound winded him in his hover, or hit him off on landing. This is the theme of which he never tires, and strange to say, with which he never tires his friends. In the field, too, when riding to foxhounds, his cnergy never flags ; being a bit of a bruiser also, and possessing a good eye to hounds, he is usually found in his place. But set him down to a rubber of whist, with a bottle of old port inside his belt (he despises all lighter wines after dinner), and such are the varied elements of his composition that you cannot get him ahead. He harks back incessantly upon the old scent, asks to look at the last trick but one continually, expresses a strong suspicion that if his partner had trumped that Queen of Hearts in the last deal, the game might have been secured in haif the time ; in fact, he is so ante-penultimate in his views, so inveterate a heel-hunter, that all the powers of Jack Goddard would be insufficient to keep him forward, and if Jem Hills had him in his pack (of cards), he would draft him without a second trial. A place for every man, and every man in his place. Jemi Hills would tell you, on the other hand, that this gentleman, when mounted on Cock Robin (alas ! the old horse's merits have confounded many a field), was a star of considerable magnitude ; and that, from Sarsden Spinnies or Farmington Grove no man could beat him in a forty-minutes' burst across that country. Without dilating upon the many virtues which, as a host and friend, adorn the man, it will be evident, from the sketch we have just given, that the go-ahead principle is accompanied by a compensating balance ; that the fast coach carries a heavy drag ; that, in fact, he who is the life and soul of an otter-hunt, animated and even wild in a fox-chase, is the veriest old top, and “slow as a mano in some of the ordinary concerns of life. But the reader will say, “what on earth has all this to do with otter-hunting?" Friend, it has more than meets the eye at first sight: it has reference to a triumph 'neath the laurels of which that gentleman is exulting at the present moment-a triumph of a peaceful character won upon the banks of the gentler picturesque Erme, one of the fairest of Devonia's fair streams. Our friend has long claimed pre-eminence for the foxhound, as being the animal best qualified for hunting the otter. No matter what arguments were used to prove the contrary ; no matter how musically that rough-haired hound, old Melody, threw her tongue, he turned a deaf ear to all. If anything but a foxhound spoke, his usual ejaculation was, “More noise than work, I'll warrant ye !" Every one who knows a foxhound knows that, for courage, perseverance, endurance, and muscular power, he has no equal among the canine race ; that to pursue the fox, as he ought to be pursued, to beat him by blowing him, the foxhound is indispensable; and whoever has a knowledge of the otter must be equally well-assured (our friend is the exception) that a hound, whose nature it is to flash ahead, whose distinguishing feature is his dash, whoso temper brooks not delay, cannot be the animal for hunting a beast whose habits incline him to hang in every hover he passes, and to conceal himself beneath the roots of every tree that offers a shelter ; whose mode of flight, in fact, is the very reverse from that of the for, and who practises as many wiles and maneuvres as the timid hare. For finding the otter, in the first place, which, after all, is about the most difficult part of the businesd; it is quite impossible that a foxhound, if he retain his foxhound characteristics, can be so well adapted as a bound of a less inercurial teinperament. Every stone, weed, root, and stump sliould be examined by the drawing-hound with “ curious search ;" he should be close as the weasel at his work, not a holt should escape his inquisitive fose, not a step taken without making "assurance doubly sure." Among the pack with which our friend has for a number of years pursued the otter, there has always been a grand exception or tiro : such hounds, however, as Waterloo, Justice, and Wanderer have stood alone amongst their contemporaries, cutting out all the work, making nearly cvery mark and distinguishing themselves as brilliant and unrivalled otter-hounds. These are the hounds that liave given our friend his cuo. Upon tliese exceptions he has pinned his general faith. It cannot be denied, on the other hand, that on cold storiny days, with a sliy old bitcli otter and deep water, the foxhound faces all diffi. culties with a perseverance and courage of which no other hound is capable ; his dauntless disposition carries him triumphantly through foaining eddies and impettidus torrents ; he stems the current with head erect, like a gallant lifo-boat, and lives ninong surges in which a hound of less noble pretension would be sirainped at once. Verily ! in tlie water or out of it, in cover or over a country, there is no braver beast in the creation. Verily! we can forgive the man who, from sheer love and admiration of the animal, would ascribe to him virtues and qualities which a loss partial observer knows that he does not possess. Now for the triumph : it lias been tlie fortunate lot of Mr. Trelawny's foxhounds dirriug the sdason to cnjoy a succession of sport on the waters, such as has rarely been surpassed even in that country which is so favourable to otter-hunting. The following extract appeared in one of the Plymouth journals į and from its internal evidence, we are strongly disposed to affiliate the såme upon our friend. We give it terbatim : * Mr. Trelawny has commenced a minst propitious otter-hunting season-a eonvincing proof to the incredulous that foxhounds are equally well adapted to hunt the amphibious ani:aal as their own game. Let any man who doubts the fact watch three of the old favourites in the pack-Waverley, Corporal, and Dancer--as tlity try ap and down the stream, and he will soon discover that he must be & stout and tough-skinned otter, indeed, which eludes their vigilance, or escapes their grasp. “ Three full-grown otters hare already been killed by dint of hard work and perseverance, without the aid of any deadly weapon in the way of niet or speara friendly word of caution to those who are too intent tipon the kill. Each day the banks of the river were graced by a sprlikling of the fair sex, mounted on their fiery steeds, whose presenee added tenfold to the brillianey of the scene, and invigorated the hearts of many youthful aspirants, who; with pole in hand, were more immediately engaged in the pleasures of the chasé. Our only liope is that we shall be cncouraged in our endeavours to promote a sport which is now becoming so desertedly popular; and that landed proprietors, Ashiermen, and others who are privileged to exercise a right over rivers and streams, will give us a help. iog band in preserving an animal which, compared with many an intrusive and refractory bineid, does but little injury to a river, and affords so much recreation and amusement during the summer months." The author, whoever he be, has with much gallantry mentioned the fair sex as smiling upon the sport -“ O Naïadum potens !" The spell inust indeed be potent which converts the bright maids of Devon into water-nymphs, and leads them forth to preside over the mysteries of the silver-bowed goddess. As in the days of chivalry, in the fourteenth century, when jousts were made in honour of the ladies, every one who entered the lists was bound to comport himself like a “true knight," and to undertake deeds of great enterprize ; so, on the present occasion, the aspiring youths, under the paramount influence of beauty and virtue, could not fail to vanquish the monster of the deep, and do honour to the bright eyes that favoured the adventure. Woe be to the otter, if the ladies of Devon lend their eyes to aid the hunter! and “tough. skinned” indeed must the animal be that could offer successful resistance to such pointed and effective weapons! But à la chasse : on Thursday the 5th of June Mr. Trelawny's hounds met at Flete, on the Erme river ; and, according to our friend's description, had so brilliant a day's sport that the like had not been seen on that river since the days of his boyhood. On throwing off the hounds, they were first cast up stream, in the direction of Ivy bridge ; but, hitting upon no trail, they were soon brought to "the otter-pool,” which from time immemorial has been the stronghold of the Caffre, and whence he makes his incursions upon the finny and defenceless tribes that occupy the element around him. The sky looked gloomy, the pool deep, and a few angry drops disturbed its surface, as old Waverley swam to and fro, drawing hover after hover without coming to anything like a solid mark. At last the gallant hound spoke out in earnest, and at one o'clock precisely the otter quitted his retreat, and bolted amain, hoping for deeper waters and a better refuge. The honour of the day is especially due to him whose quick sight and alertness enable him to make the first “gaze ;" he is the first to announce the joyful tidings that the enemy is afloat, and has quitted his harbour. Hounds and men answer the summons with rapture ; misgivings cease ; doubt is dispelled ; and the scene becomes one of active operation and thrilling excitement. The men, if they know their business, station themselves above and below, and the hounds do their work in the intermediate space. On the present occasion, Mr. Young carried off the laurels, having “ gazed” the otter some three feet below the surface, as he stealthily stole away from the storm that assailed his holt. For a few moments all was confusion; hounds dashed in, one over the other, as they caught scent of the tainted stream ; and, swimming with the current, showed their fine faces, full of life and animation, to great advantage. The terriers squeaked aloud, quite prepared to play their part like a set of ragged ruffians in a row; and the huntsman, with a wild glare in his eye, and a grim smile on his visage, with one spring was waist-deep in the water, yelling for victory. For an hour or two the otter seemed determined to cling to his only chanco—that of ringing the changes among the many strong places which abound in the otter-pool ; but he was no sooner ensconced in one, than old Corporal or Dancer winding his retreat kept him in perpetual drill, and obliged him to shift his quarters for another. At last the pole was resorted to ; and with that effectual weapon in hand, Mr. C. Bulteel, Mr. Vincent Calmady, Major License, of the Royal Welsh Fusileers, Mr. Young, and that renowned “gazer" from Goodamoor, the aide-de-camp Short, plunged manfully into the |