Part 102

The ponies of Wales seem to be original and unmixed. They are much esteemed for the neatness and beauty of their forms, for the nimbleness of their motions, and, above all, for being remarkably surefooted on the most difficult roads, which renders them extremely valuable in the mountainous tracts to which they originally belong. In point of size and hardiness, they bear a near resemblance to the best of the native breed of the Highlands of Scotland, and other hilly countries in the north of Europe. These animals are too small for the two horse ploughs now in use, but few horses are equal to them for enduring fatigue on the road.

“I well remember,” says Cully, “one that I rode for many years, which, to the last, would have gone on a pavement in preference to a softer road.”—_Le Keux._

WHEAL, _s._ A pustule, a small swelling filled with water.

WHEAT, _s._ The grain of which bread is chiefly made.

WHEATEN, _a._ Made of wheat.

WHEATEAR, _s._ A small bird very delicate.

WHEEL, _s._ A circular body that turns round upon an axis; a circular body, a carriage that runs upon wheels; rotation; a compass about, a track approaching to circularity.

WHELP, _s._ The young of a dog, a puppy; the young of any beast of prey.

WHELP, _v._ To bring young.

WHIMBREL (_Scolopax Pharopus_, LINN.; _Le Petit Courlis_, BUFF.) _s._

The whimbrel is only about half the size of the curlew, which it very nearly resembles in shape, the colours of its plumage, and manner of living. It is about seventeen inches in length, and twenty-nine in breadth, and weighs about fourteen ounces. The bill is about three inches long, the upper mandible black, the under one pale red. The upper part of the head is black, divided in the middle of the crown by a white line from the brow to the hinder part; between the bill and the eyes there is a darkish oblong spot; the sides of the head, neck, and breast, are of a pale brown, marked with narrow dark streaks pointing downwards; the belly is of the same colour, but the dark streaks upon it are larger: about the vent it is quite white; the lower part of the back is also white. The rump and tail feathers are barred with black and white; the shafts of the quills are white, the outer webs totally black, but the inner ones marked with large white spots; the secondary quills are spotted in the same manner on both the inner and outer webs. The legs and feet are of the same shape and colour as those of the curlew.

The whimbrel is not so commonly seen on the sea shores of this country as the curlew; it is also more retired and wild, ascending to the highest mountain heaths in spring and summer to feed and rear its young.—_Bewick._

WHIMPER, _v._ To cry without any loud noise.

WHINNY, _v._ To make a noise like a horse or colt.

WHIP, _s._ An instrument of correction tough and pliant.

WHIPCORD, _s._ Cord of which lashes are made.

WHIPHAND, _s._ Advantage over; right hand.

WHIPLASH, _s._ The lash or small end of a whip.

WHIPPER-IN, _s._ The field assistant to the huntsman.

You that know so well how necessary it is for a pack of fox-hounds to be steady, and to be kept together, ought not to wonder that I should prefer an excellent whipper-in to an excellent huntsman. No one knows better than you do how essential a good adjutant is to a regiment; believe me, a good whipper-in is not less so to a pack of fox-hounds. But I must beg you to observe that I only mean, that I could do better with mediocrity in the one than in the other.

You say you agree with me, that a huntsman should stick close to his hounds. If then his place is fixed, and that of the first whipper-in (where you have two) is not, I cannot but think genius may be at least as useful in one as in the other: for instance, while the huntsman is riding to his head hounds, the whipper-in, if he has genius, may show it in various ways; he may clap forward to any great earth, that may by chance be open; he may sink the wind to halloo, or mob the fox, when the scent fails; he may keep him off his foil; he may stop the tail hounds, and get them forward; and has it frequently in his power to assist the hounds without doing them any hurt, provided he has sense to distinguish where he is wanted most. Besides, the most essential part of fox-hunting, the making and keeping the pack steady, depends entirely upon him; as a huntsman should seldom rate, and never flog a hound. In short, I consider the first whipper-in as a second huntsman; and to be perfect, he should be as capable of hunting the hounds as the huntsman himself.

You cannot too much recommend to your whipper-in to get to the head of his hounds before he attempts to stop them. The rating behind is to little purpose, and if they are in cover, may prevent him from knowing who the culprits are. When your hounds are running a fox, he then should content himself with stopping such as are riotous, and getting them forward. They may be condemned upon the spot, but the punishment should be deferred till the next day, when they may be taken out on purpose to commit the fault and suffer the punishment. I agree with you that young hounds cannot be awed too much; yet suffer not your punishment of them to exceed their offence. I could wish to draw a line betwixt justice and barbarity.

A whipper-in, while breaking in young hounds, sometimes will rate them before they commit the fault: this prevents them for that time, but they will be just as ready to begin the next opportunity. Had he not better let them quite alone, till he sees what they would be at? The discipline then may be proportioned to the degree of the offence. Whether a riotous young hound runs little or much is of small consequence, if he be not encouraged; it is the blood only that signifies, which in every kind of riot should carefully be prevented.

My general orders to my whipper-in are, if when he rates a hound, the hound does not mind him, to take him up immediately, and give him a severe flogging. Whippers-in are too apt to continue rating, even when they find that rating does not avail. There is but one way to stop such hounds, which is to get to the heads of them. I also tell him never on any account to strike a hound, unless the hound is at the same time sensible what it is for; never to strike a hound that does not deserve it, and to strike those hard that do.

Such of my hounds as are very riotous are taken out by themselves on the days when they do not hunt, and properly punished; and this is continued while my patience lasts, which of course depends on the value of the dog. It is a trial betwixt the whipper-in and the dog, which will tire first; and the whipper-in, I think, generally prevails. If this method will not make them steady, no other can: they are then looked upon as incorrigible, and are put away.

Such hounds as are notorious offenders should also feel the lash, and hear a rate, as they go to the cover; it may be a useful hint to them, and may prevent a severer flogging afterwards. A sensible whipper-in will wait his opportunity to single out his hound; he will then hit him hard, and rate him well; whilst a foolish one will often hit a dog he did not intend to hit; will ride full gallop into the midst of the hounds; will perhaps ride over some of the best of them, and put the whole pack into confusion. This is a manœuvre I cannot bear to see.

Have a care! are words which seldom do any harm; since hounds, when they are on a right scent, will not mind them. Let your whipper-in be careful how he encourages the hounds: that, improperly done, may spoil your pack.

A whipper-in will rate a hound, and then endeavour to flog him. A dog, after having been rated, will naturally avoid the whip. Tell your whipper-in, whenever a hound deserves the lash, to hit him first, and rate him afterwards.

When there are two whippers-in, one ought always to be forward. When there is only one, he, to be very perfect, should be a very Mungo, here, there, and everywhere.

You will find it difficult to keep your people in their proper places. I have been obliged to stop back myself to bring on hounds which my servant had left behind. I cannot give you a greater proof how necessary it is that a whipper-in should bring home all his hounds, than by telling you that I have lost an old hound for ten days, and sent all the country over to inquire after him; and at last, when I thought no more about him, in drawing a large cover in the country where he had been lost, he joined the pack: he was exceedingly emaciated, and it was a long time before he recovered. How he subsisted all that time I cannot imagine. When any of your hounds are missing, you should send the whipper-in back immediately to look for them: it will teach him to keep them more together.

The getting forward the tail hounds is a necessary part of fox-hunting, in which you will find a good whipper-in of the greatest use. He must also get forward himself at times, when the huntsman is not with the hounds; but the second whipper-in (who frequently is a young lad, ignorant of his business) on no account ought to encourage or rate a hound, but when he is quite certain it is right to do it; nor is he ever to get forward, as long as a single hound remains behind.

Halloo forward is certainly a necessary and a good halloo; but is it not used too indiscriminately?—it is for ever in the mouth of a whipper-in. If your hounds are never used to that halloo till after a fox is found, you will see them fly to it. At other times other halloos will answer the purpose of getting them on as well.

Most huntsmen, I believe, are jealous of the whipper-in: they frequently look on him as a successor, and therefore do not very readily admit him into the kennel; yet, in my opinion, it is necessary he should go there; for he ought to be well acquainted with the hounds, who should know him and follow him as well as the huntsman.—_Beckford._

WHIRLBAT, _s._ Anything moved rapidly round to give a blow.

WHIRLPOOL, _s._ A place where the water moves circularly, and draws whatever comes within its circle towards its centre, a vortex.

WHIRRING, _a._ A word formed in imitation of the sound expressed by it, as the “whirring pheasant.”

WHISPERER, _s._ One who speaks low; a private talker.

WHIST, _s._ A game at cards, requiring close attention and silence.

This game, which requires great care and attention, is played by four persons, who cut for partners; those who cut the two highest cards are partners against the two lowest, and the person who cuts the lowest card is entitled to the deal. In cutting, the ace is accounted the lowest.

Though it is customary for only the elder hand, and afterwards the dealer, to shuffle the cards, yet each player has a right so to do before the deal, but the elder hand ought to shuffle last, except the dealer.

The pack is afterwards cut by the right-hand adversary, and the dealer is to distribute the cards, alternately, one at a time, to each of the players, beginning with the left-hand adversary, till the last card, which must be turned up, being the trump, and left on the table till the first trick is played.

No one, before his partner plays, should intimate, that he has or has not won the trick; even the attempt to take up a trick, though won before the last partner has played, is deemed very improper. No intimations of any kind during the play of the cards between partners are to be admitted. The mistake of one party is the game of the adversary. However, there is one exception to this rule, in case of a revoke: if a person happen not to follow suit, or to trump a suit, the partner is permitted to inquire, whether he is sure he has none of that suit in his hand. This indulgence must have arisen from the severe penalties annexed to revoking, which affect the parties equally.

The person on the dealer’s left-hand is called the elder hand, and plays first; and whoever wins the trick becomes the elder hand, and plays again; and so on till all the cards are played out. The tricks belonging to each party should be turned and collected by the respective partners of whoever wins the first trick in that hand. Each trick above six is reckoned one point towards the game. The ace, king, queen, and knave of trumps, are called honours; and when either of the parties has in his own hand, or between himself and his partner, three honours, they count two points towards the game; and if they should have the four honours, they count four points. Ten points make the game.

TWENTY-FOUR SHORT RULES FOR LEARNERS.

1. Always lead from your strong suit, and be cautious of changing suits.

2. Lead through an honour when you have a good hand.

3. Lead through the strong suit, and up to the weak, except in trumps, unless strong in them.

4. Lead a trump, if you have four or five, and a good hand besides.

5. Sequences are eligible leads, of which play the highest card.

6. Follow your partner’s lead, not your adversary’s.

7. Do not lead from ace queen, or ace knave.

8. Avoid leading an ace unless you have the king to it.

9. Never lead a thirteenth card, unless trumps are out.

10. Nor trump a thirteenth card, except last player.

11. Play your best card third hand.

12. When in doubt win the trick.

13. When you lead small trumps, begin with the highest.

14. Do not trump out, when your partner is likely to trump a suit.

15. If you hold only small trumps, make them when you can.

16. Make your tricks early, and be careful of finessing.

17. Be sure to make the odd trick when in your power.

18. Never force your adversary with your best card, unless you have the next best.

19. If you have only one card of any suit, and but two or three small trumps, lead the single card.

20. Always try to keep a commanding card to bring in your strong suit.

21. In your partner’s lead, endeavour to keep the command in his hand.

22. Keep the card you turn up as long as you conveniently can.

23. Should your antagonists be 8, and you have no honour, play your best trump.

24. Always consider your score, and play your hand accordingly.

METHODS OF SCORING AT WHIST.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. 0 00 000 0000 0 0 00 000 0 00 000 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 00 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 00 0 0 00 0 0 0 0 00 00 0 0 —_Hoyle._

WHISTLE, _v._ To form a kind of musical sound by an inarticulate modulation of the breath; to make a sound with a small wind instrument; to sound shrill.

WHISTLE, _s._ Sound made by the modulation of the breath in the mouth; a sound made by a small wind instrument; a small wind instrument; the noise of birds; a call, such as sportsmen use to their dogs.

WHISTLER, _s._ One who whistles.

WHITE, _s._ Whiteness, anything white; white colour; the mark at which an arrow is shot; the albuminous part of eggs; the white part of the eye.

WHITE TROUT, _s._ The sea trout.

The whole body is of an elegant form; the lateral line is straight; the colour between that and the top of the back, dusky and silvery intermixed; beneath the line, of an exquisite silvery whiteness; the first dorsal fin is spotted with black, and much forked; they seldom exceed a foot in length; when dressed, their flesh is red, and of most delicious flavour.

Their haunts are in rough stony streams, and at the sides and tails of them, where it is gravelly, and are sometimes to be met with in smooth gliding currents; they are to be taken with the black and green hackles (described among the standard flies) and afford great sport when hooked; they are so strong that some of them will spring with the line a yard out of the water, and that several times before they can be landed.—_Daniel._

WHITING, _s._ A small sea fish; a soft chalk.

WHITLOW, _s._ A swelling between the cuticle and cutis, called the mild whitlow: or between the periosteum and the bone, called the malignant whitlow.

WHOOP, _s._ A shout of pursuit; a bird.

WHOOP, _v._ To shout insultingly; to shout in the chace.

WIGEON, WHEWN, WHIRN, or PANDLED WHEW (_Anas Penelope_, LINN.; _Le Canard Siffleur_, BUFF.) _s._ A waterfowl not unlike a wild duck, but not so large.

This is nearly of the same size as the gadwall, weighing generally about twenty-three ounces, and measuring nearly twenty inches in length, and two feet three in breadth.

The bill is an inch and a half long, narrow, and serrated on the inner edges; the upper mandible is of a dark lead-colour, tipped with black. The crown of the head, which is very high and narrow, is of a cream-colour, with a small spot of the same under each eye; the rest of the head, the neck, and the breast, are bright rufous chestnut, obscurely freckled on the head with black spots, and darkest on the chin and throat, which are tinged with a vinous colour; a band, composed of beautifully waved, or indented narrow ash-brown and white lines, separates the breast and neck; the back and scapulars are marked with similar feathers, as are also the sides of the body under the wings, even as low as the thighs, but there they are paler; the belly to the vent is white; the ridge of the wing, and adjoining coverts, are dusky ash-brown; the greater coverts brown, edged with white, (in some specimens wholly white,) and tipped with black, which forms an upper border to the changeable green beauty-spots of the wings, which is also bordered on the under side by another stripe formed by the deep velvet black tips of the secondary quills; the exterior webs of the adjoining quills are white, and those next the back, which are very long, are of a deep brown, (in some specimens a deep black) edged with yellowish white; the greater quills are brown; the vent and upper tail-coverts black.

Wigeons commonly fly in small flocks during the night, and may be known from others by their whistling note while they are on the wing. They are easily domesticated in places where there is plenty of water, and are much admired for their beauty, sprightly look, and busy frolicsome manners.

The tail, which consists of fourteen feathers, is of a hoary brownish ash, edged with yellowish white; the two middle ones are sharp-pointed, darker and longer than the rest. The legs and toes are of a dirty lead colour, faintly tinged with green; the middle of the webs and nails black. The female is brown, the middle of the feathers deepest; the fore part of the neck and breast paler; scapulars dark brown, with paler edges; wings and belly as in the male. The young of both sexes are grey, and continue in that plain garb till the month of February, after which a change takes place, and the plumage of the male begins to assume its rich colourings, in which it is said he continues till the end of July, and then again the feathers become dark and grey, so that he is hardly to be distinguished from the female.

These birds quit the desert morasses of the north on the approach of winter, and as they advance towards the end of their destined southern journey, they spread themselves along the shores and over the marshes and lakes in various parts of the continent, as well as those of the British isles, and it is said that some of the flocks advance as far south as Egypt. They remain in these parts during the winter, at the end of which the old birds pair, and the whole tribe in full plumage take their departure northward about the end of March. While they remain with us, they frequent the same places, and feed in the same mode as the mallard, and are often taken in the decoys along with them and other kinds of ducks.—_Bewick._

WILD, _a._ Not tame, not domestic; propagated by nature, not cultivated; desert, uninhabited; tempestuous; inconstant, fickle; uncouth, strange; done or made without any consistent order or plan; merely imaginary.

WILD, _s._ A desert, a tract uncultivated and uninhabited.

WILD DOG, _s._ An untrained dog; a dog run wild.

In December, 1784, a dog was left by a smuggling vessel near Boomer, on the coast of Northumberland. Finding himself deserted, he began to worry sheep, and did so much damage that he was the terror of the country, within the circuit of above twenty miles. It is asserted that when he caught a sheep, he bit a hole in the right side, and after eating the fat about the kidneys, left it. Several of them thus lacerated were found alive by the shepherds, and being properly taken care of some of them recovered and afterwards had lambs. From this delicacy of his feeding, the destruction may in some measure be conceived, as the fat of one sheep in a day would scarcely satisfy his hunger. Various were the means used to destroy him; frequently was he pursued with hounds, greyhounds, &c., but when the dogs came up to him he laid down on his back, as if supplicating for mercy, and in that position they never hurt him; he therefore laid quietly, taking his rest till the hunters approached, when he made off without being followed by the hounds, till they were again excited to the pursuit, which always terminated unsuccessfully. He was one day pursued from Howick to upwards of thirty miles’ distance, but returned thither and killed sheep the same evening. His constant residence was upon a rock on the Heugh Hill, near Howick, where he had a view of four roads that approached it, and there, in March 1785, after many fruitless attempts, he was at last shot.

* * * * *

Another wild dog, which had committed devastation among the sheep, near Wooler, in the same county (Northumberland) was on the 6th of June, 1799, advertised to be hunted on the Wednesday following by three packs of hounds, which were to meet at different places; the aid of men and firearms was also requested, with a reward promised of twenty guineas to the person killing him. This dog was described by those who had seen him at a distance, as a large greyhound, with some white in his face, neck, and one foreleg white, rather grey on the back, and the rest a jet black; an immense concourse of people assembled at the time appointed, but the chase was unprosperous; for he eluded his pursuers among the Cheviot Hills, and what is singular returned that same night to the place from whence he had been hunted in the morning, and worried an ewe and her lamb. During the whole summer he continued to destroy sheep, but changed his quarters, for he infested the fells, sixteen miles south of Carlisle, where upwards of sixty sheep fell victims to his ferocity. In September, hounds and fire-arms were again employed against him, and after a run from Carrock Fell, which was computed to be thirty miles, he was shot whilst the hounds were in pursuit, by Mr. Lewel of Wedlock, who laid in ambush at Moss Dale. During the chase, which occupied six hours, he frequently turned upon the headmost hounds, and wounded several so badly as to disable them. Upon examination he appeared of Newfoundland breed, of a common size, wire-haired, and extremely lean. This description does not tally with the dogs so injurious to the farmers in Northumberland, although from circumstances there is little doubt but it was the same animal.—_Daniel._

WILDFIRE, _s._ A composition of inflammable materials, easy to take fire, and hard to be extinguished.

WILD FOWL SHOOTING, _s._ To shoot water fowl.