64 MEMORIES OF THE SHIRES 



Although it embraces many other subjects and 

 phases of sport, hunting was ever its leading topic, 

 and hunting men have always been its strongest 

 supporters. 



In the autumn of 1885 I began my duties as 

 hunting correspondent to the Field, and have 

 continued on without a break until hunting was 

 temporarily put on one side by the war. 



My stiff and halting contributions must have 

 been poor reading after " Brooksby's " brilliant 

 articles, for he would always describe a moderate 

 day's sport in a manner to make it interesting. 

 However, it is always better to write in your own 

 moderate way than to try and copy the style of 

 another. With the Editor's permission I instituted 

 a radical change by omitting names of peopie at 

 the meet, and, in fact, of not mentioning anyone 

 — the custom has since become more or less general. 



My predecessor had always headed his Field 

 letters with a list of those who were out, and was 

 exceptionally clever in adding colour to his narra- 

 tions by inserting names of those occupying good 

 positions in a run. 



There are people who delight in seeing them- 

 selves in print, but I felt that to pander to such 

 petty desires was derogatory to the character of the 

 leading sporting weekly. I think we may leave 

 the personal paragraph to the " society rags," 

 which we all in reality despise, even though we 

 read them. There were other reasons, also equally 

 good, which influenced me in making the decision, 

 and perhaps the soundest of all was that I did not 

 feel it was in me to treat personalities with " Brooks- 

 by's " delicate touch. Whenever possible, I con- 



