The Merry Past 



So recently as the beginning of the nineteenth 

 century there were poor country squires who con- 

 trived to enjoy all the sporting delights of the country, 

 and hunted their own hounds. Such a one was 

 Captain Saich, whose picture was painted by Henry 

 Aiken. The Captain is represented on his old white- 

 faced black horse, together with his three favourite 

 hounds, Danger, Dauntless, and Darling. 



Captain Saich was descended from an ancient 

 Essex family who for many generations had been 

 masters of hounds. He possessed little beyond his 

 pay, but followed in the track of his ancestors, 

 and for several years hunted part of Suffolk. He 

 was fond of the sport ; and it was gratifying to see 

 him working through a strong covert cheering his 

 hounds, his old horse walking round. The Captain 

 might be termed slow, and so was his horse ; but he 

 was able to go straight through a long day in any 

 country. The horse was supposed to be worn 

 out before he came into Captain Saich's possession. 

 At the Captain's death the animal was sold, and 

 the last account known of him was as leader to the 

 Coggeshall coach. 



One of the last of the real old school of sportsmen 

 was Squire St. John of Odiham, who to the very end 

 of his life used to come out with the hounds of Mr. 

 Pointz at Midgham in Berkshire. Squire Pointz 

 himself always drove (he was near eighty) to covert 

 in his chariot-and-six, attired in cocked-hat, bag-wig, 

 and a green-and-gold suit. His huntsman, old 

 Topper, was nearly as old as himself, and could ride 



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