1890] FOXHUNTING BY LORD NORTH. 189 



iiiui'h indeed for youi- o-reat kindness, and for the way in wliieli it lias lieen 

 expressed to nie to-niglit. (Renewed and prolonged cheers.) 



Lord North, in rising to propose the next toast, also received a trne 

 limiting welcome. His lordship said : The toast which I have heen asked to 

 lJro])ose to yon to-night is " Foxhnnting and the occnpiers of the land." I 

 will not say that I regret that this toast has not falhni into other hands — 

 (hear, hear) — liecanse although I am perfectly confident that there are many 

 gentlemen present who, being far better speakers than I am myself, wonld 

 have done far greater justice to it than I can possibly do, still, the pleasure 

 which it aifords me to give you this toast far outrides any other consideration 

 so far as I am concerned. (Applause.) I will therefore ask you to forget 

 my inability, and to remember only the heartiness with which I give it 

 you. I think that it is Mr. Beckford, in his admirable work on hunting, 

 who tells us that "'hunting is the soul of a country life." (Hear, hear.) 

 Gentlemen, I entirely concur in that observation. It is the soul of a country 

 life. I would point out to yon that hunting possesses this groat advantage 

 over all our other field sports — that every sort and condition of men can 

 join in and enjoy it. (Hear, hear.) The old and the young, the rich and 

 the poor, the fast rider on his 300 guinea hunter and the old gentleman on 

 his cob, the boy on his pony, and the runners on foot- -yes, gentlemen, and 

 the men on foot are very often as keen and as good sportsmen as many of 

 those who are mounted — (hear, hear and apjilause) — all these can join in the 

 chase, and derive pleasure, health, and A'igour from the sport of hunting. 

 I may also remind you that enormous sums of money are diffused 

 throughout the country in order to keep up the sport. All kinds of 

 trades and occupations profit by it, and hundreds, nay thousands, of men 

 gain their employment through hunting. (Hear, hear.) As you are aware, 

 gentlemen, we are living in a very favoiired country, one that is famous in 

 the annals of the chase, and even at the risk of repeating something which 

 the Chairman has already said, I cannot help saying also that we are most 

 fortunate in having at the head of our sporting affairs a nobleman, whom I 

 Avill not shrink from characterising in his presence, as a first class sportsman, 

 a first-class huntsman, and a first-class Master of hounds, and one, who. by 

 his mitiring zeal and his knowledge of sport, has placed our hounds at the top 

 of the tree. (Cheei's.) I have heard it said, and by a pretty good judge too, 

 that it is worth travelling a thousand miles to look at the Warwickshire 

 Hounds — (hear, hear) — and that it is worth travelling any distance you like, 

 to see Lord Willoughby hunt them. (Applause.) I think you will all agree 

 with that opinion. But Ijesides his sporting qualifications, you have in Lord 

 Willoughby a first-class and generous landlord, a grand country gentleman, 

 and one who is devoted to the interests of agriculture — (hear, hear) — and I 

 need scarcely say, gentlemen, that the interests of hunting and the interests 

 of agriculture are one and the same. (Hear, hear.) But, gentlemen, if 

 hunting is the soul of covmtry life, it is also the soul of our national life ; 

 because you may take it as a fact, that it is through, and owing to our natural 

 instincts for sport, that England is the country she is at the present day. 

 (Hear, hear.) You may take it as a fact to be demonstrated by history, that 

 when the pleasiires of the town usurp the place now occupied by the pleasures 

 of the field, the best days of the nation are numbered. (A})plause.) In the 

 words of our old friend Jorrocks, I will conclude this ])art of my toast by 

 reminding you that " There is no colour like red ; there is no sport like 



