1890] LORD CAMPERDOWN'S TOAST. 195 



Warwieksliirc Hunt Book, I soe the names mentioned tliere of many sportsmen 

 who were good riders to liounds in days gone by, and it is most satisfactory to 

 note that at the present time the reputation of tlie Warwickshire Hunt for 

 good and sportsmanlike riding is as well sustained as it ever was in former 

 days. (Applause.) Notwithstanding this, I may add that we do not quite 

 aspire, like our neiglibours at Melton, to turn out after hunting, and to try 

 our horses as high as a ride in a steeplechase by moonlight, with our night- 

 gowns on. (Laughter.) Moonlighting is at no time a very lively pursuit ; 

 moonlighting on horseback, to my mind, is not much better than doing it on 

 foot. Gentlemen, I can wish you no l^etter wish than that you may long 

 continue to hunt with the Warwickshire hounds, with the same Mastei* — (hear, 

 liear, and applause) — and that for a long time to come 



The sound of his horu, on a fine hunting morn, 



May be the one cure foi- all maladies sure. 

 (Cheers.) 



Lord Campekdown submitted the next toast. He said : My lords and 

 gentlemen — Thei-e has been intrusted to me a task which it is very easy indeed 

 to discharge, viz., the duty of introducing to you a gentleman whom every one 

 of you knows well ah-eady, and whose health I feel sure all of yovi will be oidy 

 too glad to have the opportunity of drinking. It is the health of our Chair- 

 man, Mr. Knott. (Cheers.) Well, gentlemen, I may say for myself I am 

 not quite old enough to rememl^er the time when Mr. Knott was not. 

 (Laughter.) But, if I am credibly informed, some sixty years ago, when the 

 Bicester met at Fenny Compton Wliarf, Mr. Knott rode up to the meet, and 

 the deponent adds that he was mounted on a donkey. (Renewed laughter.) 

 I believe that ever since then he has been a tolerably regular attendant. I 

 can answer, at all events, for something like thirty years, that when anyone 

 has gone along the Burton Hills with the Warwickshire Hunt they have 

 generally had Mr. Knott scudding like a shadow in front of them. (Applause.) 

 It has been said by one or two speakers to-night that possibly some of us are 

 getting rather old and rather slow. Well, on l^ehalf of Mr. Knott, I wish to 

 say that he is not getting old, and that he is not getting slow. (Hear, hear.) 

 If sixty years ago he was on a donkey at Fenny Compton Wliarf, sixty years 

 hence (if he is not much better employed somewhere else) he will ])e mounted 

 on something far better than a donkey, and still galloping in front of the 

 Warwickshire hounds — (laughter) — and I only hope, for his own sake, that he 

 won't- have Lord Willoughby after him. (Renewed laughter.) But tliere is 

 one thing which I wish to say in all seriousness, and that is, that we have a 

 real reason why we ought to thank Mr. Knott, ami some others also — viz., for 

 giving us this opportunity of coming here to show our esteem for our noble 

 M.F.H. This is not merely a dinner given to Lord Willoughby by his 

 redcoats, because you can collect your redcoats any day you want them, but 

 it is a dinner of the whole country — (hear, hear, and applause) — and it is not 

 merely a dinner of Lord Willoughby's whole coiuitry, but it is a dinner of 

 foxhunters from districts considerably beyond his country. (Hear, hear.) I 

 have seen men amongst those present who do not belong to this country at 

 all — I am not going to mention their names, but I might instance Captain 

 Middleton and other gentlemen — who know what hunting is, and who know 

 what hunting men are, and who are only too glad to have an opportunity of 

 acknowledging the very great debt we owe to men who really are Masters of 

 Hounds. (Applause.) I daresay a great many people think it is a very easy 



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