THE EIGHTH DUKE OF BEAUFORT 



We could not, for instance, understand the story 

 of the eighth Duke's life without showing the 

 growth of the hunt under his immediate prede- 

 cessors. Here, as in the case of the Bel voir 

 Hunt, I am struck with the invaluable ability and 

 faithfulness of the hunt servants, and I feel more 

 than ever that to these men is due the high 

 character that fox-hunting bears as a sport in our 

 own day. Moreover, a great man's servants are 

 the truest testimony to his character. Noscitur a 

 sociis is not nearly so true as Noscitur a famulis ; 

 for while in great measure the first are chosen for 

 us, the second we choose for ourselves. The Dukes 

 of Beaufort have a short list of hunt servants. 

 Philip Payne, William Long, Nimrod Long, Will 

 Stansby, Will Todd, Jem Hills, Charles Hamblin, 

 and Will Dale are or were all men of sterling; worth 

 as well as of skill in their calling. 



Nimrod, who contrived to know all that was worth 

 knowing in the world of sport, published a notice of 

 the sixth Duke in Bell's Life (January 3, 1836). 

 " The object of these lines is to pay a short but 

 sincere tribute of respect to the memory of the last 

 departed of these worthy men (John Corbet, Sir 

 Thomas Mostyn), whose remains are now scarcely 

 cold in the grave, and, not merely as a master of 

 foxhounds, but as a conspicuous member of society. 

 Yet it is as a master of foxhounds that 

 it is within my province to speak of the late Duke 

 of Beaufort ; and from the many seasons' ex- 



90 



