BOYHOOD OF THE EIGHTH DUKE 



he undertook the work of editing the Badminton 

 Library, he contributed to those volumes some 

 chapters on hunting and driving, that are the best 

 and brightest to be found in that interesting series. 



But Lord Worcester learnt a good deal beside 

 the making of Latin verses, an exercise for which 

 he declared he had neither gift nor liking. Natur- 

 ally the training in sport of the heir, not only 

 to the dukedom of Beaufort, but to the master- 

 ship of the Badminton Hunt, was not neglected. 

 By the time he was fifteen he was a fair coach- 

 man, being able to use his whip and to hit either 

 leader without difficulty. He was, too, already 

 learning the secrets of the kennel and of the 

 hunting-field. 



The life at Badminton was at once easy and 

 comfortable, yet with a touch of regal magnificence, 

 the taste for which no doubt belonged to the 

 Somerset blood, and was hereditary in the race. 

 Nimrod, who had a fine pictorial gift, and who 

 sketched his interiors with the fidelity of a Dutch 

 painter, was a guest at Badminton for the fifteenth 

 birthday of young Lord Worcester, and he gives us 

 a vivid picture of the family life of the Somersets 

 at the time. 



The seventh Duke who had then been the Lord 

 of Badminton for four years, had a truly regal way 

 of dispensing favours, and Mr. Apperley, who was 

 but slenderly endowed with this world's goods, had 

 been invited to Badminton that he might enjoy 



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