THE EIGHTH DUKE OF BEAUFORT 



taken to the meeting place in a van drawn by four 

 mules, for coaching is a traditional amusement of the 

 Dukes of Beaufort. Their stables never wanted a 

 useful team. Some of the late Duke's bays seen at 

 the Magazine were admirable types of useful work- 

 ing horses. But of course many more horses were 

 required than could be raised at home, and the 

 famous " Bob " Chapman supplied a great many. 

 One of these the Duke considered to be as good a 

 hunter as he had ever possessed. It was the pro- 

 perty originally of the Reverend Richard Yerburgh, 

 who was well known with the Bel voir hounds. Mr. 

 Yerburgh used to say humorously he could never 

 take a ride without running up against hounds. He 

 was, too, an admirable judge of a horse, and seldom 

 made a mistake. That he could please so good a 

 judge as the eighth Duke, is shown by the following 

 extract from an interesting book published last year 

 (1900) by Messrs. Vinton. 



" In a letter from Curraghmore, on September 

 24th, 1896, the Duke wrote : " I called the horse 

 ' Parson ' — one from Mr. Yerburgh's stables — and 

 rode him from the second week of November, 1867, 

 and every hunting season until hunting ceased in 

 the spring of 1879. He was a marvellous hunter, 

 could have carried twenty stone hunting, always had 

 a spare leg. I don't remember that we ever parted 

 company, or that I ever lamed him. His only fault 

 was that his feet were flat, and that I had to be very 

 careful about his shoeing. I wish I had a dozen 



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