THE EIGHTH DUKE OF BEAUFORT 



and the degree of affection and pleasure they display 

 on seeing him is no bad criterion of his skill in 

 showing sport. At the time of which I am writing 

 Lord Worcester was able to be but little in the 

 kennel, and all the cub-hunting was left to Charles 

 Hamblin, an excellent and faithful servant, who 

 went to his rest while this book was in preparation. 

 Thus Lord Worcester saw but little of hounds save 

 in the field. Yet no sooner did the tall figure in 

 green plush, so often mounted on the white horse 

 (old Beckford) appear at the fixture, than hounds 

 rushed to greet him with every demonstration of 

 delight. There are few huntsmen more careful 

 not to disappoint hounds than Lord Worcester, for 

 it is well known that when they kill a fox they are 

 allowed to break him up while still afire with the 

 enthusiasm of the chase. There is none of the 

 ceremony that newspaper reporters delight to speak 

 of as the " obsequies " which, picturesque and im- 

 posing though they may be, often make hounds 

 careless and indifferent about breaking up their fox 

 at all, and thus defeat the very purpose for which 

 they are blooded. 



Lord Worcester loved the big, sensible dog 

 hounds, which show the best sport with a first-rate 

 huntsman, but which require so much more patience, 

 tact, and gentleness than is necessary with the 

 bitches and their smaller brothers who run with 

 them. 



At the time the Duke began to take up racing 



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