COL. ANSTRUTHER THOMSON 315 



I wrote to Payne proposing that he should hunt 

 one pack and I should hunt the other. He re- 

 plied : — 



" \-]th April, 1864. 



" Sir,— 



" Respecting the Pytchley country and 

 your offer, after hunting this country so many years, 

 as I have, I cannot entertain such an arrangement 

 I could not go into it with the sport a man ought to 

 do, therefore I must decline it. . . . Mine has been 

 a hard-fought battle for eighteen years with the 

 wildest field in England — heart-breaking to a good 

 sportsman. Well does poor Lord Spencer know 

 this, who, I am very very sorry to say, is far away, or 

 I am quite sure he would have arranged the thing 

 satisfactorily for me before this. 



" There I must leave it, sir, but not without 

 thanking you for your kind letter. 



** Your most obedt. servt., 



'' Chas. Payne." 



I wrote to Villiers : — 



"Charleton, Colinsburgh, 

 " 25^/t April, 1864. 



"Is the matter so far settled that I may give 

 up my hold on this country and begin to engage 

 servants? Not a moment should be lost now, and 

 if I have to wait another fortnight I shall lose my 

 groom and all the good men will be disposed of, and 

 I suppose Payne will want a second whip. Can 

 you, the committee, settle with me, or must you refer 

 to another general meeting ? 



