320 REMINISCENCES OF 



to come back, and the sight of him did me good. 

 I want to get two or three of Spencer's horses for 

 Payne, so I am going up to London to-night, and 

 shall come down to-morrow night." 



Whitehall came up to London and brought a 

 bundle of letters, my circular having produced 

 twenty-four civil little notes in reply. I met Car- 

 digan in the park : "By all means, by all means. 

 The oftener the better ; I need not send you any 

 further reply — the oftener the better," with his usual 

 flourish. 



Duke of Buccleuch's letter :-7- 



" London, i8th May, 1864. 



" My Dear Thomson, — 



" I have received your letter informing 

 me that you have undertaken the management of 

 the Pytchley Hounds for the coming season, and 

 requesting me to grant you permission to draw my 

 coverts in the usual manner. 



" I am most willing that you should draw my 

 coverts, but not in the manner which has been usual 

 of late years, which has been to draw the woods 

 a few times in the autumn and in the spring, and 

 almost entirely to neglect them during the greater 

 part of the hunting season. 



" This neglect has given the greatest dissatisfac- 

 tion in that part of the country ; has been the cause 

 of the Pytchley Hounds losing a considerable portion 

 of the woodlands ; and if it were not for the protec- 



