COL. ANSTRUTHER THOMSON 397 



having heard with extreme regret of your 

 resignation of the mastership of the hounds 

 beg most earnestly and respectfully to en- 

 treat your reconsideration ; but whatever may 

 be your final decision, we wish to express 

 the esteem and regard your undeviating 

 gentlemanly bearing has won from all, and 

 the high appreciation we have formed of 

 the sportsmanlike manner your mastership 

 has displayed." 



Here follow nearly two hundred signatures. In 

 reply to the requisition I wrote : — 



" Brixworth, 

 " 14th April, 1869. 



" Gentlemen, — 



" I beg to thank you for the compliment 

 you have paid me. I regret that the reasons which 

 induce me to resign are so important that it is not 

 in my power to alter my decision. I can now only 

 repeat my thanks to you for the kind expression of 

 your approbation, and I assure you I shall always 

 have a grateful recollection of your kindness to me 

 while Master of the Pytchley Hounds. 

 " Yours very truly, 



"J. Anstruther Thomson." 



They then started the idea of giving me a testi- 

 monial, and asked Mrs. Thomson in what form it 

 should be. She decided a picture. A preliminary 

 meeting took place at John Darby's at Rugby, and 

 the choice of an artist was discussed. John Darby 



