150 THE ESSEX FOXHOUNDS. 



the horn, showed excellent sport. That, however, was 

 only to be expected from his " bringing- up," for he had 

 learned his business under notable masters. Born at 

 Bicester, within earshot of the kennels, the music of the 

 hounds fell early on his ear, and like many another success- 

 ful huntsman he began in the stable before he addressed 

 himself to the details of the kennel. As his father was 

 head groom to Squire Drake, who then hunted the Bicester 

 country, young Dobson naturally saw and heard a good deal 

 of the management of hunters, and when he went for a time 

 to ride second horse to Simpson, who then hunted the 

 Puckeridge under Mr. Nicholas Parry, he saw something of 

 hounds, and a further spell in the same capacity with Squire 

 Drake served to enlarge his e.xperience. At the Squire's 

 recommendation Dobson went as second whipper-in to 

 Lord Rosslyn when that poet-sportsman had the Fife 

 country, and when he resigned, Dobson stayed on under his 

 successor, Mr. Anstruther Thomson, and his credentials 

 when he made a change, to whip-in to Colonel Welfitt, 

 with the Rufford, were a reference from Mr. Thomson, in 

 these words — "You are worthy of a better place, though 

 I shall be sorry to lose you." 



This was "good enough," as the phrase runs, to 

 secure Dobson his desired berth, and on Colonel Welfitt's 



