204 CENTURY OF ENGLISH FOX-HUNTING 



too much bone was a sign of coarseness and vul- 

 garity ; and I think Mr. Chandos Pole had a patent 

 sort of his own. However, they all went well, and 

 will rank amongst the best welters of the century. 



" There have been some notable welters in Devon- 

 shire, and the greatest of all possibly was the late 

 Mr. Fenwick Bisset, who rode twenty-two stone dur- 

 ing the many seasons he hunted the famous Devon 

 and Somerset staghounds, and though a difficult 

 country for horses, with the tremendous hills and 

 beacons to climb, it was quite marvellous how Mr. 

 Bisset was always at the end of the longest runs. 

 A capital sportsman he was, knowing every inch of 

 the country, and with a wonderful eye to hounds. 

 Another extraordinary Devonshire welter was Mr. 

 William Trist, of Langford. He walked nineteen 

 stone, so rode twenty stone, and the most singular 

 thing about Mr. Trist was that, although he bred 

 weight-carriers and sold them at from two hundred 

 to three hundred sovereigns apiece, he never rode 

 them. His favourite mount was a sort of Galloway 

 cob, barely fifteen hands. He bought him for nine- 

 teen guineas after the cob had disagreed with some- 

 one who had tried him in harness, and, as Mr. Trist 

 said, he found him suited to his weight exactly. At 

 any rate, he saw some great runs on him, and there 

 were few people nearer hounds. So great did the 

 cob's reputation become that at an Ivybridge hunt 

 dinner, the old-fashioned auction method — so vividly 

 described by Surtees, when Soapy Sponge parted 



