234 CENTURY OF ENGLISH FOX-HUNTING 



My wish is that Messrs. Fores would pubHsh 

 Mr. Finch Mason's stories in volume form, for they 

 would be a valuable addition to a sportsman's library. 

 Let me take this opportunity of stating how I am 

 indebted to Mr. Finch Mason for his illustrations to 

 the stories from my pen, which have appeared in 

 Fore's Magazine. 



I hardly know how to write about my friend 

 " Thormanby " (Mr. Willmott Dixon), for he would 

 be the first man to censure me if I treated him with 

 any extravagant praise in these pages. As a friend 

 and as a brother author I have the deepest regard 

 for him, as have all of us who have the pleasure of 

 his acquaintance. Mr. Dixon and myself possess 

 many things in common, the chief of which are 

 Rugby reminiscences. Mr. Dixon's contribution to 

 hunting literature deserves the highest praise, for it 

 is the work of a conscientious author who has done 

 his best to contribute to the literature of fox-hunting. 



Kings of I he Hunting Field: Memoirs and A?tccdofes of 

 Distinguished Masters of Hounds and other Celebrities of the 

 Chase, with Histories of Famous Packs, and Hunting Tradi- 

 tions of Great Houses. By "Thormanby "(Willmott Dixon), 

 i8g8. Demy 8vo, with 32 portraits. 



I regret that I have only been able to place before 

 my readers a bird's-eye view of what has always 

 proved to me a most delightful and interesting study; 

 but I think that I have demonstrated that fox- 

 hunters do not possess those uncultivated minds with 



