252 CENTURY OF ENGLISH FOX-HUNTING 



said to have been contemporaries in the pigskin, for 

 though Davis lived till the 26th of October, 1867, he 

 was born at Windsor in January, 1788. Davis, 

 whose father had hunted the King's Harriers, was 

 educated either at Windsor or at Eton, and, accord- 

 ing to Lord Ribblesdale, " he was a perfect specimen 

 of a royal servant ; a thorough gentleman, a miracle 

 in the saddle, an example everywhere else." It must 

 be remembered, however, that he occupied a unique 

 position in the hunting field, for he was not only a 

 hunt servant, but he was also a classical scholar, 

 whose education had taken place under the patron- 

 age of George III. In the field he was respected by 

 everybody, and his word was law. He would never 

 drink at a meet nor on the way home, nor would he 

 allow his servants to do so. The staidness of his 

 private life was proverbial. Now we are confronted 

 with this difficulty. Are we to take Charles Davis 

 or Tom Moody as a type of the huntsman at the 

 beginning of the century? It must be borne in 

 mind that Tom Moody was always and entirely at 

 the beck and call of Squire Forrester ; but, though 

 Charles Davis had four royal masters, the burden of 

 supplying sport rested almost entirely on his own 

 shoulders. George HI. was already almost in his 

 dotage when Davis joined the royal pack ; George IV. 

 preferred other pastimes to hunting, in addition to 

 having been a bad horseman; William IV. was rarely 

 seen in the pigskin ; and the Prince Consort pre- 

 ferred hunting hare to hunting stag or fox. Thus 



