254 CENTURY OF ENGLISH FOX-HUNTING 



might add that, though it would have been impos- 

 sible for Davis to be anything but polite to the fair 

 sex, yet, with the single exception of a certain Miss 

 Gilbert, he had a rooted objection to ladies in the 

 hunting field. This, I believe, arose from his love for 

 his hounds, as he was in constant terror of anybody 

 riding over one of them. Woe to the man who was 

 guilty of such an offence, for his language was 

 straight and not always parliamentary. 



I have made this excursion into the history of 

 Charles Davis because I have constantly heard it 

 asserted that the huntsmen at the commencement 

 of the century were not only drunkards, but were 

 encouraged to drink by their masters. It is always 

 difficult to refute a general assertion, since the 

 accuser is allowed to deal in generalities, and the 

 defendant must particularise. Fortunately we have 

 authentic details of the career of Charles Davis 

 vouched for by Lord Ribblesdale. It may be said 

 that he was an exception to the huntsmen of his 

 period ; that he was a gentleman by education ; and 

 that to all intents and purposes he was a Master 

 of Hounds. This may have been so ; but, on the 

 other hand, it is impossible for one moment to 

 opine that such men as Earl Spencer, the Earls of 

 Yarborough, the Dukes of Beaufort, Mr. Assheton- 

 Smith, Mr. John Corbet, the Lords Fitzwilliam, 

 Mr. George Foljambe, and other M.F.H.'s of the 

 same class, would have allowed their huntsmen to 

 get drunk with impunity ; and it is an injustice to 



