FOREWORD. 5 



" Records of the Chase," tells us that " there are two con- 

 spicuous reasons £rom which the origin of the chase may be 

 traced — one for the purpose of procuring food ; the other, 

 that of destroying noxious beasts." He adds : — ■ 



" The fox is the only one remaining in Great Britain originally in- 

 cluded in the latter category — a classification in which it is scarcely 

 consistent to retain him, now that the pursuit of that animal has 

 become one of our principal and most popular national amusements." 



This is the great evolution of the chase, the hunting of 

 the fox for the sport he gives, which sport has caused a 

 sacred halo to be placed around his head. It was in this 

 rough moorland country and the Vale of Pickering and Rye 

 where we Yorkshire folk claim that a pack of hounds was 

 first kept to hunt the fox, as we shall see in the next chapter, 

 the second Duke of Buckingham — the famous George Villiers 

 — being the first master. 



