14 England's oldest hunt. 



generously in the Civil Wars. The huge breach in its walls spoke 

 eloquently of its obstinate resistance to Fairfax, and only a portion of 

 the old keep remained intact after the siege. Occasionally, also, he 

 wandered to Fairfax House, at York, which, being part of his wife's 

 fortune, he had not been allowed to alienate, and sometimes he stayed 

 for sporting purposes in a tenant's house at Kirbymoorside." 



— Lady Burghclere's " Life of Buckingham." 



It requires no very great stretch of the imagination to 

 see His Grace making, as it were, the best of his situation, and 

 adapting himself to circumstances, by providing himself with 

 improved facilities for enjoying the excellent sport which 

 this locality, and more especially what was his own estate, 

 has ever, and still offers. No doubt he set himself to work 

 with a vigour to buy or beg hounds from such of the courtiers 

 as he could still include within the category of his friendship, 

 and from these drafts and such hounds as he already possessed 

 to build up a pack suited to the country, and large enough to 

 hunt the extensive woodlands which then existed, and traces 

 of which are not wanting to-day. 



The song quoted at the head of this chapter has been 

 handed down orally for generations, and it tells us much in 

 the one stanza given. For instance, we learn that it was not 

 long ere the sturdy Yorkshire squire and yeomen discovered 

 the joys of the chase, and followed the Ducal huntsman in 

 his sporting expeditions. This early induction into the 

 mysteries and pleasures of what in Yorkshire is termed " the 

 sport of all sport," is not wanting in effect to-day, not only 

 in the locality where this lesson was first demonstrated, and 

 where they are pre-eminently and essentially Nimrods to 

 this day, but throughout the County of broad acres. 



This County above all others has perhaps produced more 

 hunting characters, famous and eccentric, than any other, 

 and, as it was at the beginning, is now the home of the 

 sport, if lacking in the wealth and tinsel show of fashion, 

 which has earned for the Shires their name and fame. After 

 this digression, let me hark back. In this old poem we 

 learn, too, that His Grace was no sluggard, and that he 

 recognised the fact that the best time for hunting is in 

 the early morning when everything is fresh, and when a drag 



