THE BILSDALE HUNT. 45 



*ame country. Gervase Markham, in " Country Contentments " and 

 others of his books, speaks of fox-hunting as an established sport, 

 and in an old book, written by Dr. Matthew Stevenson, " The Fox- 

 chase " is spoken of as a " noble enterprise." That the Duke of Buck- 

 ingham hunted and indulged in other sports as did the gentlemen of 

 his time, is, of course, undoubted, but in the records of sport of the time, 

 which are extant, his name does not appear prominently. He is only 

 mentioned twice — in Mr. J. B. Muir's valuable records of old Newmarket, 

 but never is his name mentioned in connection with the Charlton Hunt, 

 of which Mr. Roper was the master — a hunt which existed many years 

 before the Duke of Buckingham left the Court, and of which the Duke 

 of Monmouth, who was a first-rate sportsman, was a prominent member. 

 Buckingham may have belonged to this, the first hunt club of which 

 there is any record, but it is curious there is no evidence that he did so. 

 The facts of the case are that the reputation of the Duke of Buckingham 

 as a sportsman rests on the slenderest foundation. That he was a man 

 of genius is undoubted — his epitaph on his father-in-law shows that he 

 could appreciate honour and honesty in others if he had not much 

 himself, and is a noble tribute to a noble life, and he did great service 

 to English literature. . . . Bilsdale tradition, and Bilsdale tradition 

 alone, speaks of Buckingham as a fine sportsman, and Bilsdale tradition 

 unsupported by other testimony is very poor evidence. For instance, 

 Bilsdale tradition asserts that the Duke of Buckingham would never 

 turn his horse's head away from a fence to go to a gate, however big 

 the fence might be. This in a way is strictly true, for the Duke of 

 Buckingham hunted over the forest of Pickering, which extended from 

 Thirsk to the sea — an open country, which was not enclosed till nearly 

 a hundred years after his death. 



The writer of this letter, which appeared, signed " York- 

 shire man," fails to recognise that there are extravagances 

 of hero worship, and extravagances of expression. For 

 instance, we may speak of a man to-day as going " as straight 

 as an arrow " across country, regardless of what is before 

 him. This is not true, though it may be an exaggeration 

 of the truth, for the hardest men are not infrequently 

 pulled up in these days of wire and sheep netting. 

 Hero worship is invariably conducted at the shrine of 

 the magnifying glass. I have already admitted that some of 

 the stories of wonderful runs have during their oral passage 

 of generations become exaggerated. This, however, I do 

 say, that though there are many packs claiming the honour 

 of premier position, so far as age is concerned, none can 



