THE FARNDALE. 153 



siderable that the owner and user thereof has a man out to 

 carry it. This, by the way. Reference has been made to 

 Fairy Cross Plain, where hounds often met. My aged 

 Castleton informant says that it was here he saw for the 

 first time the quaint custom, not yet altogether extinct, 

 brought into practice of paying tribute to a fox recently 

 killed, by adjourning to the nearest hostelry and placing 

 his mask or brush in a bowl of punch or other liquor. The 

 veteran Duck was master of ceremonies on the first occasion, 

 and the punch was quite muddy coloured when ladled out. * 

 Nor were the rites and ceremonies ended, for each sportsman 

 whilst stirring his glass with one of the pads had to propose 

 the following toast : — 



Come fill a sparkling bumper 



And take it up with glee, 

 To all our brother sportsmen 

 Who hunt his majesty. 

 And a hunting we will go, will go, 

 And a hunting we will go, brave boys, 

 And a hunting we will go. 



Prior to repeating these doggerel lines, each sportsman said, 

 " Here's a health unto his majesty," this, of course, having 

 reference to the fox, and not the reigning monarch. Many 

 of these old-time bucks were wont to draw the pad out with 

 their teeth and give it a shake, this calling for a loud tally-ho 

 from the company. If the enthusiasm of any should fail 

 to be great enough for them to imbibe part of the fox as well 

 as hunt him they were fined sixpence, which went into a 

 common fund for more liquor. I am told that in the Whitby 

 neighbourhood it was customary for the fox to be disem- 

 bowelled and the liver taken out and put into a jug of beer, 

 whilst Mr. Jos. Mortimer, of the Feversham Arms, Farndale, 

 told me the local pack yeaj^s ago, when they killed in Rosedale, 

 poured a gallon of ale through the mask and allowed it to 

 drip off Reynard's tongue. I have said this custom is not 

 entirely obsolete. Though I have never seen it in its entirety, 

 I do remember on one occasion being with the Farndale 

 when they killed a fox near Hutton-le-Hole. The brush, 

 mask, and pads were cut off, and a move was then made 



* I have a record of this custom being observed so late as 1883 

 in the Sinnington Country. 



