EARLY DAYS OF THE SINNINGTON. 179 



For they're all on 'em come some fine sport to hev, 

 An' t' fost i' yon crowd's Raggy Ben ; 

 Why, ther's t' grandest turn out 'at ivver Ah've seen, 

 This day me ti hunt, an' my scent '11 lay keen, 

 Bud Ah care not for dogs, horses, or men. 



When it was the Sinnington Hounds actually came to 

 be known as such, is wrapped up in oblivion. Either 

 just before or immediately after the above verses were 

 written, a hunt club came into being, the primary 

 objects of which would be to regulate the affairs of the hunt 

 and its country, and secondly, to promote good fellowship 

 and bring together those whose tastes coincided regarding 

 the hounds and the bottle. The Roxby and Cleveland 

 sportsmen discovered : — 



Whereas the happiness of all countries does chiefly consist in the 

 correspondence and friendship of one neighbour with another, and 

 nothing contributing so much towards it as the frequent conversing 

 of the gentlemen together, who may thereby quash all idle stories, 

 that are too often spread about the country to the disuniting of some 

 families and the great prejudice of sport .... etc. 



The Sinnington fellows no doubt found the same state of 

 affairs extant, and also that some very happy evenings could 

 be spent in one another's company, and like the Roxby 

 and Cleveland, they formed a hunt club. We are not told 

 what were the essentials to membership, but in the case of 

 the last -mentioned organisation the very first rule was : — 



That no person be a member of the club but such as shall first 

 publicly lay his right hand upon a hunting horn and declare himself 

 no enemy to cocking, smocking, fox-hunting and harriers, and shall 

 promise to do the utmost in his power to promote the interest of the 

 club, and shall subscribe his name owning his consent to the under- 

 written rules. Clergymen to be excused of the word smocking, and 

 laying then hands on the hunting horn. 



I have already said the date of the formation of the 

 Sinnington Hunt Club is uncertain. No doubt it had stages 

 in its evolution, and after being little more than a free-and- 

 easy assembly, grew into the important organisation which 

 had the interior management of the first pack of fox-hounds 

 in the world. To quote " The North Countree " : — 



The subscription was the small one of 10s. per annum, but fines 

 played an important part in the receipts of the club. Each member 



