230 



Mr. Parrington owed a good deal of his success as Master 

 as well as huntsman to his alertness. He was, I am told, 

 remarkably quick at viewing a fox away. He was, of 

 course, no stranger to the science of hunting hounds, for he 

 carried the horn over the Hurworth country for four seasons — 

 from 1860-61 to 1863-4— following the famous Will Danby, 

 of whom " Silk and Scarlet " says : — 



" . . . Will is just entering upon the fiftieth season of his life 

 in scarlet ; and, although the grey hairs may be seen straggling under 

 his cap, he is a wonderful instance of what a hardy Yorkshire constitu- 

 tion, good temper, and rigid temperance can effect for a man in these 

 degenerate days." Will is quite a key to Yorkshire hunting history, 

 but tiles have of late years become his thorn in the flesh. " This 

 draining," as he emphatically observed to us when we took counsel 

 with him near the Hurworth kennels, " is just the ruin of scent ; I 

 wish they'd be done with it ; when I was a boy we could hunt from 

 morning to night." He was born near Hornby Castle, and the ruling 

 passion with him was strongly fostered at fourteen, when one of the 

 farm-houses, included in his father's lease, was converted by the Duke 

 of Leeds into kennel for his hounds. This was the crisis of his fate, 

 and henceforward he devoted his attention much more to helping the 

 feeder to walk hounds about, than to grounding himself in the elements 

 of agriculture. His expressed views on the drainage would, in fact, 

 have militated so strongly against his advancement, that it was well 

 that he established himself in the good graces of Kit Scaife, the huntsman, 

 and found a more genial outlet for his energies. When his seven years' 

 probation was over, some difficulty occurred with the Duke of Cleveland 

 about foxes, and the hounds were given up. The rare lot of Pandolpho 

 hunters were sent to the hammer at Tattersall's, and Kit Scaife, who 

 was always a great man for kennel condition, took the head of his 

 Grace's racing stud. It was a sad pity, as this country was a singularly 

 wild and beautiful one, all dells and ling. 



Mr. Parrington remained at the head of the Sinnington 

 for five years, and left the pack in excellent condition to 

 reside at Whitby, where he did much to assist Mr. David 

 Smallwood with the now extinct Eskdale pack. Both were 

 pre-eminently houndmen, and the consultations of the twain 

 resulted in an excellent pack being formed, and some won- 

 derful runs enjoyed. I have before me as I write Mr. 

 Smallwood's journal, and a letter written by him to me some 

 years ago, in which he says : — 



M If I could but describe some of the runs, you would admit they 



