r 



MR. PENN C. SHERBROOKE. 245 



which left Mr. Sherbrooke £150 a year to help him in the 

 maintenance of the kennel. During these early years, 

 despite the fact that foxes were scarce, and new methods, 

 indeed entirely altered conditions, had to be got into working 

 order, some excellent sport was enjoyed. In a country of 

 this character, if in any country, the number of foxes killed 

 is no criterion of the sport enjoyed. The greatest number 

 accounted for during Mr. Sherbrooke's mastership was 15 

 brace, and the average ten brace, with innumerable runs 

 which ended in " marked to ground " — so frequently the 

 case in countries where there is much hill and moorland, 

 for here any system of stopping is almost impossible. I 

 have already mentioned the assistance Mr. Alfred Pearson 

 gave to the Master as he had done to his predecessors for a 

 quarter of a century, and is still giving. The untiring zeal 

 of " Nimrod," as he is affectionately known all over the 

 sporting North, has already been referred to in this history, 

 and Mr. Sherbrooke paid a glowing, though not extravagant, 

 acknowledgment to his late lieutenant, when he said to the 

 author : " As you are well aware, the Sinnington country 

 would be almost unhuntable without the assistance in every 

 shape and form which Mr. Alfred Pearson, the best Secretary, 

 and one of the truest sportsmen in England, gives and has 

 given to the country and its masters for twenty-five years." 

 En passant, I may mention it is difficult to give accurate 

 figures and data in connection with the hunt, for when Mr. 

 Nimrod Pearson took the Secretaryship in 1879 there was 

 not a single book handed over to him, and the actual records 

 of the pack commence from his induction — a most happy 

 one for the hunt. 



In September, 1907, a movement was set on foot to 

 mark Mr. Pearson's services to the hunt by a presentation, 

 but " Nimrod " stated he had sufficient reward in seeing the 

 flourishing condition of sport in the county, so the present 

 Master and Mr. Parrington were compelled to publish the 

 following letter in the press : — 



With reference to the advertisement in your issue of the 21st inst., 

 in connection with the proposed testimonial to Mr. Pearson, the Hon. 



