HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS. 93 



even in the delights of stag hunting. There are 

 very few " morals " going nowadays (in any 

 sense of the word), and those who get hold of 

 them are usually ungenerous enough to keep 

 the knowledge of them strictly to themselves ; 

 let us hope that such selfishness will never 

 prosper. 



These and many other such thoughts 

 chased each other through your Commissioner's 

 brain, as he proceeded to Barleythorpe on 

 Tuesday, April loth. " Water, water every- 

 where," after the night's rain ; but the rest of the 

 quotation would have been singularly inappro- 

 priate, as, on arrival at the meet, it became 

 obvious to the meanest capacity that no man, 

 thanks to Lord Lonsdale's hospitaHty, need go 

 away either thirsty or fasting. The morning 

 was very warm, and after a gallop of several 

 miles to the fixture, a glass of champagne cup 

 was by no means a thing to be despised ; in fact, 

 it came as natural as it does in the five minutes 

 of excitement preparatory to the start of the 

 Ascot Cup. What reminds us of Ascot, I 

 wonder? Ah, of course. Lord Hardwicke, with 

 green coat and golden couples. And now let 

 us look at the pack and their attendants. Four- 

 teen and a half couples " mixed " are the 

 hounds, and a mixed pack never, unless in a five 

 days a week estabHshment, looks quite level. 

 Out of sixty couple, a huntsman can select little 

 dogs and bitches to run together, with the ad- 

 mirable results seen in the Belvoir country. 

 Connoiseurs also criticise the hounds as being 

 fat. Well, they are fatter than fox hounds 



