viii preface 



famous Heroes of the Hunting-field. Possibly some 

 students of hunting lore may take exception to the 

 inclusion of certain names and the exclusion of others. 

 But I have been governed mainly in my selection by 

 two considerations. First, the amount of entertaining 

 anecdote obtainable, and secondly, the existence of a 

 Portrait. If there are some names omitted which have 

 a claim to be considered of higher merit than one or two 

 which have been included, the reason for the omission 

 is that there were not sufficient anecdotal data available 

 to render such biographies interesting. 



Then as to the Portraits. For the larger number of 

 these I am indebted to the courtesy of the Proprietors 

 oi B ally s Magaz ire, from whose fine collection of steel 

 engravings I have had the privilege of selection. 

 Unfortunately, there are no Portraits extant of such 

 celebrities as HUGO Meynell, Jack Musters, Jack 

 Mytton, or Mr Fenwick BiSSET, and in one or two 

 cases I have had to be content with a portrait of some 

 lesser celebrity of the Family or the Hunt of which I 

 have treated. There is another point, too, on which I 

 would say a word, and that is as to the dates of the 

 portraits of some living Celebrities. The objection may 

 be raised that they do not at all resemble their originals 

 as they are at the present moment. But I contend 

 that there is often a greater interest attaching to the 

 portrait of a man taken at the time when he was in his 

 full vfgour and performed some of the great feats in 

 the saddle herein described, than to one taken in his 

 declining years. Every one, for example, knows what the 

 DUKE OF Beaufort is like now, but how many are there 

 who remember him as he was when Mr RICHMOND 

 painted that romantic portrait of him which I have 



