152 mwQB Of tbe 1bunttn0*f1elt) 



and gossiping and coffee-housing find no favour in his 

 eyes. He is splendidly mounted, a thing not easy to do, 

 as he makes his horses subservient to his hounds ; but 

 as he generally has three of the former out, of course he 

 can take liberties that a one-horse man cannot attempt. 

 Lord Worcester is very good over the wall country, and 

 generally has one or two nags with him equally good at 

 that particular obstacle.' 



From that day to this the Marquis of Worcester has 

 devoted himself to hunting the Badminton hounds, 

 dwelling among his own people and making himself 

 popular all over the great country which he hunts with 

 feudal magnificence. Perhaps the greatest feather in his 

 cap during his career as master and huntsman, has been 

 so far the famous run on 22nd February 1871, when 

 they found a good, straight-necked fox in Grittenham 

 wood, and ran him for three hours and a half over 

 eight and twenty miles of country, in the course of 

 which hounds swam the Thames, St Ives and its 

 branches three times, not to mention such a trifle as the 

 Harrington Brook. A giant in height, standing six 

 feet four inches, the marquis is, with all his stature, 

 wonderfully quick and active, as he has shown before 

 now on the polo-ground, where the way in which he 

 was wont to handle his pony in a ' bull}^ ' was worth 

 going a long way to see. On the coach-box the 

 marquis is ' the son of his father,' though not quite the 

 equal of the duke, who has the reputation of being the 

 only whip in England who can perform the remarkable 

 feat of hitting, under the bars, the near leader, on the off- 

 side, without touching the noses or ears of the 

 wheelers. 



The Badminton pack consists of seventy-five couples, 



