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post than that of secretary, and these the Committee of 

 the Hunt were not slow to discover. In the year 1821 

 George Osbaldeston, then in the first flush of his fame, 

 came over to hunt the Hamblcdon country. But ' the 

 Squire ' was not the man for a slow woodland country. 

 He was all for dash and go — had not the patience to 

 appreciate the niceties of wood-craft — was too fond of 

 the showy side of hunting to adapt himself to a countr}' 

 in which there is more scope for the science than the 

 sport of fox-hunting. So, after an unsatisfactory season, 

 he left Hampshire for the more congenial sphere of the 

 Quorn. Then that fine all-round sportsman Sir Belling- 

 ham Graham, on resigning the Pytchley, decided to 

 try his luck with the Hambledon. 



' What is the subscription ? ' he asked. ' Seven hundred 

 pounds,' was the reply. ' Scarcely enough to keep me in 

 spur straps and blacking,' said he contemptuously. How- 

 ever, he gave the country a short trial, but it suited him no 

 better than it did ' the Squire,' and he soon left, to be 

 succeeded by Mr Walker, who in his turn gave up 

 the horn to Mr Shand. When the last-named resigned, 

 Tom Smith was by unanimous consent invited to take 

 the Mastership. He was proud to accept the post, and 

 showed such sport as the country had never known 

 before. In the preface to his capital book. Extracts 

 from the Diary of a Hunts)iian^ he refers with pardonable 

 pride to the fact that in the worst-scenting country in 

 England he had killed ninety foxes in as many days. 

 His enthusiasm for the sport was extraordinary, but 

 what was still more remarkable about him was his 

 marvellous and unrivalled knowledge of the habits and 

 instincts of the fox. He seemed to know by intuition 

 exactly what a fox would do, and what line he would 



