206 Ikings ot tbe 1[3untino='fielC> 



and the management of the Royal Menagerie in Hyde 

 Park. The first two Georges were no great sportsmen, 

 and that ' naughty little Mahomet,' as Thackeray calls 

 him, the second George, seemed to have had little con- 

 sideration for the lives and limbs of his hunt servants, to 

 judge from the following anecdote. When the Royal 

 Buckhounds were out one day in Bushey Park, one of 

 the groom's horses took fright at the sudden appearance 

 of a swan, bolted, impaled itself on some spikes, and was 

 killed. Lady Suffolk, who was present, exclaimed, ' It's 

 lucky the man was not hurt.' Whereupon the King 

 turned upon her snappishly. ' Yes,' he said, ' I am very 

 lucky truly ! Pray where is the luck ! I have lost a good 

 horse, and I have a booby of a groom still to keep.' 



There were ugly hangers-on to the Royal Hunt in 

 those days, in the shape of highwaymen, who became 

 so audacious in their demands to ' stand and deliver,' 

 that when Lord Tankerville was Master of the Buck- 

 hounds in 1733, he went out hunting with an escort of 

 Life Guards to protect him. 



Ralph Jenison, M.P., deserves a word of mention as 

 Master of the Buckhounds, for several reasons. In the 

 first place, he twice held the office, a unique distinc- 

 tion up to that time ; secondly, he was the only Master 

 who ever received a pension, ^2000 a year being granted 

 to him on his retirement ; thirdly, he is the only Master 

 of whom a portrait in the green and gold uniform of 

 the Royal Hunt has come down to us, that portrait 

 being by the great Sir Joshua ; fourthly, he was the last 

 commoner who held the office. 



For the rest, Ralph Jenison was an excellent all-round 

 sportsman, an ardent patron of the Turf, and one of the 

 original members of the Jockey Club. In those days 



