/Hiasters of tbe IRoval Bucftf)oun&s '^is 



practical detail of his office. The ancient honour and 

 everyday welfare of the Royal Hunt are in safe keeping.' 



Of these Masters, Lord Granville is, of course, by far the 

 most distinguished figure. If not, either as orator or 

 statesman, of the higher class, he was an accomplished 

 man of the world, a consummate parliamentarian, a 

 clever debater, and a man of such sweet and even temper, 

 that before his lubricating influence all friction vanished. 

 Moreover, he was an Englishman to the backbone, and 

 was always in touch with the feelings of his countrymen. 

 What he was as a sportsman, and particularly in his 

 capacity of Master of the Buckhounds, may be gathered 

 from the following pleasant picture of him given by 

 Lord Ribblesdale : — 



' The first time I ever saw Lord Granville out hunting 

 was with the Pytchley. I remember the incident most 

 distinctly, and it fully bears out the reputation he left 

 behind him in the Queen's country for resolute riding. 

 It was a starving cold day. Lord Granville was looking 

 ill, and suffering from gout, and he told me he had come 

 out against his doctor's orders. He had on thick white 

 duffell breeches, and boots known, I think, as Napoleons, 

 like those in which Mr Herring's first-flight gentry lead 

 the way. He and I had managed, with several others, 

 to get thrown out, and we found ourselves with no visible 

 means of getting to hounds, which were dragging along 

 on a cold line two or three fields away. There was 

 neither gate nor gap to help us, and a really high stake- 

 and-bound fence, of the type John Leech drew so well, 

 between us. A March day was just treating us to an 

 interval of hail. I was riding a most ungenerous horse, 

 who made no allowance for one's mistakes, and took a 

 serious view of jumping without hounds. " I am afraid," 



