282 Ikings of tbe 1buntino=lfiel& 



From Exeter the 13th were moved to Ireland, and at 

 Cahir Mr Anstruther again organised a pack of stag- 

 hounds, this time with two Colonels (Lamerton and 

 Felton) as his whips. In 1847 he was making things 

 lively with the Kildare, and then he sold out and 

 devoted himself entirely to the sport which he so 

 passionately loved. 



Mr Charles Colville had just vacated the Atherstone 

 country, and Mr Anstruther Thomson succeeded him 

 in the Mastership. The oldest member of the Hunt 

 could not recall anything to compare with the sport 

 which ' the long Scotch gentleman ' showed them. On 

 New- Year's day 1849 they had their famous run from 

 Appleby Gorse, when the hounds, with Stephen Goodall 

 and Stephen Shepheard close up, twice swam the 

 Thames. After a brief interlude, during which he 

 hunted his father's country in Fife, Mr Anstruther 

 Thomson returned to the Atherstone, and remained 

 with them for five seasons. 



Thence he went to the Bicester, and it was during his 

 two seasons' Mastership there that the great run from 

 Claydon Woods, over Marsh Gibbon and Brill Hill to the 

 Quarters in Oxfordshire, took place, sixteen miles from 

 point to point in one hour and twenty minutes without a 

 check. The Master was splendidly carried by his grand 

 hunter Maximus, whose form on this occasion caused 

 him to fetch 680 guineas when he was put up for sale at 

 Tattersall's. But, though Mr Anstruther Thomson and 

 a little band of five other bold and well-mounted horse- 

 men saw the best part of the run, not one of them was 

 in at the finish, for the pace of the hounds was too much 

 for them. 



Once more this roving Scot returned to Fifeshire with 



