/iDasters of tbe /iDeatb 409 



were comfortable, and gave each of them a carrot from 

 a basket carried by one of her servants. When the 

 famous hunter ' Domino ' was disabled by an accident 

 in the Irish hunting-field in 1880, the Empress tended 

 him herself, fed him with her own hand, and was present 

 at every consultation of the veterinary surgeons. 



Mr Trotter began his Mastership with Frank Goodall 

 as his huntsman, and a warm welcome Frank received for 

 the sake of his father, whom old members of the Meath 

 declared to have been the best man to hounds ever seen 

 in Ireland. The horsemanship of the son was not con- 

 sidered by these keen critics quite equal to that of the 

 sire, but though they swore by old Stephen Goodall's 

 horsemanship as matchless, they admitted that in 

 management of hounds Frank was little, if at all, his 

 inferior. At any rate, Goodall was popular, and great 

 regret was expressed when he left the Meath to carry 

 the horn under Sir Watkin Wynn. Jack Frees sue- y\iA^ / 

 ceeded him, and remained with the Meath during the - /^ 



whole of Mr Trotter's Mastership, which lasted till 

 1888. 



That was, indeed, a black year for the Meath — for they 

 lost their popular Master, and it looked as if they would 

 lose all their hounds as well. A financial crash was the 

 main cause of Mr Trotter's resignation, for his own in- 

 come had become so reduced by agricultural depression 

 in Scotland that he could not afford to hunt the country 

 without a larger subscription, and this was not forth- 

 coming. Then on top of this came the epidemic of 

 dumb-madness in the kennels, which necessitated the 

 destruction of the whole dog-pack, so that the Hunt 

 committee found itself in the melancholy predicament 

 of having no cash, no master, and no hounds. The 



