THE LANDLORDS, 137 



sport, occasions so trying to the temper of a master of a pack of honnds, all 

 must admit that Sir \Vm. Stanley never forgot what was due from one gentle- 

 man to another. (Loud cheers.) Apart, however, from any selfish consideration, 

 they must all desire that he might long have the spirit, the health, and the incli- 

 nation to follow that sport. (Applause.) He might rely upon it, that nothing 

 contributed so much to the securing of a green old age as the pursuit, to the 

 e\ening of life, of so manly and health-giving a sport. (Great applause.) It 

 was better that life should wear away than rust away, and among the few pur- 

 suits of active exercise, which man could enjo\' in the decline of life, horse 

 exercise was the best, because it was exercise without fatigue. (Loud cheers.) 

 He concluded by apologising for the inadequate manner in which he had 

 expressed the sentiments of the company, and proposed the health of Sir Wm. 

 Stanley. (Tremendous applause.) The toast was drank with three times three. 



Sir William Stanley, on rising to respond, was received with repeated 

 rounds of applause. When silence was restored, he said : — Would that he 

 were gifted with elocjuence, or that he had the command of words to express 

 in appropriate language the feelings that then possessed his heart — (applause) — 

 for the sumptuous entertainment they had given him that evening was perfectly 

 unexpected. He felt happy to find that during the four years he had been 

 Master of the Hounds, his conduct had met with their approbation — (applause) — 

 and so long as he continued to keep up the hounds, he hoped to see friends 

 from both sides of the Mersey attending the Hunt. (Applause.) Any expense, 

 any trouble he might have taken in the management of the hounds, would have 

 proved perfectly useless had he not been supported by the landed proprietors 

 of the Hundred of Wirral. (Loud cheers.) To those gentlemen they, in 

 common with himself, owed a deep debt of gratitude. (Continued cheers.) 

 It was impossible to name one who more than another contributed to their 

 gratification in this respect ; but he must allude to one gentleman who sat at 

 that table, Mr. Parry. (Loud cheers.) That gentleman, at a great expense to 

 himself, and not with the view of fox-hunting, but for the purpose of shooting, 

 had taken a place which, as they all knew, contained two of their best covers, 

 and he had only to name Prenton, to recall this fact to their recollection. 

 (Enthusiastic cheers.) He would go a little further, and allude to a gentleman 

 than whom, although no longer himself a fox-hunter, a better sportsman did 

 not e.xist — Mr. Feilden, of Mollington. (Applause.) Although the foxes on his 

 estate came from an ice-house, yet they had given many a good horse a 

 warming. (Loud laughter and applause.) He would now go to the Squire of 

 Burton, whose cover had been often tried and never found wanting — (loud 

 cheers) — and were he to allude to Poulton, he should stay there all night. 

 (Laughter and applause.) Mr. Mainwaring and Mr. Green had always been 

 friends to fox-huirting. (Applause.) He would next mention Mr. Ashton, of 

 Gayton, and express his conviction that Gayton Gorse would never be bare — 

 (loud applause) — and then go a little further, to Mr. Shaw, of Arrow, who 

 owned a very large cover, which although they had been disappointed at the 

 beginning of the season, had made up for it at a later period. (Renewed 

 applause.) He now came to Mr. Leigh. (Applause.) His was a small cover, 

 but it was a most excellent one. He forgot the exact number of times they had 

 found there, but it was an unheard-of and almost incredible number. (Loud 

 applause.) He trusted that in the next season they should be equally fortunate. 

 He must conclude his list with Colonel Glegg (whom, he was sorry to say, 

 illness had prevented from attending that day) — a gentleman from whom, with 

 others who did not follow the noble science of fox-hunting, they had always 

 received the greatest civility and accommodation. (Cheers.) Sir William 



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