54 FIELD MASTERS AND HUNTSMEN, 



that the tendency of the age is for men in higher 

 positions of life to occupy themselves in the practical 

 management of everything connected with country 

 life and open-air sports and pastimes. 



The young sportsman who takes a country and 

 undertakes to hunt it himself, unless he has been 

 almost brought up to the business, has very little 

 idea of the magnitude of the task he has set himself. 

 Indeed, it is not often that the amateur huntsman 

 proves a success unless he be to the manner born, 

 or is an enthusiast who has tried carefully to master 

 every detail connected with the chase, with the 

 ultimate idea of qualifying himself for the post. 



The names of really celebrated amateur huntsmen 

 rise readily to the lips of men who know something 

 of their subject when it comes under discussion, and 

 I think it will be acknowledged that those who have 

 held office for any length of time have served a very 

 thorough apprenticeship. For instance, who should 

 know more about fox-hunting and everything con- 

 nected with the chase than the present Duke of 

 Beaufort, who, after watching some of the best 

 professionals of the age for several years, took the 

 horn in his father's time, and hunted the historic 

 pack with greater success than any professional 

 that ever cheered a hound in Badminton ? It is 

 recorded that the late Duke of Beaufort considered 

 " old Mr. Watson of the Carlow Hounds " to be one of 

 the three best huntsmen, amateur or professional, he 

 had ever seen — an opinion, I believe, shared by 

 Colonel J. Anstruther-Thomson. Now Mr. Watson 

 also was handed the horn by his father, and had 



