62 SHORT MASTERSHIPS 



are bad for the interests of fox-hunting there can be 

 no denying ; and how bad they are only those who 

 take an interest in the management of the country and 

 the affairs of the kennel have any idea. 



The magnitude of the evil can be readily imagined 

 by sportsmen who think about the matter, though not, 

 perhaps, by some who go out year after year with a 

 subscription pack of foxhounds, yet never trouble to 

 attend a Hunt meeting or inquire how any details 

 are managed. There are hunting folk who expect 

 everything to be provided for them — foxes, coverts, 

 and hounds, and a country to ride over — and all very 

 often for a small subscription, which, however, gives 

 the privilege of growling at the Master and the sport 

 he shows on every possible occasion. Yet not one bit 

 of helpful work will they do for the Hunt they are 

 graciously pleased to patronise. 



To such folk a change of Mastership can only make a 

 difference if the new-comer prove socially agreeable to 

 them or the reverse, and so long as a fair average of 

 sport seems to be maintained they would probably 

 not object to a change every year or so. It might 

 liven things up, stimulate curiosity, and give every 

 one something to talk about in the off season ! 



Poor M.F.H. — of whose proud position Mr. Jorrocks 

 declared that " of all the sitivations under the sun 

 none is more enviable or more 'onnerable " — do you 

 truly find it so very enviable in these twentieth-cen- 

 tury days? But there must still be great glamour 

 surrounding the position, for, though the candidates 

 come, and often are gone before we really know 

 them, yet the supply of youths who desire to tack 



