AND THEIR CAUSES 69 



caused the new Master to feel uneasy on his throne, 

 and determined him to abdicate before his second 

 season had fairly begun. 



Utterly unused to the amount of organising work 

 that is expected of him, with no idea of the amount 

 of time that, even on non-hunting days, he must 

 devote to it, or of the tremendous increase of his 

 correspondence, with as many applicants to see him 

 in the morning as used to stand in the London ante- 

 chamber of a nobleman in Georgian days, no wonder 

 many a modern M.F.H. who has not had an oppor- 

 tunity of getting behind the scenes before he took 

 the office is soon aghast at the multiplicity of his 

 duties ; and, if not born with an extraordinary keen- 

 ness for the chase, soon gets deadly weary of them. 



The complete tyro, then, who has had no previous 

 knowledge of the duties of the position, can seldom 

 be expected to celebrate a very long reign even if 

 blessed with much riches. A very common reason also 

 for the short duration of the reign of the modern 

 Master is the unnecessary expense that his predecessor 

 in office has thought fit to incur. 



Not very long ago I was looking over a portfolio 

 of photographs of various packs of hounds, their 

 Masters and servants. A friend who was staying 

 with me picked up one of the big pictures, looked at 

 it, and gave a long-drawn whistle. " I thought once 

 of going in for that pack," he said, " but that style 

 of thing wouldn't suit me at all." The photograph 

 represented the usual group of hounds with their 

 attendants in the background, and these, in this 

 picture, numbered (inclusive of the Master) six indi- 



