134 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER 



In this case the short answer did not have the 

 effect of a soft one. The hunt-servants all over the 

 country, as a rule, are civil and well-behaved fellows ; 

 but of course there are, were, and will be exceptions 

 to the rule. Quite an exception was the whipper-in 

 who rode behind Squire Leche's hounds. 



' Squire Leche, of Garden in Cheshire, was nearly 

 the first gentleman who appeared in the character of 

 huntsman to his own foxhounds, and a sorry hand 

 he was. He had but one whipper-in, a drunken 

 fellow of the name of Sam. " I'll tell you what, Mr. 

 Sam,'' said he to him one day, on which he himself 

 had left his hounds that he might not be too late 

 for his dinner, " if ever you come home drunk with 

 the hounds again, I'll get a new whipper-in." " Very 

 well, sir," replied Sam ; '^ and perhaps if you was 

 to look out for a new huntsman at the same time, it 

 would be as well for the hounds." ' 



Of reiiowned riders, who, without being masters 

 of hounds, rode with any pack they could reach, 

 England has produced hundreds, ay, thousands. The 

 late Earl of Cardigan, the hero of the Balaclava 

 charge, was a noted fox-hunter ; so were many scores 

 of other brave cavalry officers. Some of those who 

 seemed effeminate dandies in the London parks were 

 dashing sportsmen when behind the hounds. The 

 Hon. Grantley Berkeley thus speaks of one : 



' No one went harder than the late Lord Alvanley, 

 and no man caught more falls. One day he had 



