JOINING A HUNT. 343 



exist ; and besides, those who then joined " the glad throng " 

 were almost all residents, and helped the sport in one 

 way or the other. The only people who have an absolute 

 right to join in a hunt, apart from the question of 

 subscribing, are those who own or rent land in that country. 

 If a one or two horse man who lived in the district of a 

 fashionable subscription pack and who was not well off, 

 desired to ask for a reduction, his best course would be to 

 meet the Master or Secretary, and explain matters. He 

 would probably receive the concession of being allowed to 

 subscribe 10 for one horse or 15 for two, and he would 

 be well advised to make the offer of walking a couple of 

 puppies, supposing that he was willing to take the trouble 

 to do them justice. His reduced subscription would doubtless 

 be credited to the covert fund. Even with a non-subscription 

 pack, like what the Belvoir was when it was hunted by the 

 Duke of Rutland and his son Lord Edward Manners, a 

 subscription to the covert fund would always be courteously 

 received, and its payment should be regarded as a debt of 

 honour in discharge for the inevitable damage done to crops 

 and fences by one's presence in the field. 



In most English hunts a cap is taken in amounts which 

 vary from a shilling to two guineas, and the collection as 

 a rule goes to the general fund, the earth-stopping fund, 

 the huntsman, or hunt servants. Formerly, a cap was 

 often made for the huntsman when a fox was killed, and 

 no doubt was the cause of a good deal of " hark halloa " 

 and " tally ho back." Lord Lonsdale tried the capping 

 system at a guinea a head with the Quorn, and seven 

 guineas were amassed on the first day. A cap of two 

 guineas was afterwards introduced in the Quorn, Cottes- 

 more, Pytchley and Warwickshire hunts. In Ireland capping 

 is practised with success in about five-sixths of all the fox 

 hunts ; the usual " field money," as it is called, being half- 



