176 The Hunting Field With Horse and Hound 



we saw a grand old man of eighty or more, leaning heavily on 

 his daughter's shoulder as he left his carriage — for he was quite 

 a cripple — to be lifted into the saddle and fastened there with 

 straps about his legs. The reins were put in his hands and 

 with no attendant save liis daughter, he rode that day in the 

 chase. Soon the noted pack came out on the four corners with 

 no more pomp or display than there is to be seen at any 

 ordinary meet. Meanwhile, the Prince of Wales was riding 

 about among the tenant farmers and nobles, to whom he 

 was, alike, speaking a word and recognising with a kindly 

 smile. 



These are the qualities that go so far towards making the 

 Prince of Wales so popular with the British people. He is 

 first, last and all the time, a genuine sportsman. He is noted 

 as a breeder of all kinds of farm stock which he enters at all 

 the leading fairs, as well as at the local shows. He never ex- 

 hibits anything but what he breeds and raises on his own 

 farms. He competes every year and loses to tenant farmers 

 more often than he wins, but he is out with them to play the 

 game, win or lose. At these exliibitions his cattle stand in 

 ordinary stalls alongside those of ordinary farmers. 



For the day, at least, he is neither prince nor peer, but an 

 English farmer, and as such goes walking about the grounds 

 inspecting the stock, shaking hands with the farmers, and 

 thanking a shepherd lad for holding a prize ram while he parts 

 the wool to inspect the quality of fleece. 



This is the most charming characteristic, not only of the 

 Prince of Wales, but of the royalty of Great Britain in gen- 

 eral. Whatever their faults, they are as a rule, under all cir- 

 cumstances, true sportsmen. In whatever game they enter, 

 they put themselves for the time being on a level with their 

 humblest competitors. 



They tell a good storj^ in Scotland concerning the Prince of 

 Wales — a story, it is said, that he is fond of telling upon him- 



