180 The Hunting Field With Horse and Hound 



may seek the most exclusive club or societ}^ but when it comes 

 to a question of sport all meet on the level; and if in visiting 

 this stud and kennels you are not made welcome, it will be the 

 first time in the history of Great Britain that an . English 

 sportsman, no matter what his station, ever failed. If you 

 wish, I will write Lord Rothscliild for you. You certainly 

 ought to see these hounds and I am sure liis Lordship will be 

 very pleased to have you." 



In due time there came the followmg: 



"Lord Rothschild directs me to say he will be very pleased 

 to have you visit the kennels, wliich are at Ascot, Leighton 

 Buzzard. If you will Idndly inform his brother, Mr. Leopold 

 de Rothscliild, who lives at Ascot, on what day and train you 

 are coming, he will see that you are met at the station and 

 shown all about." 



There are few more interesting or more beautiful places 

 in England than the home of Mr. Leopold de Rothscliild at 

 Ascot. 



The private secretary, Mr. Tarver, took me in hand, first to 

 visit the kennels, where the huntsman, John Boore, exhibited 

 singly and in couples, as my friend predicted, some of the 

 grandest staghounds in England, all twenty-five inches and 

 over, at the shoulder, and as alike as peas from the same pod, 

 especially those of his own breeding. 



Boore had lately come into the position of huntsman made 

 vacant by the celebrated huntsman and hound breeder, Fred 

 Cox, who for forty-five years had filled that position before 

 him. Boore loves a hound and it was easy to see he had the eye 

 and judgment in hound breeding to preserve and perpetuate 

 the very high standard set by his predecessor. 



The hounds duly inspected, we passed the enclosure where 

 the stags were confined — some eight or ten of them — in a pad- 

 dock adjoining a stable into which they are driven and from 

 which they are carted, in turn, to be liberated for the chase. 



