The Chase of the Wild Red Deer in Devonshire 195 



when the way looks hopeless! Of course, in America no one 

 would think of applying the epithet "good sport" to a minister 

 of the gospel, by way of praise. But in England the term 

 seems to have a different meaning from that given it by us. 

 There it is generally applied to one who is, as we say, "fair 

 and square," who plays fair, whether at cricket or in business; 

 stands by a bad bargain, though the law might release him; 

 one who lives up to the golden rule. In short, who is, in the 

 best sense of the word, a gentleman. 



Others drove to the meet in coaches, with powdered foot- 

 men, while smartly dressed servants brought up a brace of 

 hunters ; others came in farm carts, butchers' wagons and traps 

 of all sorts — to say nothing of the pedestrians, clad in all styles, 

 from homespun to the latest Paris wrinkle in hat and frock, 

 all making a pilgrimage to "Triscombe stone" to pay their 

 respects to, if not to worsliip, the goddess Diana, who nowhere, 

 I believe, finds more devoted followers than when she sets up 

 her shrine in the Quantocks. What a grand procession they 

 made, struggling along up the steep hill! Among the throng 

 was a single Yankee who, from his desire to keep shaking 

 hands with himself over his good fortune at being present, 

 you could see with half an eye was having the best time of 

 all. 



Arriving at the meet, we rode up to inspect the hounds — 

 twenty-two and a half couple, all over twenty-three inches tall 

 and with untarnished pedigrees, traceable, it is said, for several 

 hundred years. They are, without question, the most noted 

 pack of staghounds in England, and the only pack in England 

 "ridden to" in the chase of the wild red deer.* 



The huntsman, Islv. Anthony Huxtable, is probably the 

 most celebrated huntsman in Great Britain to-day. Punc- 



*Since the above was written, the deer in Devon and Somerset have 

 increased to such numbers that the country has been divided and is now 

 being hunted by two other packs of staghounds. 



