107 



When hunting re-commenced after the war there were 

 probably many newcomers in the field who had httle 

 experience of the sport or of the unwTitten laws that 

 should govern the conduct of those following it. These 

 may have unwittingly tried the patience of various 

 masters, but they have now acquired knowledge and 

 refrain from committing further indiscretions. With this 

 period excepted, I think the general tendency of most 

 fields is to a gradual improvement in sportsmanlike and 

 rational behaviour. Much of this is due to the early 

 training of boys and girls, who every year may be seen 

 in increasing numbers at the covertside. 



In the interesting memoirs of Mr. Osbaldeston. pub- 

 fished in the Field, it wiU be noticed that unruly crowds 

 were more common in the early part of the last century 

 than they are now. Such an instance as the one the 

 author quotes, when the whole field set off to ride after 

 the fox, has no parallel in these days. In extenuation 

 of such unseemly conduct in those days it may be as 

 weU to explain the probable cause. The fame of Melton, 

 with its surrounding pastures as ideal for riding over, 

 had spread abroad. The hard riders of various pro- 

 vincial countries, when blessed with sufficient means 

 went to Melton, not for the sport they expected to 

 enjoy, but to compete against the thrusters whose 

 reputation for desperate riding had become the theme 

 of sporting writers. Hunting at the beginning of the 

 century was only just rising to be a fashionable 

 amusement, and although country squires, content 

 to remain at home, had kept hounds for generations 

 the fops wasting their time in London rather looked 

 down on the sport. A few men with the love of 

 hunting and adorned with titles suddenly made it a 

 fashionable craze, so that many of the idle rich decided 



