xiv CHASE OF THE WILD RED DEER 



that the laudable exertions of the orreat landowners 

 were both fostered and directed to the proper 

 quarters by the wise offices of the country doctor, 

 whose active devotion to his callinor crave him an 

 access to all classes that was vouchsafed to few. 



Briefly summing up the chief events of the inter- 

 vening- years between Dr. Collyns' death and the 

 present day, the Devon and Somerset Hunt sus- 

 tained two further losses shortly after the author of 

 Notes on the Chase of the Wild Red Deer had been 

 laid to rest. In 1868 died Jim Blackmore, the old 

 harbourer, and John Babbage, the huntsman, was 

 obliged to retire in 1870. Of these two vacancies 

 the latter was most easily filled, for in Arthur 

 Heal, who carried the horn until 1889, a huntsman 

 of no ordinary talent was recognised at once. 



When in 1881 Mr. Bisset resigned. Viscount 

 Ebrington, the eldest son of Earl Fortescue, and 

 thus inseparably connected with the Hunt by 

 honourable tradition, was appointed master. Lord 

 Ebrington's administration came to an end in 1887, 

 and yet another historic name was resuscitated when 

 Mr. C. H. Basset assumed the command ; it was 

 in his mastership that Arthur Heal retired from 

 the huntsman's post, to be followed by Anthony 

 Huxtable. 



