FOX AND HOUND 



the Harriers. The first is now enjoyed by Colonel 

 Negus ; the latter is vacant, and if your Lordship 

 thinks it more agreeable to be Master of the Fox- 

 hounds the King has no objection to the style or name 

 of the office ; but, as the Master of the Harriers is an 

 ancient and known office, thinks it may be better if 

 your Lordship takes the addition of Foxhounds, and 

 the office to be called Master of Foxhounds and 

 Harriers, which his Majesty is willing to grant to 

 your Lordship with the salary of £2,000 for yourself, 

 deputy, and all charges attending the same.' 



Lord Carlisle would not have sought the title of 

 M.F.H. had that of M.H. carried the greater con- 

 sideration. 



May it not be that eighteenth-century hare-hunting 

 owes something of the prestige it has enjoyed in the 

 eyes of posterity to William Somerville ? Might we 

 not have seen fox-hunting in somewhat diflFerent light 

 had that been the theme of The Chace? Perhaps, 

 unconsciously, we attach to the sport the supremacy 

 that has never been denied the poem ; whereby fox- 

 hunting, lacking a chronicler, is thrown out of its true 

 perspective. 



When the chronicler arrived, he was worthy of the 

 office. This, his picture of a hunt,^ shows him a 

 hound man above all things : — 



* . . . Now let your huntsman throw in his hounds 

 as quietly as he can, and let the two whippers-in keep 



^ Bcckford's frequent quotations from The Chace are omitted. 



6 



