The Master of Hounds 



successful master, I quote from Beckford : '' A 

 gentleman might make the best huntsman. I 

 have no doubt that he would, if he chose the 

 trouble of it." It is just the " trouble " that chokes 

 people off half the projects and enterprises of 

 Hfe. Gentlemen who hunt their own hounds 

 should remember they are huntsmen. He is a 

 public character, and as such is liable to be 

 criticised by the field adversely, or not, in ac- 

 cordance with the day's sport. The generalship 

 of a master consists in making the most of a 

 country, and the greatest use of his friends — that 

 is, exhort the members to put their shoulder to 

 the wheel in the cause of fox-hunting. Diplo- 

 macy (a genteel term for '^humbugging") is 

 another requisite for an M.F.H. 



I regret that this chapter must be somewhat cur- 

 tailed. I quote, however, the words of a Lord 

 Petre to Mr. Delme Ratcliffe, who was then taking 

 over the Hertfordshire : '^ Remember, however," 

 added his lordship, after going through a recapitu- 

 lation of the hundreds, '* you will never have your 

 hand out of your pocket, and must always have 

 a guinea in it." Most readers of these pages 

 know what a master can reasonably expect from 

 his field, and what the field expects from the 

 master. ^'A country should be hunted, the good 

 and the bad alternately, to give general satisfac- 

 tion, and in the long run better sport will be 



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