Pox-ktmting Past and Present 



Some countries have collars ; all have sport. I 

 freely confess that the best of my fun I owe it 

 to horse and hound." 



The earliest Badminton kennel-book goes back 

 to 1728. The late Rev. Jack Russell, when eighty 

 years old, rode home seventy miles after seeing a 

 fox marked to ground. Lord Henry Bentinck 

 says, ^' Begin November with your hounds blooded 

 up to the eyes." Between 1698 and 1800 the 

 Quorn had only two masters, Mr. T. Boothby 

 (fifty-five seasons), and Mr. Hugh Meynell (forty- 

 seven seasons). Of all the latter-day masters, 

 Captain Burns-Hartopp for seven seasons was one 

 of the most popular. Captain Forester, late 3rd 

 Hussars, succeeded him in the year 1905 ; he had 

 been master of his regimental pack, the Limerick, 

 two seasons, and the old Berks one. ^^ There is 

 almost always a scent on the eve of a frost " (the 

 late Mr. W. C. A. Blew : the Field). Foxes are 

 wildest and strongest about Christmas (Beckford). 



^^ Save your horses : no one knows when a run 



may end." If you have cheap horses, the better you 



ride, the better you will be mounted. " A number 



of horses are rejected by wealthy men because 



they are uncomfortable mounts " (Mr. T. F. Dale : 



^* Stoneclink"). Again, ^'Without some experience, 



at least in boyhood, no man is ever likely to attain 



much proficiency in the saddle, at any rate in the 



hunting-saddle," the eighth Duke of Beaufort 



78 



