FOX-HUNTINCx RECOLLECTIONS 71 



satisfaction of the whole Hunt, Sir Reginald 

 expressed his willingness to continue hunting 

 the country." 



Up to 1876 I had resided in my bachelor 

 days at Jessamine Cottage, Lyndhurst, but the 

 24th of July in that year was the commencement 

 of a happy life for me in double harness. We 

 moved that summer to Fritham Lodge, two or 

 three miles north of Stony Cross, a charming 

 spot on high ground, with views all over the 

 Forest. 



This was my third season, and I began it with 

 Charley Hawtin, and Walter Primmer came as 

 second whip. I could not have been better 

 whipped-in to than I was by those two. It was a 

 very wet winter with constant rain, which always 

 seemed to suit the Forest. We began on the nth 

 September and finished on the 27th April, and 

 killed fifty-four foxes, the most I caught while in 

 the New Forest. 



The next season of 1877-78 began badly, as 

 poor Charley Hawtin had recently died after a 

 short illness. He was an immense loss, such a nice 

 fellow, and as a huntsman he had a voice and a 

 manner with hounds such as one seldom sees many 

 times in one's life. He had been huntsman to 

 Lord Henry Bentinck when only twenty-three 

 years of age, and made a great name in the 



