146 FOX-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 



form, and just the sort I liked to walk about 

 with on Sunday afternoons. 



Over thirty years ago, when I was an M.F.H., 

 I happened to be dining one evening at White's 

 Club with the late Lord Suffolk, who at that time 

 kept a pack of harriers at Charlton Park. 



After dinner our conversation drifted into 

 the discussion of hunting subjects, and as Mr. 

 George Lane Fox was seated at an adjacent 

 table not far off, Lord Suffolk fixed his glass 

 in his eye (with him a sure sign of mischief) and 

 boldly inquired from the celebrated Bramham 

 Moor Master his opinion of hare-hunting. '' I 

 have always/' he replied, '' understood it to be a 

 most scientific amusement.'' 



It seems very doubtful if Peter Beckford 

 really cared much for the pursuit of the hare ; 

 does he not tell us in his own words : 



'' I never was a hare-hunter. I followed 

 this diversion more for air and exercise than 

 amusement, and if I could have persuaded myself 

 to ride on the turnpike road to the three-mile 

 stone and back again, I should have thought I ,,. 

 had no need of a pack of harriers." M 



Again, when contrasting the merits between 

 the slow and the fast hounds for the purpose, 

 he says : 



