Trttmmi Villebois, Esq., and the H.H. 103 



he was frequently put on some young horse intended 

 for Mr. Villebois' use the following season. 



Mr. Villebois had this valuable qualification for a 

 master of hounds, that his character and manners were 

 such as to secure prompt obedience from his servants, 

 and respect and deference from all who hunted with 

 his hounds. He was always calm and courteous, but 

 firm and decided ; claiming for himself, and yielding 

 to others, what was due to each. Old Will Biggs, 

 whom I mentioned in a former letter as living on a 

 pension from him, spoke of him to me with respect, as 

 well as with gratitude. ' Ah ! ' said he, * Mr. Villebois 

 was a right good master : when he said a thing was to 

 be done, we knew that it must be done, and no mistake : 

 and it is a very good thing for a servant to knozv that 

 of his master! A little while before Forster came, 

 Mr. Villebois had turned off a very clever huntsman, 

 because his character was not such as he chose to retain 

 amongst his servants. Every thing in his establish- 

 ment was conducted with the most systematic pro- 

 priety ; no oath, or voice of anger or of altercation was 

 to be heard from the men.* The whipper-in accosted 

 Forster as *Sir;' while Forster was obedient to the 

 least signal from his master, though it was by no 

 means Mr. Villebois' habit to interfere with his hunts- 

 man ostensibly in the field. A sense of right and duty 



* I once went with a friend to the meet of a neighbouring 

 pack, then managed by a gentleman from a distant country. 

 On my return from seeing them find, I observed to my friend, 

 an H.H. man, that I had heard more swearing and altercation 

 in that one hour, than I had ever heard in all the years that 

 I had hunted with Chute or Villebois. My friend smiled, and 



observed he supposed ' it must be the shire dialect which 



lue were not used to.^ 



