AND STIRLINGSHIRE HUNT 



finance committee for each of the three Lothians, 

 and a finance committee for the city of Edinburgh, 

 Mr T. E. 0. Home being appointed honorary 

 secretary and treasurer.^ The negotiations with 

 Mr Hope, however, very nearly broke over his 

 stipulation that he should be relieved of claims 

 for damages — those who w^ere deputed to treat 

 with him being of opinion that hundreds of 

 pounds would not satisfy these if they were gone 

 into in the manner he suggested. But in this 

 they were wrong, since, during the two seasons 

 in which Mr Hope remained in office, all claims 

 were investigated and settled for the small sum 

 of about £30.2 



The territory of the Lothians Hunt was an exten- 

 sive one, for it embraced not only the Linlithgow 

 and Stirlingshire and East Lothian countries, but 

 also a considerable part of the Duke of Buccleuch's 

 Dalkeith and Stow country which was now lent 

 by his Grace to Mr Hope. In other words, the 

 area overtaken reached from Dunbar in East 

 Lothian to Falkirk in West Lothian, and from 

 Edinburgh to Stow in Mid -Lothian, being thus 

 between fifty and sixty miles in length, and 

 between twenty and thirty in breadth. In order 

 to hunt so large a tract of country thoroughly, a 

 strong pack was essential, and by the commence- 

 ment of the ensuing season, the kennels at Golfhall 



^ At first Mr Thomas Drybrough was appointed treasurer, but very 

 soon resigned in fovour of Mr Home. — Minute-book, vol. i, pp. 13 and 18. 

 ^ Letter from Mr Hope to the author, dated 8th February 1908. 



217 



