AND STmLINGSHIEE HUNT 



field, and to hunt the country three days a- 

 week, with a subscription of £1500^ and relief 

 of covert-rents, damages, &c. 



During the existence of the Lothian Hunt, 

 first under the mastership of Mr Fletcher, and 

 afterwards under that of Sir David Baird and 

 Sir Alexander Kinloch, Mr James Hope had 

 taken an active interest in the hunting of the 

 Haddingtonshire country, and when the union 

 with the Linlithgow and Stirlingshire Hunt was 

 effected, he increased rather than diminished his 

 efforts on behalf of the Hunt and in the cause 

 of sport. Throughout these changes Mr Hope 

 had "bided his time," as he expresses it, and 

 now that this time had come, put his shoulder 

 to the wheel more strenuously than before in 

 order to accomplish in a satisfactory manner 

 the work he had undertaken. His term of 

 office, which lasted for six seasons, may be 

 characterised as a reign of sport ; and although 

 he derived considerable assistance and support 

 from his fellow members of committee, and at 

 first doubtless reaped no little benefit from the 

 labours of his predecessor in office, Mr Hope of 

 Luffness, who had initiated the system of hunt- 

 ing the three Lothians as one country, it is pro- 

 bably no exaggeration to state that the ultimate 

 success of his mastership was entirely due to his 



1 This sum was guaranteed by Mr Hope of Luffiiess for two years. — 

 Statement by Mr Hope, dated January 18, 1871, and Minute-book, 

 vol. i. p. 78. 



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