HISTOEY OF THE LINLITHGOW 



sidered that the expenditure would in any way 

 prove beneficial to the Hunt, or tend to promote 

 sport. Thus, with a stronger pack of hounds and 

 a larger stud of hunters than were absolutely neces- 

 sary for the recognised number of hunting days a- 

 week, it was possible, when hunting had been stopped 

 by frost or other cause, to make up lost time by 

 the addition of bye-days in a way which would 

 otherwise have been impracticable. In the spring 

 of the year 1899, after some hard weather, hounds 

 hunted four and five days a -week for a space, 

 and one week towards the close of the following 

 season, they were in the field every day except 

 Sunday, The Hunt servants, who were always 

 well turned out, were mounted on horses of a very 

 superior class — all pretty much of the same stamp, 

 and nearly all possessing a happy combination of 

 quality and substance. When the hunters were 

 looked at, as they generally were, by those who 

 came to the kennels, there was much to be praised 

 or admired and little to be found fault with, and 

 more than one huntsman of another pack, visiting 

 Golf hall, has been known to return home not 

 without some feelings of envy on this score. The 

 expenditure, however, did not end with the estab- 

 lishment, and probably more was done during this 

 mastership than any other in combating " the wire 

 difficulty," and in endeavouring to keep the country 

 in a rideable state. If, in the course of a run, 

 wire barred the way, as not infrequently happened, 

 a jumping-place or a hunting gate was soon pro- 



296 



