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CHAPTER IV. 



LORD WATERPARK — PRESENTATION TO LORD WATERPARK 



LORD WATERPARK'S SPEECH. 



1880-1881. 



It is hardly possible to read these excellent diaries with- 

 out seeming to get to know the writer, and without 

 sympathizing both with his triumphs and his disappoint- 

 ments. He had his fair share of both, but his tenure of 

 office began well, and it ended well. It is a curious 

 thing in the history of Charles Leedham, that he always 

 seemed to show the best sport at a transition stage. Thus 

 it was brilliant the first year that he carried the horn, 

 under Lord Waterpark and Mr. Clowes, not quite so good 

 the second and third. During Lord Waterpark's last 

 season, and the first two, especially, of Mr. Chandos-Pole's 

 mastership, it blazed out again. Then, when Mr. Fort 

 became deputy-Master, for two seasons, the flame burned 

 fiercely, flickering down from that time till the close of 

 his career. This may have been purely accidental, but 

 it is an odd coincidence. 



Henry Anson Cavendish, Lord Waterpark, brought no 

 mean capability to bear on his chosen task, for he had 

 served his apprenticeship in the diplomatic service, and 

 possessed an excellent head for business. Both these 

 thinffs served him in ojood stead, and enabled him to fill 

 a difficult position with credit and distinction. No one 

 who has been Master of the Meynell Hounds will deny 

 the difficulty of the situation, for there is no country 



