246 THE MEYNELL HOUNDS. [1897 



CHAPTER XIX. 



MR. bass's last season — HUNT MEETING RESIGNATION OF 



MR. BASS PRESENTATION TO CHARLES LEEDHAM — 



DEATH OF MR. BASS THE MEYNELL PUPPY SHOW 



FIRST PUPPY SHOW LUNCHEON. 



1897-1898. 



Mr. Fort was as good as his word, and did not change his 

 mind about continuing the field mastership, so Mr. Bass 

 was sole Master with the same staflf as in the year before. 

 It was a bad scenting season, and there was a good deal of 

 grumbling as a natural consequence. Sport was very 

 moderate all over England, so there was nothing exceptional 

 about that, but the excellence of the preceding years made 

 it appear even worse than it really was in the Meynell 

 country by comparison. Till the end of February there 

 was really hardly anything worth putting down. The two 

 gallops from Coley Gorse to ground at Colton were about 

 the best runs they had ; one on December 7th, thirty-five 

 minutes; and on January 11th, twenty-five minutes. 



There was a good run from Parson's Gorse on March 

 3rd all round and about the Radburne country, though 

 they lost their fox in the end. Mr. Caldecott had good 

 reason to remember it, for he got hung up in some wire 

 while jumping the ravine, whence issues ultimately the 

 Trusley brook. 



Towards the end of the season Mr. Bass announced his 

 resignation at a meeting of the Hunt at the St. James's 

 Hall, Derby. The Field says, *' Colonel Levett was in the 

 chair, and amongst those present were Lord Soarsdale, 



