YORKSHIRE r,09 



hard clay's sport, hounds would scarcely quit the benches after 

 feeding were it not for being niade to do so. Mr. H. frequently 

 walks out his pack as often as six times a-day, and I was told it was 

 nothing very uncommon to see him doing this by moonlight. In- 

 deed, as far as kennel-work is concerned, Mr. Hodgson is certainly 

 the most painstaking huntsman I ever came across in my life. In 

 the field his skill is also acknowledged ; and there is little doubt but 

 that time and experience will place him in the front rank ; — zeal like 

 his to ill not be denied ! 



There was one disadvantage as a huntsman to a pack of fox- 

 hounds in a deep and high-scenting country, that Mr. Hodgson 

 laboured under when I was at Beverley, which I hear he has this 

 year rectified. His horses, although good fencers, did not possess 

 sufficient speed to place him zvJicie he ought ahvcujs to be when his 

 hounds come to a check. No man can ensure being at all times 

 present with his pack ; but the less his eye is off them the better, 

 and he should always be able to break away from the crowd. 



In the summer Mr. Hodgson lives w'ith his father, at Sugfield, 

 near Ferrybridge, but of course in the hunting season he takes up 

 his abode at Beverley. Trifles light as air mark the character of a 

 man, and here you see Tom Hodgson in his real form — the true 

 sportsman, giving up everything to fox-hunting. His crib is close 

 to the kennel and the stables ; and, as it has been pronounced by a 

 master of fox-hounds "to be better worth seeing than a 'palace," I 

 cannot do less than describe it. It consists of but two rooms ; one 

 for himself, and one for an old woman who waits upon him. The 

 furniture of the master's room consists of a turn-up bedstead, a sofa, 

 half a dozen chairs, and a table ; but here he can do what no man 

 can do in a palace. As he lies in his bed, he can open his window, 

 shut his door, stir the fire, and rate his hounds if he hears them 

 quarrelling in their kennel. His walls are ornamented with some 

 excellent prints of sporting characters — himself in caricaturd among 

 the rest — and the place is altogether of a piece. We are not all 

 rich enough to purchase the pleasures of Corinth, as an old proverb 

 has it ; but the riches of a Caliph could not make this man happier 

 than I have seen him in his crib at Beverley, within hearing of the 

 sw^eet music of his pack. 



