MY FIRST SUBSCRIPTION PACK 27 



at Cranford, my brother resigned the hounds to me, but con- 

 tinued to whip-in. I then formed a regular hunt, and main- 

 tained it with a subscription. When Mr. Wombwell retired, I 

 then kept one man in his place. By this time my stable had 

 some first-rate horses in it, comprising, though at different dates, 

 Brutus, Jack-o'-Lantern, Acteon, Ariel, Mason, Captain, Cassius, 

 and some others. Brutus and Jack were the best horses I ever 

 had, both bought of Mr. Elmore, with whom I always dealt. 

 Mason and Captain I bought of Sir George Seymour ; he never 

 kept but one hunter at a time, and that was ever a good one. 

 Lord Alvanley purchased Whisgig of him. Than Whisgig, 

 Mason, and Captain there never were three better horses. As 

 to Brutus's fencing, there are those who remember our running 

 a stag through a breach in the wall of Windsor Home Park, 

 made by the heavy floods, and by riding him over in succession 

 all the timber divisions that intersect the park. I was riding to 

 take the stag, and no one attempted to follow, save one horse- 

 dealer whose name I forget ; he rode at one of the fences, and 

 caught a terrible fall, sufficient to prevent his trying the others. 

 It was Brutus whom I rode over the river Brent, and, no one 

 of that field following, I stopped the hounds till they had gone 

 round by a bridge. Mr. Elmore reminded me of this not a 

 month from the present time. Jack-o'-Lantern was also famous, 

 and that he was so is proved by the following circumstance. 

 Lord Cardigan and myself were going together in a run over 

 the Gerrard's Cross country, Lord Cardigan, in the brilliant way 

 in which I have seen him go, leading. We had flown a fence 

 into a field, and were making for the one out of it, when Lord 

 Cardigan, slackening his speed on looking at the other fence, 

 called out to me, We're pounded, by G d ! " I said, " No," 

 and continued my course, feeling Jack, as he ever did when a 

 big fence was coming, draw a long breath and collect himself. 

 I took the fence, I believe, without touching a binder or twig ; 

 the bank was very high, upright, and the hedge partly wattled, 

 and, taking a turn to complete his run at it, Lord Cardigan, as 

 might be expected, was very soon with me. I know he did not 



