318 REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN 



trouble and expense in making new gorses, and when the pro- 

 posal reached him he was in the condition to say, "No, you 

 commenced these aggressions, and now you must give me in 

 exchange as much as I have seized on, or we will each hold our 

 own." I think this might have been done with advantage to 

 both, and I^had an interview with Mr. Farquharson, in an 

 endeavour to effect it, but all in vain. Neither would yield an 

 inch, and the false state of things continued till Mr. Drax's desire 

 for the maintenance of his pack of hounds died away with the 

 opposition which he had encountered. 1 The question then comes, 

 Can Mr. Drax assign away this portion of the Vale country to 

 any man who wishes to succeed him in hunting those acres ? I 

 say, decidedly not. It is only to the head of the Drax family 

 that the country of right belongs, as stated in the agreement, 

 and Mr. Drax cannot hand down the right which he, by virtue 

 of a first aggression, has obtained in the Vale to a stranger ; and 

 if he yields the Charborough country, or ceases to hunt it him- 

 self, he is bound by that deed, and in courtesy, to surrender it 

 to the former possessor, Mr. Farquharson, so long as he continues 

 to keep his hounds. When Mr. Farquharson resigns his hounds 

 and heaven grant that that hour is far off then if Mr. Drax 

 survives him, or indeed whoever is the owner of Charborough 

 Park, and the representative of that family, he can insist on the 

 unfettered restoration of the Charborough country, and of right 

 to hunt it, or assign it to whomsoever he pleases. Till that time, 

 Mr. Drax himself ceasing to hunt it, Mr. Farquharson, to all 

 intents and purposes, is in just possession. Mr. Farquharson is 

 perfectly right in an idea I have known him promulgate, that in 

 holding the hunting country he looked on himself as a sort of 

 steward in possession, unable of himself to forego any portion of 

 it. So far he is right, but this view of the matter does not prevent 

 a temporary disposition of a part of his country under specific 

 agreement, that a portion of it is so leased or conceded for a 

 time, to be reclaimed again on due notice. On the contrary, 



1 Although the Charborough hounds have been repeatedly advertised 

 for sale, I believe they yet continue with Mr. Drax. 



