174 THE WARWICKSHIRE HOUNDS. 



Lord has worthily followed in his father's steps. He may 



Broke. ^^ said to have been born and bred to the sport and to 



the hunt, as he was born during his father's first 



mastership, and long before he went to Eton 

 had taken to the noble science, and was a 

 straight-goer in the field. When he afterwards went 

 to Oxford he had plenty of opportunity to feed his 

 love of hunting, and he rode in the last Oxford and 

 Cambridge Steeplechases ever run. He also handled 



His sport. the willow successfully, and was a prominent member 



of the I Zingari team that went to Ireland. He has 

 plied the rod too, and Norwegian waters have known 

 him more than once, while his name has also been well- 

 known at Hurlingham and the Gun Club. But all 

 these play inferior parts to the one great sport. It is 

 foxhunting, and fox-hunting alone, in which Lord 

 Willoughby finds the desire of his heart. The question 

 as to which is our national sport presents no vexed 

 problem to Lord Willoughby's mind, for he is one of 

 those ardent followers of the chase who find the diffi- 

 culty more in conceiving what an existence would be 

 like in a nation without fox-hunting. This being so, 

 who else could be more fitted for the vacant master- 

 ship? Lord Willoughby was not slow to show the 

 hunt that they had the right man in the right place. 

 He is a bold and judicious rider, always in the van, and 

 always anxious to show sport. His men are splendidly 

 mounted, and his handling of the hounds all that can 

 be desired. His Lordship married in 1869 Geraldine, 



Lady daughter of Mr. Smith Barry, of Marbury Hall, 



Willoughby. QjjQghire, and Fota Island, Co. Cork, and without 

 flattery I must speak of her Ladyship as one of the 

 best horsewomen ever seen in the country. She has 

 followed couspicuously some of the stiffest runs, and is 

 ardently attached to the pack and its afifairs. 



Lord Willoughby immediately determined to devote 

 all his energies to bringing the pack to the pink of per- 

 fection, and how well he has succeeded is within the 



