xiv THE COMPLETE FOXHUNTER 



highest to the lowest, and is frequently to be found 

 in the most unlikely persons. It is also the case that 

 whereas foxhunters of fifty years ago were chiefly 

 squires, farmers, parsons, and small country residents, 

 with a sprinkling of townsmen, the fields of the pre- 

 sent day are for the most part composed of business 

 men and their families, or if not of the actual business 

 men themselves, of men and women whose hunting 

 has been assured by the success of commercial enter- 

 prise. 



The squires have sold out and departed — at least, 

 many of them have ; parsons have almost ceased to 

 hunt, which is a matter of extreme regret ; and the 

 hunting townsmen are no longer townsmen, but have 

 migrated to the country, and hunt more than they 

 did. The farmer still follows hounds in many coun- 

 tries, but he is not seen in such numbers as he once 

 was — not because he is disinclined for the sport, but 

 because present-day life hardly allows of the leisure 

 which was possible a generation ago amongst some 

 classes of society. Doubtless in nearly every hunting 

 field there is a nucleus composed of the descendants 

 of the original hunting men of the district, but in 

 many cases this nucleus is remarkably small. On the 

 other hand, there has been a great increase in the 

 size of fields everywhere, and this increase it is which 

 has been mostly drawn from the ranks of business 

 people. 



As regards the science of hunting we shall be almost 

 silent, being of opinion that the question is best treated 

 of by men who have not only held long periods of office 

 as masters of hounds, but who have carried the horn 



