494 The Book of the Horse. 



HUNTING (meet) liREAKFASTS. 



It is a time-honoured custom that, when hounds meet to draw certain coverts, the resident 

 at the nearest house should give a breakfast to tiie Master of the hounds and all comers, 

 without invitation. The persons who practise a kind of open-house hospitality, unknown in 

 any other part of the world, vary in degree from plain farmers to great noblemen. The 

 ordinary character of these " free feeds " has been immortalised in John Leech's illustrations 

 of the " Adventures of Mr. Soapy Sponge," the hard-riding horse " coper," and Mr. Jorrocks. 

 grocer and Master of the Handley Cross Hounds. 



When a rich migrant from town to country life, with all his way to make in the county, 

 settles down in a mansion to which a famous fo.x-covert is annexed, where it has been usual 

 from time immemorial to precede the drawing by a breakfast-meet ; or when, as is sometimes 

 the case, the new squire makes a bid for the good word of the old squirearchy by establishing 

 a fox-covert on his newly-purchased estate, the arrangement of the entertainment become^ 

 a matter of serious consideration. 



If it be done at all it should be done well, but not too well. On this point some " grave 

 and reverend seignior " — some acknowledged go-between — of the hunt, the sporting doctor 

 or parson, should be consulted. There is nothing county families resist more than being 

 outblazed by mere money. The object should be to give as good a breakfast as has ever 

 been given, but not remarkable for any startling innovations. 



Unless the rooms and hall are verj' large, and plenty of servants available, a stand-up 

 breakfast, where people may freely help themselves, is the best. The dishes should be selected 

 on the plan of requiring the least possible amount of carving. 



When the meet runs up to and over a hundred horsemen, no one but a millionnaire should 

 attempt hot dishes. The late Duke of Portland did once give to Lord Galway's hunt, 

 at Welbcck Abbey, a hot breakfast as complete as ever was served up to a wedding 

 party in Bclgrave Square ; but there the underground kitchen communicated by a tramway 

 and a lift with the (on all other days of the year for ten years) deserted banqueting-hall. 

 This duke was more eccentric than the most eccentric English peer of a French romance. 

 The breakfast is mentioned as a curiosity, not as an example. 



The liquors are a matter of prime importance, and are too often neglected, that is, two 

 qualities are provided, one for the Master of the hounds and his party, the other for the oi polloi 

 — a very great mistake. Sherry, brandy-and-water, with bitter ale, all good, are variety 

 enough. Six dozen of really good sherry at a hunt breakfast have been known to establish 

 the reputation of a new resident, and ;^io would probably represent the difterence between 

 a superior and a common article. The brandy should be old ; the ale the cleanest tap that 

 Burton or Stratford-on-Avon can produce, supplied from barrels if the " field " is very large, 

 each barrel under the charge of an obliging servant. In a fine ancient or modern baronial 

 hall, quarter casks of sherry, with silver taps, may be set up with good effect ; the main object 

 being to make the " Hunt " feel that they are welcome to come in and eat and drink without 

 ceremony. 



If it is the custom of the county to give champagne, not otherwise, it .should be of a 

 brand safe from headaches. 



In very cold weather mulled claret, not poisoned with cura^oa or cognac or other messes, 

 but simply warmed with sugar and a little spice, will be gratefully accepted by many who do 

 not care to leave their horses. 



