68 BEAUFORT HUNT: PAST AND PRESENT. 



anecdote, his declaring, tliat fox hunting would be perfect if in chase 

 ' the hounds would only get from under your horses' feet.' 



*' No. 17. The Earl Bathurst. Aware of the dislike which 

 this nobleman has to public notoriety, it would be uncourteous to 

 place him in a more prominent position than that which the artist 

 has assigned him, in the midst of the elite of this sporting coterie. 



" No, 18. H. R. H. The Duke of Cambridge. Both on 

 account of his elevated rank and his taste for all that is English and 

 social in its relation, the royal duke was happily selected for the 

 centre and cynosure of this tableau. This prince has long enjoyed 

 golden opinions for the national bias of his habits, and the courtesy 

 of his manners. 



" No. 19. The Duchess of Beaufort. This noble lady is 

 represented leaning on the arm of the Duke of Cambridge. I would 

 fain pay, in this place, that tribute of homage and admiration which 

 is the free will offering of all the circles in which the Duchess of 

 Beaufort is known ; but I am reluctantly withheld in the fear that, 

 while seeking to grace my subject, I might give umbrage to one that 

 delights to do good, but who might not desire ' to see it fame.' 



" No. 20. Lord Cantilupe — I cannot speak of from my own 

 knowledge as a proselyte of Diana. He is always appointed as 

 becomes ' a very perfect gentle knight ' ; and this much I do know, 

 if he only manages to mount himself with hounds as cleverly as he 

 does in the park, he ought generally to be on good terms with them. 



" No. 22. Lady Georgiana Codrington occasionally rides to 

 covert to see the hounds throw off, but never follow-s them after- 

 wards. Her Ladyship is a most elegant and accomplished horse- 

 woman, and is here mounted on a horse called ' Ivanhoe.' 



" No. 23. R. S. HoLFORD, Esq. Silkwood, Bowldown, and 

 Charlton Plantations are celebrated coverts on this gentleman's 

 estates, and his anxious desire to preserve foxes in them is universally 

 acknowledged ; but whether his keepers carry out these good in- 

 tentions to the extent which those woods are capable of, is a question 

 which it is said admits of some doubt.* 



" No. 24. Walter Paul, Esq., is a first-rate sportsman in the 

 fullest meaning oi the term, and an anxious, zealous preserver of 

 foxes ; but his woodlands are not very extensive. 



* This was writtx;n in 1846. At the present time there are plenty of foxes 

 in these covers — 



" Of this there is no manner of doubt, 

 No possililc probable shadow of doubt, 

 No possible doubt whatever." — F.H. 



