First Whipper-in. 115 



The uniform of the Royal Hunt was a scarlet coat and 

 collar with gold braiding, white breeches and brown tops, 

 caps as in England, with a button and gold fringe ; the 

 master, huntsman, and first whipper-in (myself) all carried 

 horns ; the ladies' costume was as in our own country, but, 

 as a rule, there was not many ladies hunting. Her Majesty 

 hunted regularly ; she had a mare that I rode at Brocklesby 

 as a four-year-old, just out of the breaker's hands. Seeing 

 the mare, I said to one of the outriders that " I rode a 

 mare in Lincolnshire very like that " ; he said " very likely, 

 for Mr. Schavel bought her for the Empress, from, I believe, 

 the Earl of Yarborough." A very good mare, a brown, six- 

 teen hands high ; funnily I can't think of her name, but I 

 worshipped the mare when I rode her. The outrider told 

 Her Majesty what I had said, and she spoke to me about 

 it. Both the Emperor and Empress rode their own line, 

 and appeared to thoroughly enjoy the sporf* She took the 

 greatest interest in everything, both in the kennel and out 

 of it. Never shall I forget the first day that I saw her ; 

 she came down to look at the hounds, which were in a yard 

 covered with sand. Carter was from home, and it had been 

 a rainy, drizzling morning. I drew out the hounds for her 

 alphabetically. When I had nearly drawn them all, she 

 wished to see the lot together, and carrying as she did a 

 pocket full of biscuits for her dumb pets, they naturally 



* Her Majesty the late Empress of Austria hunted i:i Ireland from Summerhill in February, 

 1880, when it was admitted that her style of " going " over a country could not be 

 excelled. She possessed in a rare degree all the combinations needful for the purpose — 

 hands, nerve, seat, and judgment. In 1881 she hunted in Cheshire, and the special 

 correspondent of the Field newspaper wrote of Her Majesty :— " Sitting square and 

 straight in the saddle, with hands well down, her marvellously fitting habit is shown to 

 full advantage. Gifted with a lightness of hand worthy of Chifney, she is as much at 

 home in a saddle as on a throne, and on horseback forms a picture that surpasses any- 

 thing ever seen in this country." 



