COL. ANSTRUTHER THOMSON 19 



a gentleman who had no equal as a huntsman. 

 Previous to coming there Captain Thomson had had 

 several years' experience as a Master of Hounds, and 

 they could not expect him, an untried man, to get in 

 the same groove at once, but from the cordial wel- 



o 



come he had received he felt sure, however, that they 

 would not be hard upon him. They had not had a 

 very good season up to the present time, but he 

 thought they had done as well as their neighbours. 

 They were just getting into the best part of the season 

 when an accident happened to his huntsman. The 

 height of his ambition had always been to handle a 

 pack of fox-hounds, and if the sportsmen would only 

 give them room, and not run over them, they would 

 hunt the fox without any assistance from him. He 

 begged to thank them for the manner in which the 

 toast had been received, and would only assure them 

 that as long as he had anything to do with the 

 Pytchley Hounds he would do his utmost to keep up 

 their prestige. 



" The Vice- President proposed the health of a 

 nobleman who was exceedingly fond of the noble 

 sport of fox-hunting, and who formerly held the 

 honourable position of the Master of the Pytchley 

 Foxhounds, his Excellency Earl Spencer. Although 

 now absent from the country, Earl Spencer did not 

 forget to be a contributor to the Pytchley pack, and 

 always gave strict injunctions to his keepers as to the 

 preservation of foxes. 



"A. A. Young, Esq., proposed, 'The House of 

 Lords,' in a very able speech, and after alluding to 



