THE GOLDEN AGE, 1899— 19H. 69 



T. C. Barnett-Barker, showed excellent sport for the same reason^ 

 Certainly he was never in the first flight, but his patience 

 and perseverance were inexhaustible, and they seldom went 

 unrewarded. 



Mr. Romer Williams writes : 



" I had a verj^ nice lot of hounds when I was Master, about 

 twenty couple as far as I can remember, and only had one real 

 bit of bad luck, having three hounds killed on the railway near 

 Burnham Beeches station one day. 



'' I was the first Master to hunt during the Winter Half, but 

 no ' field ' was allowed,, only self and whips. During the 

 Christmas holidays I took the hounds home to Northamptonshire, 

 and we had great sport, though they went terribly fast in that 

 grass country. One night, coming home. Champion got cramp 

 in the stomach and fell off the * hound van,' and I nearly drove 

 over him and put an end to his career. 



'' The best hunt I had was from near Butts to Beaconsfield 

 Common — a point of about eight miles, I suppose. The best day 

 was an * invitation ' meet at Colonel Van de Weyer's — the other 

 side of the river. We caught the first hare in the river after a 

 good hunt of about an hour, then a second one in the open after 

 a very fast and straight twenty minutes or so, and finally yet a 

 third also in the open after a wonderful hunt of about two hours. 

 But all this is in the diary, and I may now be exaggerating. 



** The invitation meets at Wooburn, Col. Gilbey's place, 

 always used to kill me. Those hills were the devil ! Col. 

 Gilbey's son Ronald was my first whip, and I generally used to 

 throw the horn at him, as he was a far better runner than I. 



'' Not many Masters came out as a rule, but Mr. Robeson 

 and Mr. Slater were fairly regular attendants, if I remember 

 rightly; also ' Havvy ' on horseback. I never missed a single 

 day all the time I was at Eton. Seasons 1900 — 1904. 



** I believe my year was the last of the old Norfolk jacket 

 livery, and I was sorry they changed it — especially the buttons 

 to brass ones. Next time I come to Eton I will seek you out and 

 will tell you anything else you want to know. Anyway I'd rather 

 be Master of the E.C.H. than anything else. Wouldn't you? " 



C. R. H. Wiggin, now joint Master of the Brocklesby 

 Hounds in Lincolnshire, also sent me his recollections of beagling 

 at Eton. 



*' I have always been extremely keen about the E.C.H., and 

 can never forget how much I enjoyed my hunting at Eton. 

 Season 1902-03 A. F. Lambert was Master, I myself was first 

 whip, K. I. Nicholl second whip, and St. J. M. Lambert third 



