THE GOLDEN AGE, 1899—1914. 75 



up to her, but she kept a straight mask, and leaving Staines town 

 on her right entered one of the big reservoirs there and was 

 drowned three minutes in front of hounds after a wonderful hunt 

 of an hour and fifteen minutes. It was about eight miles as 

 hounds ran and a five mile point. All the hounds were up at 

 the end, as were only the keenest of the field ; the hound van had 

 managed to get up to us, and we took as many back to Eton as 

 we could in it and on top of it, while the late Mr. P. J. de 

 Paravicini loaded his pony cart with as many boys as possible. 

 The rest got back to Eton ' somehow,' a little late for lock-up 

 perhaps, but it was worth it. I warned m 'tutor, Mr. R. S. de 

 Havilland, who was then Hon. Treasurer and Secretary of the 

 E.C.H., that he might have some complaints the next day, and 

 that I was to blame, as I forgot in the excitement of the hunt to 

 send the field home. But nothing happened, and it goes to prove 

 that the E.C.H. field is an orderly and sensible one, which does 

 not take advantage of its freedom but appreciates it and its 

 responsibilities. 



'* When I was Master I had several letters from the 

 Humanitarian Society, and anonymous ones, no doubt emanating 

 from the same source. The former were replied to after good 

 advice given by the Head Master, Dr. Lyttelcon, and m'tutor, 

 Mr. de Havilland. The anonymous ones were destroyed ! If 

 hare hunting or hunting of any form is to be stopped, I am sure 

 Eton will be the last to give in. Its advantages are so many and 

 so well known that it would be a waste of time to quote them, 

 but I :^eel that the ' kill-sports ' think they have an easy prey in 

 attacking College and School packs, while they practically ignore 

 the many other hundreds of packs of hounds in the United 

 Kingdom. 



** The size of the hounds at Eton has always been a great 

 source of discussion. You have only, say, two and a half hours 

 on a short winter afternoon to find, hunt and kill your hare, and 

 while 16 and 17-inch hounds do not allow many people to see 

 them hunting, a 14-inch hound is a little too small to give the 

 Master a fair chance to handle his hare in a short time with a 

 large eager field behind him and maybe a moderate scent. 



'' I would advocate a 15-inch hound as a standard size for the 

 E.C.H. My father gave me leave to start a small pack at home 

 in 1908. It consisted of two and a half couples kindly given me 

 by Mr. George Miller, originally Master of the Spring Hill 

 Beagles. It grew to seven or eight couples, and during the 

 holidays of 1908, 1909, 1910 we had great fun in Essex, with 

 two sporting farmers to whip in, and killed 27 hares in 65 



