RECOLLECTIONS OF GEORGE CARTER. 77 



old huntsman's " Hallo ! " quite as quick as he might 

 have supposed they should have done. Nor did this 

 seem to decrease with age. But a marked change came 

 over the old man as his eyesight began to fail; and 

 though perfectly sensible of the deprivation he suffered, 

 he softened down wonderfully in manner, while he con- 

 stantly expressed how thankful he felt for the general 

 good health he enjoyed, and the many blessings that 

 fell to his lot. It was, as his sight began to fail, that 

 he gave up hunting, as he said he was afraid to ride 

 when he could not see well where he was going. But 

 in this particular he beat his late master, Mr. Assheton 

 Smith; for if George Carter did not httnt hounds at 

 fourscore, he nevertheless enjoyed his hunting long 

 after that period of his life, and his seat in the 

 saddle had lost nothing of its ease, his voice was 

 still cheery and musical, and as to his knowledge of 

 the science of hunting, he had lost nothing of it from 

 the effects of age. I well remember the day on which 

 he entered, on his, I believe, eighty-third year. The 

 Tedworth hounds were drawing the gorse on Clench 

 Common, and it had soon become known that it was 

 George Carter's birthday ; the greetings from all sides 

 were of course most hearty, and, as might naturally 

 have been expected, the old man was in wonderful 

 good spirits. Foxes were plentiful enough on the 



