HUNTING 191 



had the invaluable rules of 1789 to guide me) 

 none of them need interfere with the sport of 

 the other, but that there must be a supreme 

 controlling power. 



As to the Harriers, I troubled about them 

 not at all. The nominally oppressive rules which 

 the New Forest Hunt Club had imposed on 

 them affected them not, for they regarded them 

 in no sort of way. The fox-hunting community 

 knew better than to quarrel with Mr. John 

 Mills, a large covert owner outside the Forest, 

 whose support was valuable. No one ever tried 

 to enforce the somewhat ridiculous boundaries 

 which the New Forest Hunt Club had induced 

 the Commissioners of Woods to impose on this 

 harmless little pack. I assuredly did not ! 



There remained the old and deep sore of the 

 quarrel between the master of the foxhounds 

 and any master of a deerhound pack. It ap- 

 peared to me from a couple of seasons' observa- 

 tions that the hunting of the wild deer an the 

 New Forest was one of the finest opportunities 

 for making a good pack of hounds and showing 

 first-class sport that could be hit upon by any 

 enthusiast. 



I even went so far as to say, after a brief experi- 

 ence of this, to one of the older generation of 

 New Forest hunting men, who, I vainly supposed, 



