216 THE NEW FOREST 



of delight and a jolly bald crown," but the hounds 

 turned short from him, and, running on for another 

 half-mile, ran into their buck fairly burst up " with 

 never a check from the find." A usual event. 



When we gathered our forces together, and 

 moved off to look for another deer, the Colonel 

 rode up to Allen (I was riding on the other side 

 of him), and said, " Well, Allen, / killed that deer 

 for you." I saw the old huntsman look up as 

 this startling view of the case was presented to 

 him, but, too polished a courtier to contradict, 

 he said, "Thank you, Colonel, but" (with an 

 apologetic glance at the pack trotting around 

 him), " they'll never believe that ! " 



When I arrived in New Forest, I found the 

 present Sir George Meyrick master of the fox- 

 hounds, and I joined as heartily in his sport as 

 time and the res angusta domi would permit. 



I have gone into the earlier history of this 

 ancient pack in a former chapter, but I may say 

 that its existence can be traced back to quite 

 the earlier days of foxhunting in this country, for 

 we have the record of Mr. Vincent Gilbert of 

 Lamb's Corner owning a pack of foxhounds in 

 1781, and in 1784 this pack was, as I have previ- 

 ously related, formally recognised by the Lord 

 Warden, and given a locus standi in the Forest, 

 which has been maintained ever since. 



