THE BEAUTIES OF BARLEYTHORPE 185 



but congratulate you on being his subjects, and ask 

 you to drink bis health in a bumper." This was 

 the signal for a spontaneous ovation, the large 

 assembly rising to their feet as one man. Lord 

 Lonsdale then added further comments on the 

 debt of gratitude to the puppy walkers for building 

 up so splendid an entry of hounds ; concluding by 

 saying, " I now call on my right hon. friend, Mr 

 Harry Chaplin, to propose the toast of the puppy 

 walkers, and congratulate ourselves that we have 

 to-day secured for judges, two distinguished members 

 of the House of Lords and the House of Commons, 

 whose power of oratory will surpass any attempt 

 of my own ! " 



The Member for Wimbledon on rising was received 

 with prolonged cheering and musical honours, for 

 Mr Henry Chaplin is well known to be one of the best 

 of the heavy-weights in Leicestershire. Smoothing 

 out the lapels of his coat, and adjusting the string 

 of his eye-glass — the tricks of the accomplished 

 orator — Mr Chaplin faced the music, expressing 

 surprise and pleasure at meeting so distinguished 

 a body of the Cottesmore hunt^ — for he loved better 

 than anything else in the world, the horse and the 

 hound. He told us he had seen a good many in 

 his time ; and considering the short period within 

 which his noble host had collected the pack of 

 hounds, it was the most remarkable achievement, in 

 a sporting sense, he had ever seen in the whole course 

 of his life. Mr Chaplin rounded off a speech which 

 delighted his hearers, by saying, " I think my noble 

 friend and colleague, member of the House of Lords, 

 and master of the Warwickshire, will express in more 

 adequate language, the sentiments we felt when judg- 

 ing the beautiful entry you gentlemen put before us." 



Then Lord Wllloughby de Broke rose in response, 



