BLANKNEY REMINISCENCES 109 



three different hunts, the Belvoir, Blankney, and the 

 Marquis of Exeter's meeting there in the course of 

 ten days. Hitting off a line by Caswell's Plantation, 

 the lady pack rattled along in brilliant fashion for 

 fifty minutes without touching a covert, running 

 past Threekingham, nearly to Folkingham, over 

 the brook up to Walcott, away past Newton, nearly 

 to the Nightingale Gorse on the Bridge End Road, 

 where they suddenly threw up, after a very trying 

 gallop for horses in the deep going. 



Reviving the memories of a famous ancestor. 

 Lord Charles Bentinck held the mastership of the 

 Blankney for three seasons, hunting hounds himself. 

 A finished horseman, his name recalls the most ex- 

 citing period of the inter-regimental polo tourna- 

 ments, when the 9th Lancers, the loth and 13th 

 Hussars fought hard for the championship on 

 Hurlingham's fair fields. The following suggestions 

 were made by Lord Charles Bentinck to hunting 

 men, set forth in an article by Mr. Arthur W. Coaten, 

 which appeared in the Badminton Magazine, October 

 1908 : — 



'^ Subscribe more, and don't depend so often on 

 finding a rich man willing to take the mastership. 

 It is often a hard and thankless task, and people 

 ought not to expect to get a good servant for a 

 bad wage. 



" Work harder in the country among the farmers 

 and small holders especially. Educate in fact. 



" Walk puppies. Hunting men should be 

 ashamed to let poor people who cannot afford to 

 hunt, and often never see a hound, do this for them 

 out of their great sporting hearts. 



" Grumble less. It is not much encouragement 

 to a master to spend his money, time, and health 

 trying to provide sport for people whose most 



