viii PREFACE. 



the occupiers of land in the Hunt. The reader will be 

 able to gather from some of the chapters a good idea 

 of the class of tenant-farmer who formerly occupied the 

 large wold farms of North Lincolnshire, men who, holding 

 their farms at reasonable rents, and making large profits 

 from the high price of corn and wool, were able to spend 

 practically what they liked in the enjoyment of sport. 

 In those days the large farmers always hunted in pink, 

 and they bred and rode excellent horses, which were 

 often sold at high figures to go into more fashionable 

 countries. In the last twenty-five years there have of 

 course been great changes ; the profits in farming have 

 in some cases unfortunately developed into losses, while 

 the number of farmers who hunt is smaller and their 

 cattle not so good ; one thing, however, remains the 

 same, and that is the cheerful and cordial co-operation 

 on the part of the occupiers of land with the owner of 

 the pack. There are no better puppy-w^alkers, no keener 

 fox-preservers, and no finer sportsmen than the tenant 

 farmers in North Lincolnshire. 



Those who have hunted in the Brocklesby Country 

 will know how the field is composed to-day, as it was 

 fifty years ago, almost entirely of tenant farmers, num- 

 bering sometimes as many as sixty or eighty, all good 

 sportsmen and men who are anxious at all times to 

 render every assistance they can to the Master and his 

 huntsman. 



It is for the occupiers of land in the Hunt that I 

 entertain feelings of sincere gratitude for all they have 

 done in the past, and it is their continued and cordial 

 co-operation which inspires a hope that in North Lincoln- 

 shire, at any rate, the days of fox-hunting are not likely 

 to be numbered in the future. 



YAKBOROUGH. 



Fehnmrij 1st, 1902. 



