86 THE OLD BERKS HUNT 



capital performers across country in every sense of 

 the word. They are quick at turning to their 

 hounds, quiet with their horses, and very difficult to 

 be stopped. There is also a strong dash of the fox- 

 hound in their countenances, and though it is a wise 

 son that knows his own father, I think we may be 

 certain that they were got by old TOM ; and it is 

 only to be lamented that there was not a larger 

 litter of the sort. They ride in straw-coloured 

 plush, the Old Berkeley livery, and I think the dis- 

 tinction a good one, as they can always be known in 

 a crowd, or at a distance." 



Mr. Combe himself, " Nimrod " thus des- 

 cribes : — 



Of a robust frame composed chiefly of muscle, 

 he is quite in the form for hard work, and no exer- 

 cise fatigues him. He is said to travel more miles 

 after hounds than any other man in England, Mr. 

 Osbaldiston excepted ; and either before or after 

 hunting, milestones are no object to him. When 

 by night he of course travels in his carriage, but at 

 other times he is remarkable for getting across 

 country in his gig, in which he performs great dis- 

 tances in a short space of time, by availing himself 

 of relays of horses. Over a country too, Mr. Harvey 

 Combe is always in his place, and is allowed to be 

 a good judge of hunting, which indeed his experience 

 and devotion to the sport cannot fail to have made 

 him. In the field he is like most other masters of 

 hounds, in high good humour when things go pros- 

 perously, that is to say, when he finds a fox, has a 

 good scent, and kills him after a good run ; and he 

 bears adversity full as well as the rest of them. Both 

 he and Mr, Majoribanks are, I understand, very 

 popular in their new country, and doubtless will 



