2i6 THE OLD BERKS HUNT 



The new Master bought twenty-three and 

 a half couples of hounds at Mr. Morrell's 

 sale at Tubney, giving 130 guineas for one 

 lot, and 480 guineas for his total purchase. 

 As huntsman he engaged the celebrated John 

 Dale, who came to him from the Vyne, which 

 he had hunted for two years, after having 

 hunted the Surrey Union Hounds for eleven 

 seasons. John Dale came of a yeoman stock, 

 and upon several occasions went back to his 

 hereditary pursuit of farming. The keenest of 

 the keen in hunting, in his youth he had been 

 a proUg^ of Lord Kintore, who wrote to him 

 when quite a lad, telling him to take Foster 

 as his example in the field. He said : " There 

 is more in Foster's eye and little finger than 

 in all the other Hampshire huntsmen put 

 together," adding, " but Foster served a good 

 apprenticeship." At a later period, speaking 

 of Foster, Lord Kintore said : "He was cheerier 

 than any man I have ever seen in covert, the 

 nearest to him being John Dale." Dale com- 

 menced with the " Brookside Harriers " as an 

 amateur whip, where he found his own horses, 

 and had no wages; he then went to the "Vyne" 

 for a season, when Mr. Donnithorne Taylor 

 was Master ; and after that went as Whip 

 and huntsman to Lord Kintore at Keith Hall 

 when only twenty years of age. Then he 



