PREFACE 



^^^HE difficulties altendiny the compiling a History of 

 Vir' THE York and Ainstv Hunt seemed at one time 

 almost insuperable. Diaries which were of incalculable 

 value were either lost or mislaid, and during long" periods 

 of the Hunt's history no diaries were kept. The pages 

 of old newspapers and magazines were drawn blank in 

 many instances, and had it not been for the opportune 

 discovery of diaries ranging over a period of thirty years, 

 much of the earlier part of the history would perforce 

 have been unwritten. 



My thanks are due to Mr. E. Lycett Green, Mr. 

 P.^RRiNGTON, Mr. Preston, Mr. Brooksbank, Mr. Guy .St. 

 Maur Palmes, Mr. F. W. Slingsby, and other gentlemen, 

 for the information they have placed at niy disposal, and 

 for the untiring efforts they have made to procure further 

 information. The Editor of the Field has also come kindly 

 to my assistance, and has allowed me to extract many 

 valuable items from the newspaper over which he presides. 



It should be mentioned that the horse on which Mr. 

 Lycett Green is taken {7.<ide frontispiece) is Grey Dawn, 



