EARLY HISTORY OF THE HUNT. 69 



twenty unexpected guests at his house, for whose coming he 

 was totally unprovided. It was a senseless joke at the best, 

 but Mr. Lloyd was the last man in the world who should 

 have been made the victim of it. 



Perhaps there was no man more fitted to take hold of a 

 newly-established pack of hounds, and rule over a newly- 

 formed country than Mr. George Lloyd, and it must have 

 cost him a considerable amount of money, as well as time 

 and trouble, for the subscription in his day only amounted to 

 one thousand three hundred pounds per annum. That every- 

 thing was done well, we have the testimony of so fastidious 

 a critic as ' Nimrod.' A long period under one master 

 means a great deal for any country, and more especially 

 to one which has only just been formed, so the York 

 and Ainsty Hunt owes much to the services of Mr. Lloyd, 

 who certainly placed it in the first rank amongst the hunts 

 of the day. In manners Mr. Lloyd was mild and courteous, 

 and it goes without saying that such a man was popular with 

 all classes of society. An anecdote is told of him that he 

 once particularly requested his field not to ride over certain 

 wheat fields which were near the coverts they were first 

 going to draw. A young farmer, and a very hard rider, at 

 once said that riding over wheat did it no harm, that he 

 should ride over any wheat that came in his way, and that 

 everyone was welcome to ride over his. The master replied 

 that no doubt the opinion he had expressed was correct, but 

 that every person did not think so, and he finished by 

 saying, ' I know you zvont ride over the wheat when I have 

 asked you to respect the owner's prejudices.' 



Mr. Lloyd, in his day, was one of the best men in 



Yorkshire, which is no small praise, and though in later life 



he rode some fifteen or sixteen stone, he was always with 



his hounds. He has left the name behind him of a keen 



sportsman, a genial, courteous gentleman, and a good master 



of hounds. . 

 I 



