144 HISTORY OF THE YORK AND AINSTY HUNT. 



with characteristic energy and marked abiHty. For Colonel 

 Fairfax was not without experience as a master of hounds. 

 At Newton Kyme he had kept a pack of harriers with which 

 he had shown good sport, and as a breeder of hounds he had 

 already had some practice. He was a great believer in the 

 Belvoir blood, and was the first man who introduced it largely 

 into the ^'ork and Ainsty kennels, thus commencing that good 

 work which has been since carried out by Mr. Lycett Green 

 and Arthur Wilson. Colonel Fairfax was amongst the first 

 to recognise the merits of the Belvoir Fallible as a stud 

 hound, a fact which deserves to be put on record as showing 

 his fine judgment. He was, however, very bad to please 

 with hounds, and on occasion he drafted without mercy, 

 getting rid of hounds which many a master would be loth to 

 part with. Yet, after all, this is the only way to get a pack 

 of high-class foxhounds together, equally good on the flags 

 and in the field. On one occasion Mr. Hornsey begged 

 a couple of draft hounds for a friend who had a pack of 

 harriers, and to his great surprise Colonel Fairfax sent him 

 three couples, their only fault being that they were scarcely 

 up to his standard for height. It was a very different looking 

 pack that he left to his successor to what he had taken over, 

 a fact which was chiefly due to the introduction of Belvoir 

 blood, and the courage with which drafting operations were 

 carried out ; and it is perhaps not too much to repeat what 

 I have said on a former occasion, that during the time he 

 was master he did more to improve the character of the 

 pack than anyone else who had held the reins of office. 



Colonel Fairfax hunted his own hounds, which were 

 turned to him by Truman Tuff and Jim Trivick, the former 

 of whom was kennel huntsman. As a huntsman he was 

 remarkably quick, and few could beat him at getting away 

 on the back of his fox. Fine horsemen have been conspicuous 

 amongst the masters of the York and Ainsty, and Colonel 



