2 2 In Scarlet and Silk 



nearly all the members of the reigning 

 house are well-known figures in the hunting 

 field. 



When we look back at our past hunting 

 life, what difiiculty we experience in deter- 

 mining which country we think is actually 

 the best we have ever ridden over. I have 

 never been fortunate enough to follow our 

 premier pack, the Quorn — which, by the way, 

 has in Lord Lonsdale, its present Master, one 

 of the hardest and best men I ever saw cross 

 a country — but in my own small experience 

 I hardly know which to give the preference 

 to. Sometimes I think the fine pastures and 

 flying fences of the Grafton, or the Pytchley, 

 or the eminently "jumpable" tract hunted 

 by the Bicester; anon, that the Blackmoor 

 Vale's big doubles, or Leighton or Ayles- 

 bury's galloping country, aff'orded me the 

 most real pleasure. All were superlatively 

 good in their several ways ; and, of course, 

 it depends so much upon how one was 

 mounted as to the exact measure of en- 

 joyment one extracted from the difi'erent 



