2 THE MASTER OF HOUNDS 



the point of view of scent, though many of us consider 

 the proudest moment of our Hves that time when the 

 huntsman daubed our cheeks before presenting us with 

 the brush. I wonder what the modern exquisite, who 

 never saw hounds till he was twenty years of age, would 

 say, if he were suddenly ''blooded" ! At all events, I 

 doubt whether he would consider it an honour. He 

 would more probably anathematise the custom as a 

 relic of the barbarous ages. Not only have the manners 

 of the hunting-field changed, but a new class of hunt- 

 ing-people has arisen, ^who hunt not from any love 

 of sport, but because they consider that it is the 

 swagger thing to do. I allude to these people in 

 another chapter, where I have emptied the vials of 

 my wrath. Still, there can be no doubt that this 

 influx of strangers has made it an imperative neces- 

 sity that alterations should be made in the manage- 

 ment of a Hunt. We, who have been accustomed 

 to hunt under the old regime, may resent the altera- 

 tions ; but, as an M.F.H. lately said to me, we must 

 do one of two things : we must have the altera- 

 tions, or by fair means or foul we must expel the 

 strangers from the hunting-field. Now the second 

 alternative is a practical impossibility, unless we 

 adopted the " ragging " methods which have dis- 

 graced certain of our regiments in the Army, and 

 which, if put into force in the hunting-field, would be 

 so many stones placed in the hands of the enemies 

 of hunting to hurl at us. We must, therefore, accept 

 the alterations which Masters of Hounds and Hunt 

 Committees may think it necessary to make, though, 



