6 THE MASTER OF HOUNDS 



strangers, soliciting donations with collecting-boxes 

 swung round their necks, like the cadgers in a 

 procession of the unemployed ? Are they to ride 

 about with a receipt-book and pen and ink, like the 

 gentlemen who collect the King's taxes ? 



These questions may appear preposterous even to 

 the verge of absurdity ; but my argument is that the 

 " capping " system would prove to be in these days a 

 veritable rcductio ad ahsnrdtim. How is the stranger 

 to know who is authorised to receive his donation ? 

 An objector to the "capping" system has suggested to 

 me that its revival would open a field for fraudulent 

 collectors. Now, while I absolutely refuse to associate 

 fraud with the hunting-field, I can foresee that the 

 revival of the " capping " system would give rise to 

 many practical jokes. Moreover, I do not believe that 

 any gentlemen would care to undertake the duties of 

 " capping excisemen," or, in vulgar parlance, of debt 

 collectors. We must recollect that the man who rides 

 across country without subscribing to hounds or with- 

 out benefiting the occupiers of the land over which 

 he rides, who behaves like a supercilious snob towards 

 the farmers, and conceals an unsportsmanlike heart 

 beneath the pink garb provided by a confiding tailor, is 

 not likely to treat with respect the " capping excise- 

 man," even though the latter may be a peer of the 

 realm. 



But what will be the financial result of the " cap- 

 ping " system ? When a gentleman accepts the Master- 

 ship of Hounds, he expects a guarantee, or, at all 

 events, some statement in regard to the subscription 



