8 THE MASTER OF HOUNDS 



He rents a grouse moor in the Highlands ; his London 

 house and his ordinary country residence are conducted 

 on what the female novelist would term a princely 

 scale. Yet he is held up as a paragon of generosity 

 because he subscribes fifty guineas to the local pack of 

 hounds, while the poor man, who can only afford to 

 give his ten or fifteen guineas, is regarded as mean. It 

 may be argued that few men care to publish the 

 amount of their incomes, and that therefore a sliding 

 scale for hunting subscriptions would be impracticable ; 

 but we can form an estimate of the rate at which our 

 neighbours live, and their actual incomes are, or are 

 supposed to be, divulged to the Income-tax Commis- 

 sioners. 



Before I quit the subject of finance — I confess it 

 is a subject which I dislike, though, like many other 

 unpleasant subjects in this life, I have to discuss it — I 

 wish to ask the hunting millionaires, if they have ever 

 considered the expenses of a Master of Hounds. The 

 end of the 1902-1903 season witnessed many resigna- 

 tions of Mastership in spite of the fact that at the 

 beginning of the season there were thirty-seven 

 changes of Mastership in English fox-hunting estab- 

 lishments. Now, no Master of Hounds cares to plead 

 poverty, so that when he finds that his expenses have 

 been greater than he anticipated, he announces his 

 resignation of Mastership and the Hunt Committee 

 have to scour the country for a new Master. During 

 the last ten years we have been accustomed to see 

 in the advertisement columns of the Field this notice : 

 "Wanted. A Master of Hounds." Why not add, 



