36 THE MASTER OF HOUNDS 



are strange. Many of the farmers, both yeoman 

 farmers and tenant farmers, consider their farms as 

 their natural and legal inheritance. For many genera- 

 tions their forefathers have farmed the same land. 

 They may be ultra-Conservative, or Tory, in their ideas. 

 They may object to the modern agricultural machinery, 

 which has driven the rural population of England into 

 the slums of manufacturing towns. They may be 

 foolish, because they cling to the traditions of their 

 ancestors. But we have the indisputable fact that 

 they regard fox-hunting as their ancestral sport. In 

 Staffordshire, Cheshire, Shropshire, and Worcester- 

 shire, there are farmers now whose ancestors have 

 occupied the land for more than three hundred years, 

 the occupancy descending from generation to genera- 

 tion. Should this statement be disputed by any of my 

 readers, I could give the names, in confidence, of the 

 farmers to whom I have alluded. I may say that the 

 pedigree of one farmer dates back to tnc Saxon Hep- 

 tarchy, and I had to trace it in the Black Letter records 

 at the British Museum. 



But is it the duty of the Master of Hounds to 

 adjudicate between the yeoman or tenant farmer and 

 the swell snob ? I maintain that it is the duty of the 

 Master of Hounds to keep his field in order, and to see 

 that the farmers, upon whom he and his followers 

 depend for their sport, are not insulted. We have 

 lifty-two Masters of Foxhounds in England, who act 

 as their own huntsmen, out of one hundred and sixty- 

 four recognised packs. I do not wish to express any 

 opinion, from the sporting point of view, about this 



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