so THE MASTER OF HOUNDS 



when he purchased the hounds from Mr. John Warde 

 for ;^iooo, till 1817, resigning the Mastership in the 

 latter year in favour of his old friend, Sir Charles 

 Knightley, owing to a bad fall which he sustained in a 

 run from Brampton Wood in November. As an 

 enthusiastic sportsman, I do not believe that Lord 

 Althorp has ever been surpassed in the hunting-field. 

 Eight months out of the twelve he spent in Northamp- 

 tonshire, and during the cub-hunting season resided 

 for weeks at a cottage at Brigstock, which he shared 

 with Sir Charles Knightley, so as to be near to kennels. 

 Though he was far from being a good horseman, he 

 was an excellent judge of hounds and introduced into 

 his kennels a lighter and quicker build of hound than 

 had been seen before. At first the innovation was un- 

 popular. Mr. John Warde had been in favour of big 

 hounds, especially for the woodlands. But Lord 

 Althorp soon convinced his followers that his opinion 

 was the correct one, such good judges as Sir David 

 Baird and Lord Alvanley being attracted to the Pytchley 

 to learn a lesson from the Master. We must remember, 

 however, that Lord Althorp spent from ;^40oo to 

 ^^5000 per annum on his hunting establishment during 

 his Mastership, and he must have met with failures as 

 well as successes in hound-breeding. 



His greatest admirers admit that he was a clumsy 

 man on a horse. Both Sir Denis Le Marchant and 

 Mr. Ernest Myers state this, and Lord Althorp knew it 

 to be the case. He put his shoulder out so often that 

 he sent one of his whippers-in to the Northampton 



