88 THE MASTER OF HOUNDS 



THE DUKE OF BEAUFORT 



I do not think that I could conclude this chapter 

 more fitly than by recalling a few reminiscences of the 

 seventh Duke of Beaufort, father of the late Duke. 

 The fame of the late Duke, both as a writer on hunting 

 subjects and as an M.F.H., is so world-wide that 

 modern hunting-men may be excused for forgetting 

 the good services which his father rendered to "the 

 sport of kings." These services were rendered at a 

 time when the hereditary autocracy of the hunting- 

 field was being supplanted by the modern system of 

 subscription packs. His reign as an M.F.H, began 

 on November 23, 1835, when he succeeded to the title 

 on the death of his father, and lasted till he died on 

 November 17, 1853, though for three years prior to his 

 decease he had been unable to ride to hounds, owing 

 to rheumatic gout. Yet his science of hunting was so 

 correct that it was said of him that he could kill his 

 fox in a bath-chair. Certainly he was constantly in at 

 the death, when driving or being driven in his phaeton 

 behind his well-known pied horses. I heed hardly add 

 that his fox-hunting instincts were transmitted both to 

 his son and his grandson, the present Duke. 



John Henry Somerset, seventh Duke of Beaufort, 

 Marquis and Earl of Worcester, Earl of Glamorgan, 

 Viscount Grosmount, Baron Herbert of Chepstow, 

 Raglan, and Gower, Baron Beaufort of Caldecot Castle, 

 and Baron de Botetourt, K.G., was born on February 5, 



