144 THE MASTER OF HOUNDS 



sinecure. At the commencement of the twentieth 

 century there is not a single Master of Hounds, who 

 could, by the utmost elasticity of social scandal, be 

 accused of living out of the hounds. It has been stated 

 that a Hunt conducted on modern lines is similar to a 

 limited liability company, in which the subscribers are 

 the shareholders, while the Master of Hounds is the 

 managing director. The similitude is erroneous if we 

 regard the position from a commercial point of view. 

 The managing director of a limited liability company 

 receives a salary. He is paid for his services, whether 

 they be good, bad, or indifferent, on a regular scale. 

 He derives his income from the company, of which 

 confiding shareholders have made him the managing 

 director. 



As a shareholder in that gigantic business " English 

 Fox-hunting Limited," I wish to lodge a protest against 

 the opinion that the Master of Hounds is merely the 

 managing director of a local horse-breeding, agri- 

 cultural business. Certainly, in the case of fifty 

 packs of fox-hounds in England, the M.F.H. is out 

 of pocket to the extent of £ioqo pounds a year. In 

 the case of one pack the expense amounted to 

 ;;^70oo a year. I allude to the Badminton Hunt, when 

 under the Mastership of the late Duke of Beaufort. 

 But the Duke of Beaufort received no subscription 

 and conducted his hunting establishment upon a scale 

 of lavish expenditure. Lavish expenditure, however, 

 cannot be regarded as a necessity. The first duty 

 of a Master of Hounds is to show good sport. The 

 ostensible object for which we, his followers, have 



