CRITICISMS OF HIS FOLLOWERS 145 



come out is to see a fox killed. We have not come 

 out to discuss local politics and the prospects of the 

 forthcoming Grand National, or to flirt with the wives 

 of our neighbours. Owing to a cause celebre, which 

 was enacted in the Law Courts at the end of T902, it 

 was seriously suggested that a Master of Hounds should 

 not permit flirtations to take place in the hunting-field. 

 All genuine hunting-men and hunting-ladies will agree 

 with me, that there is a time for hunting and a time 

 for making love. Besides, chattering magpies at covert- 

 side often prevent hounds working properly in coveit, 

 more especially if the covert be a small gorse. Yet, 

 where the lady is the principal culprit, and the man, 

 like our universal progenitor Adam, can prove that the 

 woman tempted him, few Masters care to exercise their 

 authority by commanding the culprits either to be 

 silent or go home. I believe, however, that I am 

 echoing the opinions of all hunting sportsmen, when 

 I say that it is their wish, as well as it is the wish of 

 the lady followers of hounds, that the Master should 

 make use of his autocratic power, in order to check the 

 frivolity of misplaced philandering. The Master may 

 retort, "How am I to check it?" If the lady has a 

 male relation in the hunting-field, the male relation 

 should be severely cautioned. But, in these days of 

 feminine independence, it constantly happens that the 

 lady is without any male chaperonage beyond that of 

 boys, who, to use an expression of the late Mr. Haweis, 

 are still in the early stages of vealy existence. Mr. 

 Finch Mason, in one of his humorous hunting sketches, 

 has depicted this type of lady surrounded by a throng 



