146 THE MASTER OF HOUNDS 



of youthful admirers, when she is greeted by the 

 Master with the remark, " Cubhunting as usual ! " 

 But we cannot expect that every Master of Hounds 

 should be an accomplished satirist, or should carry a 

 pocket "Juvenal" about with him, from which to trans- 

 late appropriate extracts as the occasion demands. 



" Semper ego auditor tantum ? Nunquamne reponam ? " 



Certainly it is not pleasant to hear a man abuse a 

 woman in lurid language, however much the woman 

 may deserve it ; yet I have heard Masters, who in 

 private life were the most refined gentlemen that the 

 King could wish to see at his Court, soundly rate ladies 

 in the hunting-field, who were spoiling sport by their 

 foolish conduct. As the arguments in regard to ladies 

 in the hunting-field are fully discussed elsewhere, it is 

 unnecessary for me to make any further allusion to the 

 subject in this chapter. 



There have been many complaints during the last 

 ten years, that much useless expense is incurred in the 

 " turn-out " of a Hunting establishment, and that more 

 attention is paid to the " pomp and circumstance " of 

 the hunting-field than is paid to the actual sport of 

 killing a fox. The controversy, which was raging in 

 the sporting papers at the end of 1902, in reference to 

 dress in the hunting-field, proved that, to use theatrical 

 language, more regard is paid to the scenic arrange- 

 ments than to the actual acting. Mr. Rawdon Lee, 

 in his work on " Modern Sporting Dogs," tells us 

 that often hounds, which have been drafted in order 

 to make room for the fresh entries, are sold to 



