I50 THE MASTER OF HOUNDS 



given ;^26. After the run he sold the horse to Lord 

 Clonbrook for ;^400. Of Captain John White, 

 familiarly known as " Black White," a poem was 

 published from which I quote four lines : 



" Says he, ' Young men of Manchester and Liverpool draw near, 

 I've just a word, a warning word, to whisper in your ear 1 

 When starting from the covert, should you see bold reynard 



bust, 

 We cannot have no hunting, if the gemmen go fust.' " 



But I do not think that Captain John White conveyed 

 his warnings in the mild language with which the poet 

 re-edited him. I have quoted the lines, however, to 

 illustrate a complaint which regular subscribers to 

 Hounds and tenant-farmers often make against the 

 Master. By a curious coincidence this complaint has, 

 at the beginning of the 1 902-1903 season, been made 

 by the Cheshire farmers at the Nantwich Farmers' 

 Club. The complaint is not that the "young men of 

 Manchester and Liverpool " are, to use hunting par- 

 lance, " thrusting scoundrels," but that they do un- 

 necessary damage to the land by their thoughtlessness 

 and ignorance of the rudiments of agriculture. Let it 

 be clearly understood that I am not lodging this accu- 

 sation solely against the Manchester and Liverpool 

 sportsmen who hunt in Cheshire, for the accusation is 

 applicable to all over-zealous, ignorant riders who do 

 not reside in the country. I am alluding to the men 

 who ride helter-skelter over the land, without any 

 regard to the harm they may do to the occupier. 

 Growing crops are an unknown quantity to them. 

 To break down fences and hurdles by needlessly 



