THE CRITICS OF 189 



MAJOR WHYTE-MELVILLE 



The name of Whyte-Melville is so familiar, not only 

 to hunting people but to everybody who takes an 

 interest in English literature, that it would seem im- 

 possible to write anything concerning his life which is 

 not already known to the reading public. As soldier, 

 novelist, poet, and sportsman his name stands out in 

 bold relief. Yet, though many of his old comrades in 

 the chase are alive, his biography has never been 

 written in volume form. Perhaps a long biography is 

 not necessary, for Major Whyte-Melville lived with us 

 in his novels and in his poems. He used to say that 

 the two great objects of his life were "the pigskin 

 and the pen," and he devoted his days to hunting and 

 his evenings to literary work. Although during his 

 life he had a larger share of the aliqiiid amari, than 

 falls to the lot of most men, he only made one enemy, 

 namely, the manufacturer of barbed wire. His lines : 



" And bitter the curses you launch in your ire 

 At the villain who fenced his enclosure with wire," 



are the only words which I have been able to discover 

 that he ever penned in a vindictive spirit. 



It was on December 5, 1875, that the death ol 

 Whyte-Melville occurred, while he was hunting with 

 the V.W.H. Hounds. It is no exaggeration to say that 

 the event was regarded as a public calamity. At first 

 it could hardly be credited that so good a rider, a man 



