460 HUNTING. 



the best among the former have been scarcely able 

 to read ; and there have been but few Csesars who 

 could fight and write ; but a good understanding 

 is put to the test by both the one and the other ; 

 and although we do not mean to place the servile 

 situation of a huntsman on a level with the hon- 

 ourable profession of the soldier, each requires, in 

 a high degree, a good, sound understanding, and a 

 manly exertion of talent. 



But the office of huntsman to fox-hounds is not 

 always intrusted to servile hands. It has long 

 been the ambition of masters of packs to hunt their 

 own hounds ; and although the fashion has become 

 more prevalent within the last thirty years than it 

 was in the earlier days of fox-hunting, yet we could 

 bring forward some instances of what are called 

 gentlemen-huntsmen of pretty long standing. His 

 Grace the Duke of Cleveland, and the late Sir 

 Richard Puleston, Bart., each hunted his own 

 hounds for nearly forty years ; and the late Wil- 

 liam Leche, Esq., of Carden-Hall, Cheshire, was 

 his own huntsman for an equally long period. 

 Coming next to them in chronological order, stand 

 Messrs. Ralf Lambton, Musters, Thomas Assheton 

 Smith, Lord Segrave, Sir Bellingham Graham, 

 Bart., Mr. Osbaldeston, Mr. Nicoll, the Earl of 

 Kintore, Mr. Hodgson, Mr. Smith, late of the 

 Craven, Mr. Folyambe, Sir Richard Sutton, Vis- 

 count Kelburne, Lord Elcho, Lord Ducie, the 

 Honourable Grantley Berkeley, and a few of a 

 more recent date. There can be no doubt that 

 no man enjoys hunting to perfection equally with 



