160 THE SPORT OF KINGS 



strong public feeling in favour of fox-hunting, and 

 is that no small matter, my masters ? You have 

 only to talk to a man who has seen a day or two's 

 good hunting in the days of his youth to find how 

 the hunting spirit lives and burns undyingly in 

 him who has ever mixed in the sport thoroughly, 

 be it in ever so small a manner. A couple of 

 instances occur to me. One is of a draper whom I 

 met some years ago. Strong was that man's opinion 

 in favour of fox-hunting. Equally strongly did 

 he protest against the folly of the Humanitarian 

 League in condemning the Royal Buckhounds, and 

 in the course of conversation it oozed out that in 

 the long ago he had enjoyed his day or two to 

 hounds, and he told with sparkling eyes of how he 

 had read in one of the sporting papers of a run 

 which was nearly identical with one he had ridden 

 in many years before with no small credit to him- 

 self. I asked him why he did not hunt now, and 

 he told me that he had never had a chance to keep 

 up his riding, and that now his nerve was gone. 

 But, he added, " I read every word of the Field, 

 and Land and Water, and the County Gentleman, 

 every word, that is, which relates to hunting." 

 The man is a wealthy man, and should he ever 

 purchase an estate there will be foxes in his coverts 

 and cherry brandy on his sideboard for fox-hunters. 

 The other gentleman, with whom I had a charming 

 conversation, was an actor, a man who had seen 

 men and cities, a man of wide experiences. Some- 

 how we got to talk of our boyish days and our 

 boyish escapades, and he told me of the sport he 

 had enjoyed in the long ago when Sir John Cope 

 hunted the country over which Mr. Garth pre- 

 sides. He had had a few days, and gone well on 



