CAPPING 16 1 



occasions, so well that once Sir John gave him the 

 brush. Need I say that that brush is a happier 

 memory to him than the rounds of well-merited 

 applause which greeted his most finished per- 

 formances. Since his early youth he has had no 

 opportunity of hunting, but his heart is in it. 

 Now need it be asked that such men as these form 

 a healthy public opinion respecting the sport of 

 sports, and help to keep the fin-de-siecle Chad- 

 bands and Stigginses in their places. 



But it may be asked, How are the sinews of 

 war to be provided ? How are men to be induced 

 to pay their proper quota to the hunt funds ? I 

 am very much afraid that there are some men who 

 will never be induced to do what they ought to do 

 in this direction. From the first they are hopeless. 

 But with fields increasing and expenses increasing 

 something must be done, and there seems to be a 

 general disposition to revive the old system of 

 " capping." Against this, if it be done tactfully, I 

 have no objection whatever. It has been suggested 

 that a guinea should be asked for from every man 

 who is not a member of an established hunt, save, 

 of course, the farmers ; but I am inclined to think 

 this is too heavy. A guinea is a lot to give for 

 a blank day. With a pack of staghounds near 

 a town it may be found to answer to adopt such a 

 plan, but a heavy " cap " with foxhounds is to be 

 deprecated. Then it has been mooted that all men 

 not members of the hunt should be asked for a 

 guinea. But a guinea, or even half a guinea, is, I 

 take it, too much to exact from strangers, many of 

 whom, perhaps, do more for hunting in proportion 

 to their means than some members of the hunt 

 they are visiting. Let me put a case. A man 



M 



