1 82 THE SPORT OF KINGS 



for the amount of money which was expended, the 

 recipients of the presents got good value ; some of 

 the principal tradesmen in the district were good 

 sportsmen, and gave the hunt the privilege of 

 wholesale prices, so many a worthy lady found 

 herself the owner of a black silk dress which cost 

 the hunt some £2 or ^3 less than she would have 

 had to give for it. This system answered well 

 when times were good, and when the hunt and 

 the men who hunted were, with a few trifling ex- 

 ceptions, farmers, and the friends and relatives of 

 those whose poultry had been tithed. Such a 

 system could not prevail when fields began to in- 

 crease in size, when men wanted another day a 

 week, and when, as a consequence, the stock of 

 foxes increased. Indeed, everything tended to the 

 change which eventually became inevitable. 



Yet they were cheery times, those of which I 

 speak. During the summer most of the hounds, 

 with the exception of the entry, were out at 

 quarters, and they were generally gathered in 

 about the first week in August. Early cub-hunt- 

 ing was unknown, and seldom did hounds take 

 the field before the last week in September or the 

 first in October. By that time they had got licked 

 into shape, though occasionally there was a little 

 wildness amongst the younger of them. The 

 Master hunted the hounds himself, and though 

 I have seen many a huntsman in my time, I don't 

 think I ever saw a better man, especially in a 

 woodland country. He kept two horses for his 

 own riding, and one for his - whipper-in, who was 

 always a youngster who had to do the horses as 

 well as look after the kennel, though he had a man 

 to help him. This whipper-in was always a light 



