The Sport of Our <iAncestors 



laying the foundation of his great reputation among the 

 amateurs. Lord Willoughby de Broke was restoring to the 

 Warwickshire country the fame that it had once enjoyed in 

 the days of Mr. Corbet and Lord Middleton. Mr. Preston 

 Rawnsley was handHng his Foxes after many fine runs over 

 the wolds of Lincolnshire. Among the professional hunts- 

 men such men as Frank Gillard, Will Goodall, George 

 Carter, Frank Beers, Will Dale, and Nimrod Long were at 

 their very best. All these men seemed to have one thing 

 in common which may be worth noting, and it is this : each 

 of them brought to his profession a presence and personality 

 which will stamp them for ever in the memory of those who 

 knew them. There was nothing nondescript or insignificant 

 about any of them. Each of them would probably have been 

 a credit to any other walk of life. Some one may say that 

 brave men lived before Agamemnon, and that the preceding 

 generation had heroes as great as these. Our purpose is to 

 present the age in which they flourished as the Golden Age of 

 Fox-hunting, and we have mentioned their names to prove 

 that the period i860- 1885 will bear comparison with any 

 other in regard to famous masters and huntsmen. 



There remains to be considered the outlook of those 

 members of ' the governing classes ' who began this mortal 

 life at some time during the decade 1865- 1875. In a sense 

 they have had the most interesting life of all, packed with 

 experiences. Born to influence and prosperity, they have 

 witnessed many transitions. They have enjoyed the very 

 apotheosis of comfortable and luxurious England. They 

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