CHAPTER II. 



The Opening Meet at Cloutsham — The Concourse on 

 Cloutsham Ball — The Parade in the Field — 

 Notable Figures — The Master and his Staff — 

 Kennelling at Cloutsham Farm — The Day's Pro- 

 ceedings — The Taking of the Stag. 



Much has been 

 written, and that 

 by many an able 

 pen, of the great 

 annual gathering 

 that takes place 

 on a little rounded 

 hill - top between 

 Dunkery and the 

 fertile vale of 

 Holnicote, when 

 for one day, at 

 least, in all the year " everybody who is any- 

 body" within half a county's length makes picnic 

 upon this spot that has seen the Devon and 

 Somerset Staghounds in all their glory from such 

 time as the memory of living man runneth not 

 to the contrary. One of the chief reasons of the 

 unfailing popularity of the opening meet is doubt- 

 less to be found in the fact that it affords the 



