ECHOES OF THE CHASE. 243 



Heal take our thoughts to the hunt of the wild 

 red-deer on Exmoor, where both Master and hunts- 

 man did so much for the sport. Of Mr Fenwick 

 Bisset even that good judge of hunting, the Rev. 

 John llussell, could find nothing to say but that 

 the sport he showed was equal to anything he 

 himself could remember " in the palmy days of 

 old, when ' the halls of Castle Hill rang merrily 

 wnth the w^assail of the hunters.' " Into the 

 quieter joys of the angler Mr Bisset seems not 

 to have entered. An all-round sportsman who 

 was once staying at a country house in Devon 

 with the Master of the staghounds, tells of some 

 rather characteristic work with the rod by the 

 latter. To some excellent trout-fishing owned by 

 their host the guests were invited, and Mr Bisset 

 took his place by the stream. Each trout that 

 came to the M.F.H.'s fly w^as summarily swung 

 out of the water over the impatient angler's 

 shoulder. At last his host could bear the sight 

 no longer and expostulated at a proceeding which 

 broke through all the sacred canons of the craft. 

 The only answer vouchsafed by the uninterested 

 sportsman in his deep voice was, " No time to 

 waste on these little beggars." 



Tom Firr's horn reminds us of a fine horseman, 

 and one who was so good in all phases of his work 

 that he may fairly be called the greatest huntsman 

 of modern times. Firr had a marvellous control 

 over his hounds and was always with them in the 

 field. But though no one made more brilliant casts 



