142 COVERT-SIDE SKETCHES. 



patience, as those who saw him ride the good-looking Mousetrap 

 at Malton can testify. As a huntsman, he was acknowledged 

 to stand quite at the top of the tree ; and the prizes he gained 

 at the great Yorkshire shows speak volumes in his favour as a 

 kennel huntsman and hound-breeder. There is no doubt, at the 

 time of his death, he had some of the best hounds in England 

 on his benches ; and few people have ever shown three such 

 young hounds of one litter as IS'estor, Nosegay, and Kovelty, 

 with which he carried off the chief prizes at Wetherby. Strange 

 to say, they were also as good in their work as in appearance. 

 In fact, he never sacrificed, as too many do, the working 

 qualities for mere looks, and no more honest pack ever went 

 into the field than his ; yet, when he took to them, report 

 says the York and Ainsty were anything but a brilliant lot. 

 Sir Charles was a man in a million ; he detested flattery, and 

 was almost cold to any one who paid him compliments. He 

 was never excited, and when he had killed his fox, after a 

 very good run, he would simply say that it was a good 

 thing. In the field he was courteous in the extreme, and 

 even at times allowed them to press a little too closely on 

 him when the scent was bad." 



From the same source I must give his melancholy end : — 

 " On the 4th of February the hounds met at Stainley, and 

 found at Monckton Whin, from whence they had a good hunt- 

 ing run to the Ure, opposite Newby Hall, where the river is 

 crossed by a ferry-boat, the private property of Lady Mary 

 Vyner, which was worked on the occasion by two gardeners, 

 named James and Christopher Warriner, and Avas entered by 

 Sir Charles Slingsby, Sir George Wombwell, Messrs. Vyner, 

 Lloyd, Eobinson, and some officers then quartered at York, 

 besides Orvis, the first whip, thus crowding the boat with more 

 horses than it was intended to carry, and the current from the 

 floods was unusually strong at the time. Lord Downe and 

 several others declined to enter, and one gentleman leaped back 



