THE nOLDERNESS. 157 



V>mcr, and say, as Carter did, hounds ran best when it was 

 " dehided with water." 



For one season Holderness remained tenantless, and then, in 

 1841, Mr. Hodgson returned to his old love, and was associated 

 with Mr. Carrington in the mastership, but Mr. Hodgson again 

 carried the horn. Things did not, however, run smoothly, and 

 his partner tried his hand for a little time, but, not succeeding, 

 Oxtoby took hold of them for the remainder of the season, and 

 Sam Burkett, the earth-stopper, turned them to him. As may be 

 supposed, the subscriptions did not improve under such circum- 

 stances as these, and Mr. Hodgson having an appointment as 

 registrar of the West Eiding, he finally threw up the cap and 

 horn, and sold his horses and hounds. A committee was formed 

 by the late Sir Clifford Constable, the Hon. Mr. Constable 

 Maxwell (now Lord Herries), Mr. James Hall, of Scorborough, 

 and Mr. F. H. Reynard, of Sunderland wich, and they for four 

 seasons held the county. 



Then, in 1847, Mr. James Hall. took it on his own account, 

 and continued the mastership until his death in 1877, thus 

 having been at the helm for exactly thirty years. In his hands 

 the country regained its former prestige, though I doubt if so 

 many strangers have ever been found in it since, as came there to 

 hunt during Mr. Hodgson's first mastership. His first task was 

 of course to improve the pack, and he set about it by infusing 

 a strong dash of Burton and Grove blood, neither were the strains 

 of Belvoir, Brocklesby, and Mr. Hill's forgotten, and in time 

 he had as good a pack of hounds, both in work and on the flags, 

 as any man in England need wish to see. Stephen Goodall, 

 brother to Frank, now with the Queen's, was his first huntsman, 

 and he was succeeded by Will Berry, who had hunted the 

 Pytcliley under Lord Chesterfield, whom he always swore by, 

 though he always had a good word for Mr. Hall. In 1851, 

 Jack Backhouse succeeded Derry, and carried the horn until 

 1871. He was a heavyish man, and not quite so refined in 

 manner as huntsmen generally are in the present day, but a 



