274 COVEIIT-SIDE SKETCHES. 



pace, in more ways than one, quite distinct from his father, and, 

 if he could not ride up to them himself, liked the royal pack to 

 cut out plenty of work for those who could ; while no doubt he 

 would have not been quite so catholic in the matter of pedigree 

 when purchasing a hunter, for it is said of George III., that, 

 liaving bought a horse, the vendor tendered a slip of written 

 paper. "Eh! what's that?" inquired his Majesty; and, on 

 ^eing told it was the horse's pedigree, replied, " Keep it, my 

 good man; it will do for the next you sell." The owner of 

 Baronet, Escape, Maria, and others, would have viewed matters 

 in a different light. Nay, if he could not ride, he liked to have 

 first-class horses, only to show his friends, and did not stand 

 for price either. 



With the accession of Charles Davis to the horn, the Augus- 

 tan era of the royal stag-hounds commenced, and under the 

 mastership of such men as Lord Maryborough, the Earl of 

 Lichfield, Earl of Errol, Lord Kinnaird, Earl of Eosslyn, Lord 

 Chesterfield, Earl of Bessborough, and Earl of Sandwich, every- 

 thing was carried out as a royal establishment should be ; and 

 we may be sure Davis remembered his first master's injunction, 

 to breed them fast enough to run away from every one, as far 

 as he was able, and, on some occasions, we know that he pretty 

 well succeeded in so doing — in fact, the first half of his reign, 

 before railways had brought the London crowds to the meets, 

 was as near perfection as anything in connexion with hunting 

 a turned-out animal can be. Davis himself considered that the 

 nearer he approached to fox-hunting, the better was his sport, 

 and there is no doubt he was right. The consequence was that 

 many men, well known in the best hunting countries of England, 

 were to be found at his fixtures, and a meet of the royal 

 hounds meant, in that day, a gathering of some of the choicest 

 spirits that the hunting world could produce. 



William lY. never that I heard of hunted, and, being a 

 sailor, had probably little taste for the chase ; and our present 

 gracious Queen, of course, fine horsewoman as she is, was not 



