282 COVERT-SIDE SKETCHES. 



simple, have done in Goodall's case, and he has had to bear 

 his share of the fierce light which beats upon a throne with a 

 vengeance, since he has taken the royal horn. The best 

 answer that could be given to the calumniators is the success 

 that attended the trip of the royal buck-hounds into the Cottes- 

 more country on April 10th, 1877, when the best of Leicester- 

 shu'B, Eutlandshire, and Northamptonshire, assembled to greet 

 the man who was formerly such a favourite amongst them. The 

 country was deep, the line a strong one, and 



Sad and fearful was the story of the hunt in Leicestershire ; 

 On that fatal field of glory met full many a dashing squire. 



And fatal indeed it proved to the pretensions of many 

 amongst them to hold the pride of place, for deer and hounds 

 had the best of them throughout. Goodall and his pack showed 

 that — given a fair field and no favour — they could well hold their 

 own with the pick of the shires hard on their track, and 

 blown, tired, or lame, was the verdict passed on many a 

 gallant steed whose rider had tried to live with them in vain. 

 After this the querulous carpings of those who hunt with the 

 only national pack, and, having nothing to pay, take it out in 

 grumbling, may well be passed over. In fact, the men who 

 honoured Davis are passed away, and those who seek a little 

 transient notoriety at the expense of others have usurped their 

 place (the only notoriety they are ever likely to get), and the 

 post of Queen's huntsman is by no means one to be coveted in 

 the present day. 



