72 REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN 



the increase of cultivation and building — railways had not then 

 begun — made it very evident to me that, if I kept hounds, it must 

 no longer be in my father's country. I had held it as long as a man 

 could hold it mider the influence of old associations, and I felt 

 convinced that the thing, as far as comfort went, was at an end. 

 It takes a man some time to break through old associations, 

 and to leave the vicinity of long-known friends, and it went to 

 my heart to quit Cranford ; however, having for some time 

 become what the world calls "settled in life" — it's a funny 

 term, and not always an apt one, for my observation goes to 

 show that marriage more frequently unsettles than settles, a 

 not very unlikely fact when two opinions rule instead of one — 

 having become settled, as the saying is, and not so fond of balls 

 and parties as I used to be, though still very fond of society, I 

 came to the determination of keeping foxhounds ; the farther 

 from London and the wilder the country the better. No 

 country at first offered, but one day, in London, in conversation 

 with Lord Clanwilliam, he told me that the present Duke of 

 Bedford, at that time Lord Tavistock, had ceased to keep the 

 Oakley hounds, and that at present there was a vacancy. At 

 my request Lord Clanwilliam spoke to Lord Tavistock, and at 

 last I arrived at the following facts. There had been a differ- 

 ence in Bedfordshire between Lord Tavistock and what was 

 called the Oakley Club, and when his lordship declared that he 

 would hunt the country no longer, and that he would sell his 

 hounds, the Oakley Club denied his right to sell them, and 

 seemed inclined to dictate in the matter. Loi'd Tavistock 

 soon vindicated his absolute possession of the pack by selling 

 them ; and when I heard of the vacancy, the Oakley Club were 

 sulking at the assertion of his lordship's just prerogative, and 

 the landed interest of the county, from the Duke of Bedford 

 down to the smallest landed proprietor, over whose co\ers I 

 subsequently presided, viewed ^^•ith dislike a great deal that 

 they had seen, and still saw, in the conduct of the Oakley 

 Club. 



This was an unsatisfactory state of things to a man seeking 



