142 THE NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE HOUNDS. 



" Minutes of a meeting of the North Staffordshire Hunt Committee, held at 

 Trentliam Hall on July 29th, 1886. Present: Marquis of Stafford, Colonel R. 

 Buller, R. N. Wood, B. Fitzherbert, E. A. Ridgway, E. A. Shaw, C. J. Blagg, 

 AV. E. Bowers, J. Peake, R. Boote, and W. Fitzherbert-Brockholes. 



" Lord Stafford announced that he would be absent from England for some 

 months, and expressed his wish that Mr. Fitzherbert-Brockholes should act as 

 ^Master during his absence. This arrangement was agreed to. 



" Proposed by Mr. Boote, seconded by Mr. Blagg, and carried, that the 

 business of collecting subscriptions be managed by a sub-committee, and that Mr. 

 A. Simpson be appointed hon. secretary to the Subscription Committee, i.e. 

 W. Fitzherbert-Brockholes, J. E. Heathcote, R. Boote, C. Tayleur, C. J. Blagg, 

 and J. Peake. 



" Resolved that, on behalf of the North Staffordshire Hunt, this meeting 

 tenders its best thanks to Mr. Bowers for his offer of making a new gorse at Nobnt, 

 near Leigh, and that it be accepted." 



We are reminded by the first paragraph above quoted 

 that this was the year in which Lord and Lady Stafford 

 started for their tour round the world, which occupied 

 them from the l^eginning of October, 1886, to the follow- 

 ing June, of course involving to them the loss of the 

 hunting season of 1886-87. We have refreshed our 

 memory by again referring to the charming little volume 

 which Lady Stafford wrote and published some time after 

 her return, under the title, " How I spent my Twentieth 

 Year." This pleasant, unaffected journal is illustrated 

 with a number of sketches from nature, and portraits 

 engraved from Lady Stafford's drawings. We must resist 

 the temptation to quote largely from this attractive book 

 — for is it not open to all readers ? — but one short extract 

 from the last page we may be pardoned, perhaps, for re- 

 producing here. Lady Stafford is writing up her journal 

 on board the Servia, in the early morning of June 26th, 

 1887, when nearing Queenstown, and uses these words : 



" I stood on the bridge, not at midnight, but on this fairest of fair morn- 

 ings, and the remembrance of all our long journey, with its pleasures and lessons 

 and shortcomings, came over me — a time all too quickly sped. May God grant 

 our lives to be ever as blessed as thej' have been in the last nine months." 



The writer feels assured that there will be very few 

 amongst his readers — and none amongst North Stafford 

 fox -hunters — who will not heartily re-echo Lady Stafford's 

 prayer. 



It will be remembered that Mr. Fitzherbert-Brockholes, 



