188 THE NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE HOUNDS. 



which. .£397 were handed over to the Covert and Poultry 

 Fund. 



Mr. Richard Boote, of Shallowford House, whose 

 lamented death we have briefly referred to above, was a 

 good type of the North Staff*ordshire fox -hunter, a bold 

 horseman, and a hard rider to hounds ; no one enjoyed the 

 sport more, or saw more of a good gallop, and no one rode 

 with more pluck, or kept his nerve to the last better than 

 he did. He must have been hunting with the North 

 Stafibrd Hounds, from first to last, for something like fifty 

 years ; and though he was over seventy at the time of his 

 death, which happened in the summer of 1891, he rode to 

 hounds with as much pluck and vigour up to the end of his 

 career as the youngest member of the Hunt. From his 

 start, in 1842, he had been a hard-working man of business, 

 at the head of a well-known establishment at Burslem, 

 renowned for its manufacture of Parian and earthenware 

 and encaustic tiles ; and his two or three days a week with 

 hounds came to him as a most enjoyable holiday, no 

 member of the Hunt entering into the fun with more zest. 

 He was not one of your luxurious sportsmen, with two or 

 three horses out on the same day, but he always managed 

 to see sport, and to get to the end of a run with his one 

 horse at least as well as most of the field, and he liked a 

 gallop all the better when he saw others going as well as 

 himself ; he was a genial sportsman, popular with members 

 of the Hunt of every degree, and his loss was much 

 regretted. He had some good horses in his time, notably 

 Marquis, The Baron, Lord Randolph, and The Bishop, on 

 all of which he distinguished himself in many a good 

 gallop with these hounds. He was in the habit of saying, 

 " It isn't the horse, it's the man that counts ; " and though 

 he applied this to others rather than to himself, yet it had 

 its application in his case, for it did not seem to make 

 much diff'erence to him what his mount was, his place was 

 generally about the same — well in front. He was a very 

 staunch and liberal supporter of the Hunt, and did good 

 service as joint hon. secretary with Mr. Simpson for the 



