MR. R. BOOTE AS A TYPICAL FOX-HUNTER. 189 



last four years of his life, besides giving valuable help on 

 the committee, and in connection with the Covert Fund, all 

 through his long hunting career. He was a downright 

 good sportsman of the olden style, and few better horsemen 

 have been seen in the North Stafford country. One of his 

 strong points was his quick start. The moment hounds 

 gave tongue he was on the alert, and the instant they were 

 off, so was he, knowing well the advantage of shaking off 

 the crowd at the first fence. He was proud of the pack, 

 and when a good thing came off, was in the habit of send- 

 ing a graphic account of it to the Staffordshire Advertiser 

 or the Field, under the nom de plume of " Pink," many of 

 which we have reprinted in this volume. His firm, which 

 consisted of his brother and himself, were specially noted 

 for their Parian ware, for which they gained a prize medal 

 at the Exhibition of 1851. It may be remarked of the 

 North Stafford Hunt that an exceptionally large propor- 

 tion of the members are actively engaged in business, the 

 proportion' of landowners pure and simple who hunt 

 being, in our opinion, unusually small. It has always 

 seemed to us that something of the geniality and good- 

 fellowship of this Hunt may be due to this cause. Men of 

 business come out hunting like schoolboys out for a holiday, 

 and their good spirits and enjoyment must tell, not only 

 as regards their own pleasure, but also to some extent must 

 affect that of their fellow-sportsmen. We mention this 

 matter here because we consider the late Mr. Boote a 

 typical illustration of our point. 



The following fuller account of the day's sport at Fair 

 Oak on December 11th, and another on the 14th at 

 Norton-in-Hales, is taken from the Staffordshire Advertiser 

 of December 19th, 1891 :— - 



NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE HOUNDS. 



On the 11th inst. this pack met at Fair Oak. The Bishop's Wood was the 

 first draw. Found almost directly hounds were put into covert, and, after a 

 turn round the big wood, went away on the Eccleshall side at a great pace, 

 leaving Blore Pipe and the Crate Wood, near Sugnall, some fields on the left, 

 and on through Bishops Offley for Lea Knowl and Park Mill. With Horsley on 

 the left, the hue was now straight for Wincote Wood ; through this cover and 



