i68 FOX-HUNTING IN THE SHIRES 



fox, no fence or pace would prevent the Master from 

 being in his right place to hold back a too eager field 

 at the first check. Lord Spencer was nearly always 

 at hand to support his huntsman during the run. 

 Unfortunately after each too short period of master- 

 ship Lord Spencer was obliged to resign. On the 

 first occasion this was on account of health, and later 

 in response to a call from his political chief for his 

 services. But, like Lord Althorp, his heart was 

 always with the hunt, and I have heard that when 

 in office he was always pleased to turn aside to hear 

 of the doings of the Pytchley. 



Lord Spencer is an example of that strenuousness 

 in work and play which is so characteristic of English- 

 men, and so unintelligible to other nations : " Leurs 

 sports qui n'etaient peut-etre apres tout qu'une forme 

 aristocratique de la paresse," says M. Brunetiere ; 

 and again, writing of the way that Englishmen throw 

 themselves into sport, " Vous etes-vous demandes de 

 quelle occupation apres quelques heures de cet exercise 

 un honnete homme pouvait etre capable ? Toute 

 une categoric d' Anglais ne travaille vraiment qu'a 

 jouer, mais il est vrai qu'en revanche elle s'y fatigue 

 epouvantablement." Yet the late Master of the 

 Pytchley is but one example out of many in the Mid- 

 lands of men who work and play equally hard. Lord 

 Spencer not only brought the field into order, but 

 he endeavoured to improve the hounds, and laid the 

 foundation on which his successor, Mr. W. H. 

 Wroughton, and his huntsman, Isaacs, have raised 

 the pack, the improvement of which is marked by 

 its successes at Peterborough and by the beautiful 

 and musical hounds that take the field. 



For the sake of convenience I have taken Lord 

 Spencer's three periods of mastership together. But 



