34 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT 



I have also seen it stated that at one time he 

 lived at Spitchwick. But one has only to glance 

 through the list of his fixtures ^ to see that from 

 no one of the three places named could he have 

 hunted the country he did. My own impression, 

 derived from the fact that Sir Walter Carew's diary, 

 presently referred to, covers the whole of King's 

 mastership, is that the pack was then kennelled at 

 Haccombe. This, however, is purely conjecture. 



It has repeatedly been stated in print that Sir 

 Walter Carew was George Templer's immediate 

 successor in the mastership. The assertion probably 

 had its origin in a footnote to Templer's Farewell 

 to My Old Horn, which states that the following 

 verse was — as no doubt it was in fact — an allusion 

 to Sir Walter Carew : 



" I, too, the fading wreath resign, 

 For friends and fame are fleeting. 

 Around his bolder brow to twine 

 Where younger blood is beating." 



But, whatever its origin, the statement is not correct, 

 inasmuch as King's two seasons' mastership inter- 

 vened between those of Templer and Carew. This 

 we know for certain from Sir Walter Carew's own 

 hunting journal, where he tells us that " Mr. King 

 kept the hounds the first two seasons (1827-8 and 

 1828-9) contained in this list ; I took the country 

 and commenced hunting it in 1829." 



Quite accidentally I stumbled on what I think is 

 the explanation of Templer's allusion to Sir Walter 

 as his successor. In recent conversation, the late 

 Reginald Templer, a nephew of George Templer, 

 mentioned casually that the Farewell was written 



1 See p. 36. 



