72 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT 



He was an undeniably good man, but found more 

 than his match in Tom Lane, whom he could never 

 beat. The latter had some good horses, and, among 

 them, two in particular which he bought in the rough 

 and made himself. They turned out excellent per- 

 formers, and his friend. Captain Haworth, offered 

 what, in those days, was considered a fancy price for 

 the two. But Lane would not part, and on one of 

 them, called Vingt-et-un, he won several steeple- 

 chases in days when steeplechasing was far different 

 from the artificial sport it is to-day. At that time 

 not a fence was trimmed, not a bank made up, the 

 course being a natural one. Tom Lane's old friend 

 Sir Walter Carew also lent him one or two of his best 

 hunters with an injunction to ride his best " for the 

 honour of Devon." 



Besides being a hard rider, Mr. Lane was a fine 

 horseman. He was getting on in years when I saw 

 him in the hunting field in the early 'eighties, some 

 thirty or more years after he had given up the hounds. 

 But his figure was as neat and as spare as that of a 

 young man ; he sat his horse with an easy firmness 

 that betokened the finished horseman ; and he had 

 beautiful hands. 



That the pack officially retained the name " The 

 Devon Foxhounds " throughout Lane's mastership 

 is clear from the hound list for his last season, 

 1848-9, which will be found at the end of this 

 chapter, and this is confirmed, if confirmation is 

 necessary, by the statement of his daughters, Mrs. 

 Rudge and Mrs. Rawes, who assure me that he never 

 changed that title. Nevertheless, it would seem to 

 be during Mr. Lane's tenure of office that the pack 

 first came to be known or spoken of, popularly at 

 any rate, as the " South Devon." This is shewn by 



