MR. EDWARD FAIRFAX STUDD 139 



leave the kennel ; and Mr. ^Mlidbo^ne's outraged 

 feelings induced him to announce that he could not 

 continue in partnership with anyone capable of such 

 a lapse from the path of sporting rectitude. 



Ultimately, through the good offices of Lord Haldon 

 and Mr. Studd's ready acceptance of the judgment 

 passed upon him (unaccompanied, it is to be feared, 

 by either inward sense or outward sign of contrition), 

 the matter was smoothed over, and a settlement was 

 arrived at under which Mr. Studd was to continue to 

 hunt the Haldon side alone, Mr. "\Miidborne under- 

 taking to hunt the Newton side -svith a separate pack. 

 Each pack to hunt two days a week, Mr. Wiidborne 

 on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and Mr. Studd on 

 Mondays and Thursdays. 



Here I should like to pause for a moment, and to 

 ask the question : " Was Mr. Studd's action in 

 miming a stag so unquestionably a breach of any 

 rule, usage, or custom governing the sport of fox- 

 hunting, as it was at the time universally considered 

 to be ? " In the first place, it is not a question of 

 hunting law. Hunting law, properly so called, only 

 arises where the rights or interests of more than one 

 pack are concerned. Neither, it seems to me, does 

 usage or custom come in, for such, to be of any 

 authority, must be general in application or accept- 

 ance, and we know that the wild red deer exist only 

 in two special localities, namely, in and around the 

 forest of Exmoor and in the New Forest. Without 

 a doubt, a man is entitled to keep a pack to hunt 

 either fox, hare or fallow deer : equally without a 

 doubt, a master of a recognized pack of foxhounds 

 would break an accepted rule of foxhunting who 

 allowed his hounds to hunt what to them is ordinary 

 riot, such as hare or fallow deer. But does the rule 



