i888. 361 



* But it will not last, you know,' was the next 

 suggestion, ' as new generations of landowners 

 will arise, and farmers will get mixed up and 

 altered.' I can scarcely say wliether some of 

 this prophesying has been realised in eighteen 

 years, or whether there are any indications that 

 it will be so, but most certainly the outward 

 signs are that the Blackmore Vale Hunt has 

 prospered, and that it is still favoured by the 

 same happy conditions. 



" Dorsetshire has been a wonderful country 

 for what may be termed the capacities of hunting, 

 as both Mr. Farquharson and Mr. Drax could 

 never believe they had country enough ; and that 

 they begrudged giving up any is very well 

 known. This was the existing state of things 

 between fifty and sixty years ago, when Mr. Drax 

 had succeeded Mr. Yeatman as the Master of the 

 B.V., and Mr. Grove hunted the Cranborne 

 Chase country ; but, like Mr. Noel's Leicester- 

 shire country, it was subsequently seen that each 

 Master had considerably too much, and there was 

 enough for six packs to hunt, each on an average 

 four days a week. The Blackmore Vale in Mr. 



