Chapter III 



The Rev. Cecil Legard — An Old Yorkshire Family — They Fight for the Royalists 

 — Mr. Legard at College — A Steeplechase — Disapproval of the Dons — A 

 Bad-tempered Chaser — Hunting with Hugo Meynell — A Wedding on Con- 

 ditions — The Sale of a Pack of Hounds — Planting Coverts at Brocklesby — 

 The Length of Masterships — The Living of Cottesbrooke — Hunting with the 

 Pytchley — "Time Expired" — Judging at Peterborough and Dublin — Mr. 

 Legard Compiles the Foxhound Kennel Stud Book — A Misunderstood Joke — 

 Manners in the Hunting Field — The Rev. E. A. Milne, M.F.H. — Addresses 

 his Field — Hunts in Pink — His Daughters out Hunting — The Rev.L. B. Morris 

 — Chaplain to Lord Middleton — His Shooting and Hunting — Defies the 

 Cobwebs. 



YORKSHIRE, the home of my birth, of which fact lam 

 rather proud, boasts another well-known sportsman 

 cleric in the Rev. Cecil Legard, brother of, and heir to the 

 present and twelfth baronet. 



Mr. Legard does not like being called a sporting parson ; he 

 prefers the term " sportsman cleric." So be it ; but, whatever 

 we call him, he remains a true sportsman, and is almost as well 

 known and respected as York Minster. He was bom on No- 

 vember 28, 1843. His father, Henry Legard, was the youngest 

 son of the late Sir Thomas Digby Legard, father of the eleventh 

 baronet, and this Henry married the sister of the eighth Lord 

 Middleton, of Birdsall, York. Of this union were born Algernon 

 Legard, the present baronet, and his brother Cecil, of whom I 

 am writing, who is a keen sportsman. How could he be other- 

 wise, with sporting blood on both sides of the family ? 



The Legards of Gauton and Anlaby are a good old York- 

 shire family, the property of Anlaby having been acquired by 

 them in 1100. Sir John, the first baronet, was so created in 

 1660, when he fought valiantly for the Royalists. There have 

 been in the family loyal statesmen, soldiers, and divines, all 

 sportsmen in the truest sense of the term. 



Note — Mr. Legard has died since this chapter was written. 



