Lord AlforcCs MastersJiip. 151 



surliness of his Huntsman did not detract from the 

 general discomfort. There probably is no position in 

 which tact and a knowledge of human nature are more 

 necessary than that of a M.F.H., and woe betide both him 

 and the county where these are greatly lacking. Lord 

 Alford well knew when and to what extent the crack of 

 his whip should be heard ; but he never allowed it to get 

 beyond the confines of courtesy or to excite ill-will. 



Mr. Payne, who had bought fifteen couple of hounds at 

 the sale of Mr. Green, when he gave up the Quorn 

 county, had very few hounds, being unwilling to spare 

 his best bitches, and the kennel was principally kept np 

 by drafts from Lord Heury Bentinck. Lord Alford 

 began with a large draft from the Belvoir kennel, since 

 which time for some years, Charles Payn principally used 

 the blood of Lord Fitzwilliam's and the Belvoir kennels. 



If ever dog was the object of a man's idolatry, the 

 Belvoir hound ^' Pillager ^^ was the one before whom 

 Charles Payn was ready at any time to fall down and 

 worship. We read in the pages of " Silk and Scarlet ^' 

 that this paragon of fox-hounds ran for six seasons with- 

 out ever requiring a taste of the whip, and that in 1858 

 there were twenty couple of hounds — mostly tan — related 

 to him. " Pliant," one of his daughters, seems to have 

 distinguished herself in a run of thirty-five minutes from 

 Lord Spencer's cover to Sulby reservoir. The fox after 

 running along-side the reservoir for some distance, dashed 

 in midway; the pack followed, and on reaching the middle 

 cast themselves right and left, whereas Pliant went 

 straight across and got half a mile beyond Sulby Hall 

 before she was caught. The fox was so washed that the 

 hounds never " enjoyed it '' after emerging from the water, 



