L ord Spencer' s Mastership. 191 



the noble Master^ to the injury of his health, spent many 

 a laborious hour in the woodlands with the young hounds, 

 returning to Al thorp in the late evening, fairly exhausted 

 with the day's work. A constitution not over strong for 

 some time resisted the demands upon its powers, but the 

 machinery gave way at last, and a warmer climate was 

 called upon to undertake the repairs which could not 

 have been looked for from an English winter. As in 

 other things, the characteristic of " thoroughness " in 

 Lord Spencer comes out strongly in the determination 

 with which, from the very jBrst day he commenced his 

 hunting career, he has been accustomed to forge his way 

 across a country. It is probable that except after a fall, 

 nobody has ever seen him in the ruck when hounds are 

 running, with or without a scent : his sine qua non 

 in hunting being, apparently, to keep at all times 

 as close to the Huntsman as pace and propriety will 

 permit. 



The style in which the one object is carried out does 

 not appear to be a matter for any consideration. The 

 '' big pill '' in the shape of a hedge, with ditch on either 

 side, which would be swallowed by a Foster or a Middle- 

 ton at one gulp, the noble Lord is usually seen with the 

 aid of spurs, heels, whip and words, to " do '' at intervals. 

 Nothing, however, is refused as being over-nasty ; and be 

 the obstacle what it may, the other side, sooner or later, 

 is sure to be reached. The desire to ensure sport, and 

 be thorough in doing this, carried the noble Lord at 

 times too far — as he himself now admits — and he inter- 

 fered with the movements of the Field more than they 

 always liked. No regiment of dragoons was kept under 

 stricter discipline than a Pytchley field at the time of 



