Lord spencer^ s Mastership, 199 



one or two others tliat neiglied whenever they heard my 

 footsteps, and whose every movement I knew exactly. 

 Poor things ! I long to hear that they have fallen into 

 good hands/' 



Three years after penning this epistle, the writer taking 

 up the reins lately held by Messrs. Villiers and Cust, 

 was Master of the Pytchley hounds, being, as has been 

 stated elsewhere, the fourth member of his family who 

 had filled that post. Though young and inexperienced, 

 that aptitude for becoming master of any position taken 

 up, which falls to the lot of a fortunate few, served him 

 in good stead ; and it quickly seemed as though he were 

 " to the manner born/' Few better proofs of the advan- 

 tage of not feeling " squandered at a crucial moment," or 

 in other words of being " master of the position,'* can be 

 found than in the case of the Rev. Dr. Mountain, who, 

 when consulted by Charles II. as to whom he should ap- 

 point to a vacant bishopric, replied : '^^ If your Majesty 

 had faith as a grain of mustard- seed, you would say to 

 this Mountain, ' Be thou moved into that See.' " Filled 

 with the aptness of this response, the king took the hint, 

 and the Mountain forthwith was moved into the coveted 

 position. That artists as well as clergy are occasionally, 

 at all events, equal to the occasion, may be inferred from 

 the following anecdote of Sir Francis Chantrey, the grea 

 sculptor. Whilst engaged on a bust of Lord Melbourne 

 — eminent for his learning as well as for his statesman- 

 ship — the artist found himself getting somewhat out of 

 his depth in discussing a scientific subject. Not willing 

 to expose his lack of knowledge, he at once became master 

 of the position by requesting his lordship, " to turn his 

 head a little to the right, and 'kee'p his mouth closed ! " 



The then beardless face of the new chief betokened an 



