CHARLES DAVIS 6^ 



this one. Lord Derby's used to tly away in all directions; 

 the Royal Hounds in the olden times did so too.' 



There is always a natural and comfortable tendency, 

 when a personality like Davis's is concerned, to take refuge 

 in general terms. He was a perfect specimen of a royal 

 servant : a thorough gentleman ; a miracle in the saddle ; 

 an example everywhere else, and so on. 



But as the present case is worthy of something more 

 than mere generalities, I am indebted to many hunting men 

 for personal recollections of Charles Davis — things they saw, 

 things they knew ; things they noticed and drew deductions 

 from, and which had impressed themselves in colours, as 

 it were, on the magic-lantern slides of memory.' 



I shall first give extracts from Dr. Croft's and Mr. 

 Cordery's letters in their own words. Both these gentlemen 

 are excellent judges of hunting and of hounds ; they are 

 both Berkshire men ; famous riders in their day, and were 

 cradled, as it were, in the wildest and roughest part of the 

 Queen's country, the forest and heathlands and the intricate 

 Bracknell country. Writing to me from Bracknell, Novem- 

 ber 1895, Dr. Croft, in the letter already quoted, after telling 

 me about George III. and Davis in the cloisters, goes on : — 

 ' Davis's best time was before mine, but he was very good 

 in my younger days. He left much in his latter days to his 

 men, but he was always near enough to see what was going 

 on. His hounds in the forest were as perfect in close hunt- 

 ing as harriers. They were left to depend on themselves, 

 and so required but little assistance. " Let them alone" 

 were his words to his whips at check. I never heard him 

 say anything about a bad scent ; he told me he would rather 

 have a third-rate scent for his hounds, as the pace was then 



' Especially to Colonel Anstruther Thomson, Sir A. Halkett, Captain King- 

 King, Mr. Bowen May, Dr. Croft of Bracknell, and Mr. Cordery of Hall's Farm, 

 Swallowfield. 



