72 STAG-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 



pression of his face was severe and serious, latterly with 

 many lines about the mouth, unless when excited by 

 conversation on his favourite topics. When not officially 

 dressed he had a very gentlemanly, almost aristocratic, appear- 

 ance, and always appeared to advantage amongst the fre- 

 quenters of the stand at Ascot.' 



Appearing to advantage in the stand at Ascot, or indeed 

 anywhere else, is eminently satisfactory. But his biographer 

 goes even further : ' In plain clothes, he looked like a peer of 

 the realm.' This is a pleasant tribute to the good looks of the 

 House of Lords, but it w^ould probably be nearer the mark to 

 say that all peers of the realm did not look like Davis. In 

 externals, at all events, and indeed in character, he had the 

 knack which Mr. Emerson somewhere or other lays stress 

 upon, of never reminding us of others. 



Davis kept his figure to the last, and was one of the few 

 men whose legs were sufficiently straight and clean on the 

 inside of the knee-joint to wear becomingly the skin-tight 

 leathers which were generally the fashion in his best days, 

 and which are still to some extent the fashion for the royal 

 servants. In his day the hunt-servants wore very much 

 shorter and closer-fitting coats than they do now — hardly 

 any skirt ; the old yeoman -pricker tunic pattern of coat 

 was retained for very many years ; and I remember think- 

 ing, when first I hunted with the Buckhounds in 1879 

 from Aldershot, that Goodall's tunic-like coat and tight 

 leathers gave a rather postilliony look. "Whilst I was Master 

 I lengthened the coats very much, both in the waist and in 

 the skirts — a long coat seems to seat a man better on his horse, 

 and it is certainly comfortable and more becoming to the 

 average figure. 



The slimness and youthfulness of Charles Davis's figure up 

 to the very last were in great measure due to the simplicity of 

 his life and the regularity of his habits. Like a wise man he 



