CHARLES DAVIS 73 



was very moderate in eating and drinking, and treated his 

 digestion with constant deference. Colonel Anstruther 

 Thomson tells me that one day, when the hounds met at 

 the Crooked Billet on Egham Heath, Davis said to Lord 

 Eosslyn when he arrived, ' I hope you will excuse me if I 

 do not ride hard to-day.' Lord Eosslyn asked what was the 

 matter. ' If you please, my lord, I allowed myself to be per- 

 suaded to take a bit of pheasant last night at supper. It 

 was rather high and it has disagreed with me.' However, 

 there was a scent. Davis was riding a horse he liked, forgot 

 all about the pheasant and its elfects, and went like a bird. 

 He liked a little wine, and sometimes accepted presents 

 of wine from his field, which he much appreciated. Dr. 

 Croft tells me he never remembers him having anything to 

 drink at a meet or on the road home ; nor would he allow 

 his men to do so. 



Ladies going out hunting with the Queen's Hounds did 

 not meet with much approval from Davis. He made an 

 exception in favour of a Miss Gilbert, ' on account of her 

 cheerful spirit and dashing riding ' — qualities which are more 

 often apt to inspire a huntsman with suspicion rather than 

 confidence — but especially on account of her Spartan en- 

 durance of long rides home at hounds' pace, of which he him- 

 self was a great exponent. 



He was very particular about feeding punctually, and 

 would allow no noise in the kennel. The whips were 

 sent in before feeding time to prevent a note. Those were 

 the days of stern kennel discipline. The celebrated Tom 

 Smith on one occasion tied twenty-five couples up in a row 

 to the park palings and had them flogged till all hands were 

 tired ; and the same gentleman would couple a wild hound's 

 forelegs under his neck and have him led for miles by a 

 whipper-in. But Davis's striking control — some might say 

 over-control — of his pack was due, as we have seen by his 



