84 STAG-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 



duties is no evidence one way or the other in the case 

 sought to be made against the Buckhounds. I only dwell 

 upon this in order to make it clear that I saw a great deal of 

 them, because I liked the whole thing. The first season I 

 lived at Ascot till July, 1893. So, during the three seasons 

 I had the honour of hunting the Queen's Hounds, it is hardly 

 too much to say that I had almost daily opportunities of 

 arriving at conclusions based upon personal experience and 

 observation. Most people will agree that conclusions founded 

 on practice must always have a slight pull when placed in the 

 scales with conclusions based upon theory, hearsay, and con- 

 jecture — even granting the fullest credit for sincerity and 

 bona fides to the opponents of stag-hunting. 



May I add that, if anything, my prepossessions were not 

 in favour of stag-hunting ; and that even now I should not 

 care to start a pack of staghounds myself, or to locate myself 

 in a stag-hunting country ? On the other hand, I have formed 

 a definite opinion as to its possibilities and limitations, and I 

 am quite clear as to what I think and do not think about the 

 * cruelty ' question. If the Queen's pleasure and the vicissi- 

 tudes of politics gave me the chance of doing so— say to- 

 morrow — I would gladly hunt the Queen's Hounds for another 

 three years. I should not say this if I thought it cruel, and, 

 setting aside private and personal considerations, had I found 

 myself in substantial agreement with Mr. Stratton and those 

 for whom he thinks, I should, upon public grounds, have 

 deemed it my duty to our gracious Queen to say so, when an 

 opportunity was given me of stating my opinion upon the 

 cruelty question at the time my three seasons' Mastership 

 came to an abrupt end in the summer of 1895. 



So now for a little controversy. Excepting sentimentally, 

 I have never been attached to the theory that an institution 

 should be upheld merely because it exists. That such and 

 such a thing should go on being done because it has always 



