64 



S TA G-HUXTING RECOLLECTIONS 



quite fast enough for pleasure, as the pack would have to 

 fling round occasionally and give you a chance to be nearer 

 to them. The Bracknell country was very difficult to get 

 over in former times — hedgerows very broad, and ditches 

 wide and blind, much overgrowai with grass and brambles. 

 Davis had his field under good control, and he never minced 

 the matter if he saw any man riding unfairly. His language 

 was strong and not always parliamentary, but was most 

 effective at the time, and. I have heard, lasted into the future. 





• x:..'^ ^^r.^!.-"^- ^^ 





Riding Unfaikly 





If his temper was hasty it was soon over and forgotten. 

 He was a perfect gentleman in appearance, manner, and 

 conversation, well educated, and, I should say, of good 

 ability. 



' These hounds, as you know, from the first were fox- 

 hounds. I believe he bred from the best of his own and 

 others, but he managed somehow to make them peculiarly 

 his own, so nmch finer and more racy-looking than even the 

 foxhounds of the present day. Getting them faster began, 

 I dare say, when the King told him to make them fast enough 



