72 



and information — the former book as to hunting, and the latter as 

 to riding to hounds, for the author, the late Mr. Robert Smith Surtees, 

 of Hamsterley Hall, Durham, was a houndsman, a horseman, and a 

 sportsman, but he was not a hard rider. 



I have already said enough about the deplorable events which have 

 occurred within the past few years in many of our Irish hunting- 

 countries, events which have had the effect of reducing some of the 

 Hunts from first-class to mediocrity, and of quite annihilating others ; 

 but the lamentable fact remains that hunting in Ireland is now not 

 nearly what it was before the insane agitation arose against it. Not 

 so in merry England, and to English hunting the following remarks 

 chiefly apply. 



By the statistics I shall quote presently it will be seen that within 

 the past nine years the packs of hounds in England have greatly 

 increased, which shows that hunting is more popular in that country 

 now than it has been, perhaps, since Beckford's time. From this very 

 popularity, I fear, arises the danger threatening our national sport. 

 I am not by any means singular in so thinking. The late Col. 

 Bromley-Davenport, one of the finest all-round sportsmen England 

 ever produced, put his fears on the subject plainly in his charmingly- 

 written book " Sport," and very many others coincide with him. 



I allude to the numbers of men who come long distances by rail 

 from non-hunting districts to hunt with some of the crack packs. 

 Many of them, no doubt, are keen sportsmen, and do as little harm 

 individually as is possible for any man riding to hounds ; but there 

 are a great many who are not sportsmen, who know nothing about 

 hunting, and who, as the author of " Sport" puts it, are "unable to 

 distinguish seeds from switch, or turnips from tares," who, through 

 ignorance or ill-manners, do damage to fences and newly laid-down 

 fields, and as compensation they give insolence and insult to the 

 farmers and labourers ; for they never subscribe either to damage or 

 Hunt funds, and, being total strangers, "arrive by train and so 

 depart, leaving broken fences and damaged crops as the only trace 

 of their visit. These are the evils which may lead to the decadence 

 of foxhunting." 



Farmers show extraordinary forbearance, and their toleration is 

 beyond all praise, but continuance of that forbearance cannot be 

 expected in the face of such wanton mischief done by strangers, 

 particularly in times like these, when their farming accounts show 

 loss oftener than profit. It therefore behoves all Masters of Hounds 

 and genuine sportsmen, including the good men who come from a 

 distance, to put a stop to these inroads of galloping snobs before it 

 be too late. Most assuredly, were I Master of the Hunt they came 

 to, I would ride up to each and all of them and order them out 

 of the field, and if they did not obey me I would take the hounds 

 home. 



The hunting season in every district should, I think, wind up with 



