184 HUNTING REMINISCENCES 



when the price of wheat made it possible to keep 

 the stable full of hunters. 



It was a pleasure to set Gillard going on a good 

 gossiping scent as he turned to his diary ; and the 

 mark of excellence against November 15th, at 

 Hose, revived memories of sport and those who 

 played their part in it. "I gave a mount to old 

 George Carter, the famous Fitzwilliam huntsman, 

 that day, and I think he must have brought us 

 luck, for we ran for an hour on the grass. He 

 came to watch the big dog pack in their work, 

 with the view of a cross for the stout Milton 

 blood, who were sweeping the board of prizes at 

 Peterborough Show. Belvoir Rubican — 1870 — did 

 the FitzwiUiam kennel a lot of good, and one litter 

 of four bitches and two dogs was especially excellent 

 in the field and on the flags. I must tell you that 

 Belvoir Rubican was a first-season hunter when 

 I came as huntsman, and owing to the lameness 

 of my predecessor Cooper, the pack had gone to 

 the bad, and it was impossible to cross a deer 

 park without their running riot. I had therefore 

 to rebreak the pack, and Rubican was the biggest 

 tartar of the lot, determined to hunt whatever he 

 liked. Patience and five days a week put him 

 right, for he took to fox, and fox only, and 

 when he retired to the stud was used everywhere. 

 In those days 1 was often at Milton by Peter- 

 borough, for the master, the Hon. George Fitz- 

 william, knew me very well, and gave me many 

 a mount ; he was a relation by marriage to the 

 late Duke of Rutland, having married a niece of 



