HUNTING IN THE MIDLANDS 161 



terous and hard-riding maltster, who had acquired a 

 considerable reputation in the district : a fair 

 sprinkling of snobs ; one or two grooms and stable 

 cads. There was also an illustrious novelist of the 

 day, the guest of Sir Cloudesley Spanker, Bart., 

 and Sir Cloudlesley Spanker, Bart., himself. 



We had drawn Branksome Bushes and the result 

 was a blank. Local sportsmen commence to be 

 prolific of suggestions. There was Henham Gorse, 

 for instance, and two gentlemen asseverated most 

 positively, upon intelligence w^nch was indisputably 

 true, that there was a fox in that quarter. Another 

 noble sportsman, who prided himself especially on 

 his local knowledge, pressed upon Jem Pike the 

 necessity of turning his attention next to the 

 Enderby Woods, to all of wdiich admonitions, how- 

 ever, Mr Pike resolutely turned a deaf ear. These 

 are among the difficulties which the huntsman of a 

 subscription pack has to encounter or withstand. 

 Every Nimrod who pays his sovereign or so a year 

 to the support of the hounds considers he has a 

 right to a voice in their management. Marvellous 

 is the sensitiveness of the amateur sportsman. It 

 is a well-established fact, that you cannot more 

 grievously wound or insult the feelings of the 

 gentleman who prides himself upon his acquaintance 

 with horses than by impugning the accuracy of his 



