1S6 THE BEST SEASON ON RECORD. 



as tlie cliurcli l)ells released tliem and played them to a 

 midday meet. Of whom the array of strangers may 

 have consisted it would be impossible for an individual 

 to ascertain or note. Our hunting field does not, 

 unfortunately, endow even the elder boys with the 

 privilege of accosting newcomers with " "What is your 

 name, Sir?" — and the latter were to-day far too 

 numerous and far too widely gathered to admit of 

 acquiring the necessary information at one's elbow. As 

 with learning the hounds of a pack, it was easy enough 

 to mark the individual, but a hundred to one that the 

 person who could identify him was not within whisper- 

 shot. We are all curious about our fellowmen ; and the 

 keeper of the log book who complains that his entry for 

 the day is incomplete is by no means the only murmurer 

 on such occasions. Year after year though, I notice, the 

 Belvoir Ash Wednesda}^ becomes a more widely 

 attractive festival — and so, no doubt, it will continue to 

 grow until the Duke's pack loses its beauty and power, 

 or Gillard his skill in kennel and his fortune in the field. 

 The following few names will serve to illustrate, but by 

 no means to complete, the goodly compan3\ Mr. and Mrs. 

 C. Chaplin, Mr. and ]\Irs. F. Sloane-Stanley, Mrs. G. 

 Paget, Mrs. Candy, Mr. and Miss Fenwick, Miss Wilson, 

 Duke of Portland, Count Larische, Count Caunitz, 

 Colonel Fryer, Cclonel Pole-Carew, Major Starkey, 

 Major Stirling, Major Paynter, Captains Amcotts, 

 Ashton, Blair, Brocklehurst, Goodchild, Hill-Trevor, 

 King, Middleton, Pviddell, Smith, Tcnncnt, Wickham, M. 

 Deschamps, M. Roy, Messrs. Behrens, Beaumont, A. 



