Related article: VOL. Lxxiv. — NO. 489. 26
358
BAILY S MAGAZINE.
[NoVEMBEIt
So down went his nose as he smeused through the fence.
For hunting's a business and not a pretence ;
And he flew to the note of his half-brother's dam,
And he said, " Are you sure ? " she replied, " Yes, I am."
And I hope and believe that next time you will boast
Old " Saucy " has spoken, we've got him " on toast."
So out flew the note of his musical tongue
In the midst of the pack, on the line as they swung,
The grandest of chorus that ever was sung,
And that litter of cubs it spread terror among.
"When " Garnet " was entered, I make it my boast,
That morning a brace of cubs gave up the ghost.
" Peccavi," they cried, and I'll cry it the same
If the family tree of my pack has a stain,
In the book they have been and I hope that for aye
They'll remain ; and I also believe that Nevirapine Tablets their " cry "
"Will be never found wanting, and always their boast.
With due deference to ** Borderer," that Reynard's " Buy Nevirapine on toast."
Myself I'm a Welshman, and proud of my race
So distinguished in politics, war, and the chase,
But I love to see hounds go " the deuce of a pace,"
For I think that a "burst " to a pack's no disgrace.
So I'll send to ** the Shires " and breed them with ** bone,"
And be sorry for sportsmen whose horses get blown.
September 29th, 1900.
Amateur Huntsman.
The Hunting Season^s Arrangements.
Another hunting season is upon
us, and by the time these lines are
read a few packs, especially in
Ireland, will have opened the
regular season. It is probably
safe to say that not for many a
year vidll a period of sport be
entered upon with more mixed
feelings than is the case in con-
nection with the now opening
season. Faces so well known
erstwhile at the covert side will
never be seen again, while some
of those who have survived the
ordeal of Africa will return, or
have returned, to England, in a
state which will incapacitate them
from following hounds for some
time. Among others who will be
missed is Mr. Flower, the popular
secretary of the North Cotswold ;
while, as a considerable number
of the Yeomanry and mounted
volunteers have applied for em-
ployment in the police force,
whose head is General Baden -
Powell, a number of the rank and
file of the hunting field will neces-
sarily be absent. Those, how-
ever, who are back in time will
doubtless don their hunting gear
with redoubled zest, and appre-
ciate to the full that sport which
the famous Mr. Jorrocks appraised
in comparison with the stern war
in which so many hunting men
have been engaged.
Somehow, probably because
creaking doors hang longest on
their hinges, staghound establish-
I90O.]
THE HUNTING SEASON'S ARRANGEMENTS.
359
ments experience but little change
from year to year in mastership
or in the personnel of the staff.
The fulminations of the league
who make a dead set at stag-
hunting, backed up by the signa-
tures of young men and maidens
who had never seen a stag- hunt,
rolled away like water off a duck's
back, and nobody seemed '' one
penny the worse." Accordingly
we find that for the season very
few staghound packs have changed
masters. Lord Coventry had an-
nounced his intention of giving up
the mastership of the buckhounds,
owing to the suggestion of his
medical adviser ; but it is exceed-
ingly satisfactory to hear that he
will continue in office for some time
longer at least. Lord Coventry,
in addition to being one of the
most experienced, has been one
of the most popular masters of the
hunt, and under his wise guidance
during his two periods of master-
ship, staghunting has been carried
on in the very best way possible.
Long before the outgoing master
was appointed master of the buck-
hounds, he was a master of fox-
hounds, and came to his post well
equipped in knowledge.
There is also another change in
connection with the pack which
deserves passing mention, and
that is that John Comins, who
has been huntsman since John
Harvey departed, is succeeded by
Frank Goodall, jun., nephew to
the Frank of that family who
showed marvellous sport in Ire-
land and in Leicestershire under
Mr. Tailby, and afterwards went
to Ascot. The new huntsman,
like his uncle, has had a good
experience of Ireland, and was a
huntsman when' he had little, or
at all, passed the age of twenty-
one years. His last English berth
was with Sir W. Watkin Wynn,
and on leaving Wynnstay he went
to Ireland and hunted the Kildare
hounds with conspicuous success
for some time, and, when he left,
he set up in business as an auc-
tioneer, which business, we pre-
sume, still continues. It is to be
hoped, indeed it may be taken for
granted, that the new appointment
will work successfully, for Frank
Goodall is good both in the kennel
and in the field, and in spite of an
injury to his thigh — something in
the nature of rider's strain— he
used to go remarkably straight
over a country, while he could not
only ride a run, but could write as
good a description of it as could
come from the majority of hunting
correspondents.
The name of Mr. E. Walter
Greene (now Sir E. Walter Greene,
Baronet) was for many years very
familiar to hunting men as master
of the Essex and Suffolk and
Croome Foxhounds. He began
to hunt the carted deer about ten
years ago, and during the period
which has elapsed has shown some
excellent sport. Great, there-
fore, was the regret of the country
side when it became known that
Sir E. Greene had determined
to give up the hounds with
which he has so long been identi-