At Cambridge one day he saw a mounted farmer. “Hi, you elderly, yellow-bellied oyster,” shouted he, “have you seen our hare?” Naturally the farmer was offended, but Hunt smoothed over the difficulty and explained it away by saying that it was one of his most endearing epithets.
And now after not having hunted for some twenty years, he has again taken on the Mastership of the Wheatland hounds. He hunts them himself with two amateur whippers-in.
Hunt was a wonderful runner at Eton. In 1876 he won the Steeplechase with consummate ease, after having lost a shoe early in the race. There was a rule in those days that no one who had previously won a race was allowed to enter for that race next year. Hunt in 1877 started for the Steeplechase in full school dress and finished an easy first, clearing the School Jump at the finish so as not to wet his clothes.
He was slovenly as to his dress, and several stories are told of his appearance. Once he appeared on parade in beagling shoes which he bought from Gane’s in the High Street and wore on every possible occasion. He always ran with his shirt hanging out behind, at least his shirt always came out when he ran. He did not care a button what he wore; his clothes were bought merely with a view to respectability and not to smartness. His language was his own; he had a knack of coming out with peculiar expressions, and yet his personality was delightful. In some mysterious way he smoothed over every trouble. There was only one farmer who gave him any difficulty, and he made friends with two enemies of the E.C.H. On one occasion he disturbed the pheasant coverts of a certain gentleman, who was furious, as was his keeper; but Hunt on going to apologise so touched the heart of the old gentleman that from that time forth he was one of the firmest friends of the hunt. Hunt gives a list of farmers in his time, and his remarks on how to treat them are well worth recording:
| “Mr. G. Lillywhite | Eton Wick. |
| *Mr. Lovell | Eton Wick. |
| *G. White | Boveney. |
| *T. White | Dorney. |
| J. Trumper | Dorney. |
| *— Twynch | Cippenham. |
| *J. D. Chater | Cippenham. |
| *A. H. Atkins, Sen. | Farnham Court. |
| *A. H. Atkins, Jun. | Chalvey. |
| *H. Cantrell | Upton Lea. |
| *H. F. Nash | Langley. |
| J. Nash | Langley. |
| *J. Five | Langley. |
| R. Talbot | Ditton. |
| *S. Pullen | Horton. |
| *C. Cantrell | Riding Court. |
| Vet. Surgeon | Datchet. |
| H. Wells | Dutchman’s Farm. |
| Slocock | Upton Court. |
| *Major | Langley. |
| *T. C. Moore | Upton. |
“Great care should be taken about Mr. ——, as he is a very awkward customer and an awful snob, and so he must be dealt with very gingerly.
“Those marked * must be called on personally. Game, two pheasants and a hare, must be sent to all these farmers annually as early as possible in the football Half. Be careful to address all with an Esq. to their names.”
It is such little attentions as these that make the difference between a friend and supporter and an enemy. Hunt instituted this custom of sending game to the farmers, and very successful it proved. It has become a permanent custom, and is regularly observed to this day.
Hunt brought the pack to a much higher standard than it had ever attained before, and left the foundations of an excellent kennel of hounds. Some of them, as will be seen from the photograph, were somewhat weak below the knees. But it must be remembered that careful breeding had not yet brought the beagle to the standard of to-day. The sport showed was in every way wonderful. The accounts of his runs in the Beagle Book are very entertaining, and his language was as varied as it was appropriate. Some of his best runs are worth quoting. There were so many good ones that selection is difficult. Here are a few:
“Thursday, March 30th. The meet was Dorney Gate. We soon found to the left and ran slowly for about a hundred yards, when they settled fairly to her, and positively raced as hard as they could lay legs to the ground to the river. Then, turning to the right, they ran through Taplow Spinney (they had run so fast that only Hunt and Bigge, who had got a good start, were anywhere near them). Then they ran on without dwelling for an instant, and bearing to the left and then to the right they skirted Dorney Village, leaving it on the left, and on nearly to Dorney Gate, where they caught sight of her, and so, instead of returning to her form, she made for some haystacks of Mr. White’s, but being routed out of there she made her last effort in the open. But Harmony was too much for her and she was pulled down in the open, after having been run in view for a good half mile. Mr. Fellowes was very quick in getting the hare from the hounds, for which the Master is much obliged. Time, 49 minutes; distance, 7 miles.”