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T. C. GOULDSMITH, MASTER 1921-2[Frontispiece]
EDWARD CHARRINGTON, FOUNDER OF THE OPPIDAN BEAGLES[To face 6]
THE SORT OF DAY WE ALL KNOW[11]
AN OLD-TIME BEAGLER[13]
GOOD-NIGHT[20]
AN UNPARDONABLE INTRUSION[34]
ROWLAND HUNT (CENTRE) WITH HIS HOUNDS AND WHIPS[To face 40]
AN AWKWARD MEETING[42]
“THERE SHE LAYS”[50]
A DISAPPOINTING FINISH[57]
“HOLD HARD!”[59]
FRANCIS AND RIVERSDALE GRENFELL[To face 60]
PLAN OF KENNELS[To face 62]
1.40 P.M.[64]
A TYPICAL INCIDENT[66]
HIS LUCKY DAY[70]
G. K. DUNNING’S YEAR[To face 78]
HIS MASTER’S VOICE[79]
T. C. BARNETT-BARKER’S YEAR[To face 86]
THE KILL[90]
MAP OF COUNTRY HUNTED BY E.C.H.[To face 90]
FEEDING TIME, DABBLER, GEORGE CHAMPION, GIPSY AND RASPER[To face 98]

THE ETON COLLEGE HUNT.

PART I.

CHAPTER I.
THE OPPIDAN BEAGLES.

It was a manly country-loving boy who first undertook the task of introducing Beagles to Eton; a boy, versed in the etiquette of hunting and devoted to a healthy open air life, who loved a horse and who loved a hound, fond of music and fond of dancing, who spent every moment of daylight in cultivating the instincts of a clean country-bred Englishman.

Edward Charrington is unfortunately dead. He died in 1894, but he left behind him a diary of his last two years at Eton, and in this he gives a lucid account of how he initiated the Beagles. He acted on a sudden inspiration. Within a week he had actually got together subscriptions and purchased two couples of beagles. But it is better to give the story in his own words, in extracts from his diary:

Monday, Jan. 18th, 1858. Thought of getting up some Beagles.

Tuesday, Jan. 19th. Got up £7 10s. for the Beagles.

Thursday, Jan. 21st. Ran with Lawless and Hussey. Beagles. Bad run.