than they were in Davis's time. He once asked Davis about the pace of a pack of hounds, and Davis replied in a letter that the Queen's hounds were the fastest pack, in his opinion, and that nine miles in the hour was about their best pace. But this pace was far exceeded by Richmond Trump's day. When Mr. Davis lay in the ditch with one arm round Richmond Trump's neck, as already related, he pulled out his watch with his free hand, and timed the run. Nobody but Davis could have done so. It was all over grass, and Davis only weighed about 10 stone, and had it all to himself on the Clipper, an animal up to 16 stone. I have found the entry in his diary, March 13, 1832. 'Richmond Trump at Lillie's, ran one hour, took at Twyford between Bicester and Buckingham-ran twenty miles in one hour.' In his horse-book I find that the Clipper was bought in the Christmas quarter of 1831 of Mr. Anderson for 120 guineas; he was sold again at Tattersall's in the summer quarter of 1834 for 24l. 18s. 6d.

Richmond Trump had been out twice before that season, and started on his career as the Richmond Knobber. After the Aylesbury performance, however, he was renamed Richmond Trump, after a popular fighting man of the day, who doubtless much appreciated the delicate compliment.

The present Lord Lichfield kindly sent me two or three long letters from Davis to his grandfather, who, as Lord Anson (afterwards Lord Lichfield) was appointed Master of the Buckhounds in 1830. These letters, alas! perished with many other papers I valued in a disastrous fire in my London house two or three years ago. The letters described two or three especially good runs they had had, and Lord Lichfield had probably kept them on that account. The writer of an article in Baily' (1867) says that Davis thought less about the horses than the hounds. Yet these particular letters, I remember, went into some detail about the horses which he himself and the men had ridden, and the way they had carried them. He was especially pleased with the performance and promise of a young chestnut which Lord Lichfield had just purchased. Lord Lichfield rode to hounds very well himself, and possibly Davis may on that account have made a point when writing to him of telling him a good deal about the hunt horses.

Davis's diaries and MS. books are very well kept, but the comments are lamentably few, and he confines himself generally to the bare facts of the day-where they met, how long they ran, the expenses, and so on. It is worth remarking here that in 1832:

they must have been less particular about the public and their hunting appointments than in these days, and also that whenever Davis left his deer out he always, or nearly always, tried for his deer the very next morning. We did not do this in my time; but I was very fond of hunting an harboured outlying deer, and we had some capital runs with them. I remember a capital deer called Lord Clanwilliam, which we ran from Maiden Erlegh to Easthampstead, and left him out. We found him a fortnight later in the Easthampstead woods, and he ran his old line back, almost stick for stick, and we took him close to where we had turned him out. This is something like the Ripley deer experiences of November 26 and December 3, 1832.

On May 2, 1829, Davis enters in his diary-it is almost the only entry where he commits himself to an observation: Turned out an elk at Swinley; he wobbled away-I could not call it running for half an hour, and took him at Bagshot. The hounds would not hunt him.' At the end of the season he enters that the elk and a deer called Etonian' are to be fatted for his Majesty and 'Reading' for Lord Maryborough. But he adds that the elk was not fatted, but was ultimately sent to the Zoological Gardens.

In those days the Queen's hounds moved about and saw a great deal more of other countries than they do now; they used to be taken to the following places for about a fortnight at the time they used to go to Sir Robert Throckmorton's at Buckland near Faringdon during Lord Granville's mastership; to Hampton Court and on to Epsom in Lord Rosslyn's time. The deer during these outings to Epsom, Bartlett tells me, were kept in loose-boxes belonging chiefly to trainers. And for many years, as everybody knows, the Queen's hounds used to go down to the New Forest late in the season.

I find in Mr. Davis's diary that on New Year's Day, 1828, the buckhounds met at Salt Hill and hunted an untried Richmond havier, and that Prince Dom Miguel of Portugal hunted attended by Prince Esterhazy, Duke of Wellington, Lord Maryborough, and so on. Charles Greville tells us that when George IV.'s wardrobe was sold in 1830 everybody was surprised at its variety and profusion. Besides costumes of all the Orders in Europe, all the coats he had had for the last fifty years, about 300 whips, canes without number, there were a dozen brand-new pairs of corduroy breeches which he had had made to hunt in when Dom Miguel came to England, but never wore.

I read somewhere or other that a great many pictures of

Davis were painted at different times. I cannot say I know of many myself, but his brother was an artist, and painted him several times on Hermit, the grey horse he is riding in the wellknown engraving of the Meet of the Buckhounds on Ascot Heath during Lord Chesterfield's Mastership. I shall have more to say about Hermit later on. Then there is another engraving of him on Columbine, a short-tailed mare which went to Badminton and bred some capital coach-horses. The Duke of Beaufort was telling me about her only the other day, and I have the entry now before me in Davis's horse-book. For Michaelmas quarter 1830, under 'Horses sold' he notes: 'Brown mare Columbine and foal to the Duke of Beaufort, 197. 5s. Od.' Sir F. Grant's picture is at Bretby, but I don't know where the original of the Columbine picture is, although I think this was painted by his brother.

Mr. Tattersall has a very good painting of him on horseback by an artist called Webb; and at Eaton there is a water-colour drawing of him by the old Deighton (I think) which the Duke of Westminster tells me is excellent. I believe, though, that the best and best-known engraving of him is on Traverser, also after Sir F. Grant. I don't know where this picture is, but without placing it in such company as Titian's Charles V. or Velasquez's Don Carlos at Madrid, or Stubbs's Duke of Hamilton in the green coat on the chestnut hackney, or Regnault's Marshal Prim, if the painting is as good as the engraving it must be a very charming and distinguished equestrian portrait. People who have not got it and care for sporting engravings should buy it; Mr. Harvey, of St. James's Street, who admires it very much, tells me it is getting very scarce.

In my time the reduced photograph from the engraving was popular at Harrow. I had one in my room over the mantelpiece. How often in the horrid stress of iambics have I looked to Mr. Davis on Traverser for inspiration! I used to look not only in vain, but waste my time in thinking that Traverser was the sort of horse I should like to ride hunting on some day, and Mr. Davis's the sort of seat I should like to have.

How well Sir Francis Grant has put him on the horse! His length of limb guarantees that smoothness of seat which Don Quixote impressed upon Sancho as being the peculiar attribute of a great gentleman. When some one asked Sir R. Sutton whether a stranger out with his hounds could ride, Sir Richard said he did not know, adding 'I should think so, for he hangs a good boot.' So did Charles Davis.