as I believe, the Berkeley hunt still conducted. But it need
hardly be explained, that as hunting is now conducted in England,
such a system is neither fair nor palatable. It is not fair that
so great a cost for the amusement of other men should fall upon
any one man's pocket; nor is it palatable to others that such
unlimited power should be placed in any one man's hands. The
ordinary master of subscription hounds is no doubt autocratic,
but he is not autocratic with all the power of tyranny which
belongs to the despot who rules without taxation. I doubt whether
any master of a subscription pack would advertise his meets for
eleven, with an understanding that the hounds were never to move
till twelve, when he intended to be present in person. Such was
the case with Lord Fitzhardinge, and I do not know that it was
generally thought that he carried his power too far. And I think,
too, that gentlemen feel that they ride with more pleasure when
they themselves contribute to the cost of their own amusement.

Our master of hounds shall be a country gentleman who takes a
subscription, and who therefore, on becoming autocratic, makes
himself answerable to certain general rules for the management of
his autocracy. He shall hunt not less, let us say, than three
days a week; but though not less, it will be expected probably
that he will hunt oftener. That is, he will advertise three days
and throw a byeday in for the benefit of his own immediate
neighbourhood; and these byedays, it must be known, are the cream
of hunting, for there is no crowd, and the foxes break sooner and
run straighter. And he will be punctual to his time, giving
quarter to none and asking none himself. He will draw fairly
through the day, and indulge no caprices as to coverts. The laws,
indeed, are never written, but they exist and are understood; and