Part 24

The “Van Driver” is indebted to an American correspondent for particulars of the work done by the competing packs in this unique “match,” which took place in the Piedmont Valley, Virginia, during the first fortnight of November last. The American pack consisted of 6½ couple belonging to the Middlesex Hunt and the English of 18 couple belonging to the Grafton Hunt. The stakes were $1,000 a side, and the test was to be the killing of the fox. The English hounds were hunted on five days by Robert Cotesworth, and the Americans worked on six days hunted by the Master, Mr. H. Smith. The only kill was scored by the English pack, and as their victim proved to be a tame fox, accidentally released when the hounds were near, this did not count, and the judges had to decide the question of merit on the work they witnessed. It does not appear to have been a very satisfactory method of determining relative merit, as when scent served well either pack ran clean away from the field, “held up” by wire or by the occurrence of land on which the farmers did not desire the presence of horsemen. The number of refuges open to a hunted fox explains the lack of blood obtained; stopping earths seems to have been neglected. The judges gave their award in favour of the American hounds as having “done the best work with the object of killing the fox in view,” but English sportsmen will learn with astonishment that on two occasions when the American pack were at fault a judge lifted them and got them again on the line! Unfortunately the account sent does not give any information concerning the breeding of either pack; beyond the fact that the English were imported hounds and the American bred in the States we are left in the dark. A picture from a photograph in the _Rider and Driver_, showing the American pack on the kennel bench, suggests that these are pure-bred foxhounds.

THE NEW ARMY POLO COMMITTEE.

It will be remembered that at a meeting of senior Army officers held last summer at Hurlingham, it was unanimously agreed to form a new polo committee, consisting of the Inspector of Calvary (President), cavalry brigadiers, officers commanding regiments, and representatives of corps, interested in polo, and the three members of the Inter-Regimental Tournament Committee (with the Secretary to act in a similar position to the new committee). The meeting agreed that the objects of the new committee should be: (1) To deal with questions affecting principle in the management of regimental polo, especially with a view to keeping down expenses, &c. (2) To act as a consultative and authoritative body on all questions affecting Army polo. (3) To receive from regiments any suggestions, &c., regarding principle or expenditure connected with polo, &c.; and (4) to strengthen the Executive Inter-Regimental Tournament Committee, but without interfering with its management of the details of the tournament. As a result the following Committee has been formed for 1906:—

Major-General R. S. S. Baden-Powell, C.B., Inspector of Cavalry, President; Major-General H. J. Scobell, C.B., 1st Cavalry Brigade; Brigadier-General Hon. J. Byng, M.V.O., 2nd Cavalry Brigade; Brigadier-General M. F. Rimington, C.B., 3rd Cavalry Brigade; Brigadier-General E. H. Allenby, C.B., 4th Cavalry Brigade; Major-General F. J. W. Eustace, C.B., and Colonel E. J. Phipps-Hornby, V.C., representing Royal Artillery; Colonel G. F. Gorringe, C.M.G., D.S.O., representing Royal Engineers; Major-General Sir W. G. Knox, K.C.B., Major-General A. H. Paget, C.V.O., C.B., Brigadier-General E. A. Alderson, C.B., A.D.C., and Colonel A. J. Godley, Irish Guards, representing Infantry; Colonel T. C. P. Calley, C.B., M.V.O., 1st Life Guards; Colonel C. F. Anstruther-Thomson, M.V.O., D.S.O., 2nd Life Guards; Colonel H. T. Fenwick, M.V.O., D.S.O., Royal Horse Guards; Colonel S. B. Bogle-Smith, C.B., 1st Dragoon Guards; Lieutenant-Colonel H. Mercer, 3rd Dragoon Guards; Lieutenant-Colonel C. W. Thompson, D.S.O., 7th Dragoon Guards; Lieutenant-Colonel C. Williams, Royal Scots Greys; Lieutenant-Colonel H. W. G. Graham, D.S.O., 5th Lancers; Lieutenant-Colonel E. A. Herbert, M.V.O., 6th Dragoons; Lieutenant-Colonel R. L. Walter, 7th Hussars; Lieutenant-Colonel H. N. M. Thoyts, 8th Hussars; Lieutenant-Colonel W. H. Rycroft, 11th Hussars; Colonel E. D. J. O’Brien, 14th Hussars; Colonel G. P. Wyndham, 16th Lancers; Colonel P. S. Marling, V.C., C.B., 18th Hussars; Lieutenant-Colonel H. G. de Pledge, 19th Hussars; Lieutenant-Colonel W. D. Whatman, 20th Hussars; and Colonel J. Fowle, 21st Lancers. Major Lord C. Bentinck, (9th Lancers), Major G. F. Milner, D.S.O. (1st Life Guards), Major G. K. Ansell (6th Dragoons), and Major S. L. Barry, D.S.O. (10th Hussars) (Hon. Sec.), Inter-Regimental Tournament Committee.

The Committee will assemble at Hurlingham the day of, and previous to, the final of the annual Inter-Regimental Tournament.

THE M.C.C. CRICKET TEAM IN SOUTH AFRICA.

Two defeats out of the first three eleven-aside matches was a pretty bad start for Mr. Warner’s team, a batting collapse against the Transvaal being followed by a defeat by one wicket in the first so-called Test Match. One may well ask, “Why Test Match, and of what is the match supposed to be a test?” If a test of anything it is probably a test of the judgment, or rather lack of judgment, of those who selected the M.C.C. team. If the South Africans, who are paying the piper, had called this tune and asked for a nice easy team to beat, we could better apprehend the position, but we understand that the South African cricket authorities took an early opportunity of remonstrating against the unrepresentative quality of this team sent out under the _ægis_ of the Marylebone Club. There may be many points of resemblance between the management of the War Office and the Marylebone Club—at any-rate, they seem to have been of one mind in consistently and resolutely under-rating the strength of our opponents in South Africa.

In 1904, when a strong South African team visited this country, they modestly enough asked that they might be allowed to play just one match at the headquarters of cricket against a team representative of the strength of England.

Instead of this, the Marylebone Club put “An England XI.” into the field, and the South Africans won with great ease a victory to which they attached but little importance. This slight has been followed by this unfortunate selection of a team to represent, not the Marylebone Club, for some of the players have nothing to do with that institution, but probably the authority and wisdom of the M.C.C.; and for English cricket and for Mr. P. F. Warner—the Commander-in-chief of this at present somewhat unfortunate team—we much regret that cricketers more representative of English cricket should not have been chosen. But still more do we regret this error of judgment from the point of view of South African cricket. Here is a colony which has beaten the Australians, which has beaten most of our counties, and triumphed over “An England XI.,” at Lord’s, asking for a good England team to come out and teach her cricketers something more; and then comes this melancholy but extremely probable downfall of a moderate enough team in no way representative of English cricket.

No doubt the difficulties in the way of our best amateurs getting away for a winter’s cricket tour are very great; but if it is impossible to get a really good side to accept the hospitality of the South Africans, it would be almost better for the M.C.C. executive to confess their inability to organise a team than to send out anything second-rate.

GOLF.

The Royal Liverpool Club has come to arrangements with Lord Stanley of Alderley, for a lease of the ground at Hoylake, with the loss of which it was threatened some time ago. Considerable addition of expense is entailed upon the club, and to meet it the club subscription and other charges will have to be raised, but the result of the transaction is to preserve the round at Hoylake in its entirety, a consummation for which all golfers will feel devoutly thankful.

It is announced that the Irish Open Championship meeting will be held this year in the first week of September. Last year the experiment was tried of holding it a month earlier, but it did not succeed, and it is hoped that reverting to the old date may draw to the meeting many of the best golfers on this side of the Channel. Portrush is the place of play on this occasion.

The Cricketers’ Golfing Society has set on foot an inter-county tournament on the lines of the County Cricket Championship. The membership of the society is confined to members of first and second class county cricket teams and to University Blues, and it will furnish the teams for the golf tournament.

Teams representing the Stock Exchange and the Dramatic Profession in London engaged in a competition on the links of the Burnham Beeches Club, the former winning by 8¾ against 5½ points.

The Earl of Dudley has decided to give a Challenge Cup for competition each year among members of the two clubs which play on the links at Dollymount and Portmarnock. This cup is intended as a souvenir of the Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland of Lord Dudley.

THE WINTER EXHIBITION AT BURLINGTON HOUSE.

The thirty-seventh Winter Exhibition of the Royal Academy opened on New Year’s Day, consisting this year of a very excellent and representative collection of works by the old masters and deceased masters of the British School. The exhibition is particularly strong in paintings by Reynolds, Gainsborough, Romney, and Turner; and among more recent painters represented are admirable examples of Millais and Burne-Jones. Sporting and animal subjects are not very numerous on the walls. Attention may be drawn to J. F. Herring’s “Return from Deer-stalking” (No. 40); to Sir Edwin Landseer’s “The Catspaw” (No. 50), which, it will be remembered, furnished the late Sir John Tenniel with a text for one of his cleverest _Punch_ cartoons; and to Ralph Caldecott’s animated “Hunting Scenes” (Nos. 240 and 243); “Rabbiting near Cromer” (No. 51), by James Stark, deserves notice, and so does James Ward’s spirited picture of “The Hetman Platoff on the charger which he afterwards gave to Hugh, Earl Percy” (No. 67). The charger, a grey Arab, is a singularly fine piece of work, though it may be objected that no horse, even an Arab, possesses eyes so large as those in the head of this otherwise perfectly drawn animal. The Arabs or Barbs in J. F. Lewis’s “Study of Horses” (No. 246) are well worth close examination as masterpieces of equine anatomy.

PELOTA AT THE WINTER CLUB.

Those who have organised the new club at Olympia have left no stone unturned to provide for the increasing demand for all kinds of games during the winter months. There is something very novel in seeing football played under cover upon the huge grass carpet, provided, we understand, at a cost of some five thousand pounds, and covering the entire floor of the building. There are four or five squash racquet courts, twice as many billiard tables, a rifle range, and sufficient space for several games at croquet. But the attraction which will probably draw many visitors to Olympia is the game of Pelota, the national game of Spain, now played for the first time in England by six pelotari, drawn from the professional champions from the Basque country. The game is played on a cement court eighty yards long, by fifty broad, with a front wall, but no side or back walls, though in Spain we believe that some of the best courts have back walls. It is of the same nature as racquets, only the ball—a rubber-cored ball of the size between a base-ball and a fives-ball—is slung by the players against the front wall after being caught in a sickle-shaped basket-work scoop, resembling more than anything else the semi-circular mud-guards held over the wheels of carriages to prevent the soiling of ladies’ dresses. This scoop or _chirista_ is about two feet long, and the dexterity with which the players catch the ball in it, whether it comes straight to them or they have to take it back-handed or on the half volley, is little short of marvellous; the pace of the ball from the back-handed swing is simply terrific, and when it is remembered that the line above which the ball must strike the front wall is of much the same height as that in an ordinary racquet court, it can easily be realised that the server and the front players, who are constantly under fire from the slingers at the back, require a skill which can only be acquired by life-long habit not merely to take their part in the game, but to avoid being seriously injured.

FANCY DRESS BALLS AT COVENT GARDEN.

The fortnightly masquerades at the Royal Opera House are more popular than ever with light-hearted Londoners. Now that the autumn season of opera is over, the whole of the large house is available for the accommodation of the merry throng of dancers who flock to Covent Garden on alternate Fridays, and the additional space afforded by the stage and its surrounding area is beautified by scenery from the near East. The competition for the prizes for the best and most original dresses is apparently more keen than ever, and the march past of competitors is certainly one of the sights of London.

“CINDERELLA” AT THE EMPIRE.

The name of Cinderella certainly is just about now one to conjure with. The phenomenally successful “Catch of the Season” is none other than our old friend in modern dress; at Drury Lane the most attractive pantomime is “Cinderella,” and now the management of the Empire have produced a beautiful _ballet_ in five scenes, which present for more than an hour twice a day a series of some of the most beautiful and striking effects that have been seen for many a long day.

The one and only Mademoiselle Adeline Gênée is the most delightful and dainty Cinderella, and of all her artistic triumphs she has enjoyed none greater than the present, and she is well supported by Mademoiselle Zanfretta as the fairy godmother, Mr. W. Vokes as the _décavé_ Baron, and Mr. Fred Farren as the Baroness. “Cinderella,” produced as a _matinée_ on January 6th, speedily found herself in the evening bill as well as in daily _matinées_.

The _revue_ “Rogues and Vagabonds” has proved a great attraction, thanks to the extremely clever mimicry of Mr. Arthur Playfair and Miss Marie Dainton, and the performance of Miss Sibyl Arundale as Harlequin. Miss Arundale has a genius which seems to be incapable of being misplaced, and whether she play “Lady Molly,” “Nanoya, the Cingalee,” “The Gipsy Girl,” or Harlequin, she is invariably a great artist.

With the _revue_ written up to date, there seems no reason why it should not remain a prominent feature of the Empire programme for a long time to come.

The Barber-Ritchie cycling trio is one of the cleverest turns at the Empire, and certainly it seems unlikely that proficiency in cycling can well reach a much higher development than this. Unless our memory fails us, we were thrilled some months ago by seeing Mr. Barber loop the loop on the Empire stage, and Mr. Ritchie is, we hope, none other than our old friend the Tramp Cyclist, whose grotesque disasters and stock of superfluous collars caused us so much merriment a little time ago. We hope that the Barber-Ritchie combination will be visible in London for some long time to come.

BALLET AT THE ALHAMBRA.

The grand ballet “Parisiana” now holds the stage at the Alhambra, and a very magnificent show it is, with its variety of kaleidoscopic scenes ranging from 1760 down to 1906. The chief scenes are by Menessier, representing “Grand Magasins du Printemps,” with a ballet of _peignoirs_, _parfumerie_, _corsages_, and so on, and the final scene, “La Fête de Neuilly,” which is a fine spectacle.

Mademoiselle Jane May, the pantomimic success of “L’Enfant Prodigue,” is to be found playing a silently voluble Pierrot and _gamin_, and perhaps there is almost too much of her performance, as the pantomime appears rather to check the action of the ballet. La Sylphe executes some of her characteristic dances, and the entire setting of the production is very beautiful. “My Lady Nicotine” still holds its place in the programme of the Alhambra, in which also La Sylphe and Miss Edith Slacke are to be seen. The other items of the programme are good, but almost too fleeting for us to mention in a monthly notice, although “Urbanora,” or “We put the world before you,” is always with us, and very amusing indeed are the pictures of “Dolly Land” and “Noah’s Ark.”

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We have received from Messrs. Lawrence and Jellicoe, Limited, 16, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, W.C., a set of four coloured drawings by Mr. Leonard Ravenhill, entitled “Bridge Problems.” The drawings, which are published by special arrangement with the proprietors of _Punch_, depict the humorous side of the game, the expressions of the players’ faces being particularly well portrayed. The set of four signed proofs can be had from the publishers at four guineas, the price of a set of prints being one and a half guineas.

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Such elementary ideas as to the correct management of foxhound puppies as those possessed by many by whom the youngsters are walked must have frequently given cause for anxiety to the Master and his kennel huntsman, who have entrusted their charges to the tender mercies of the walkers. Often a few hints are all that are needed to enable the well-meaning but inexperienced walker to provide against the mishaps to which puppies are peculiarly liable. These hints are supplied in a leaflet by an M.F.H., which gives instructions on walking hound puppies, and which is being sold for the benefit of the fowl fund of an Irish hunt by Lady Coghill, Glen Barrahane, Castletownshend, co. Cork, at 2d. each, or 1s. 6d. per dozen. Directions as to food, lodging, manners, and illness are briefly given, which, if intelligently followed, will prevent avoidable illness, which so often ends the career of a promising puppy, and will make the huntsman’s task of training them far easier than is often the case when the puppies have contracted riotous habits while at walk.

Sporting Intelligence. [During December, 1905—January, 1906.]

On December 16th, Sir C. Courtenay Knollys, K.C.M.G., Governor of the Leeward Islands, died at Southsea. The deceased was in his college days a very fine sculler, and in 1872 won the Diamond Sculls. In the following year he rowed in the Oxford crew at Putney.

There was an interesting function in connection with the meet of the Sinnington Hounds at Douthwaite Dale, Kirby Moorside, on December 16th. This was the presentation to the late Master, Mr. Sherbrooke, and Mrs. Sherbrooke, of a large oil painting, representing Mr. and Mrs. Sherbrooke, mounted, with hounds, in charge of Mr. Robin Hill, breaking cover at Riseborough Haggs. The presentation was made by Lord Helmsley, who followed Mr. Sherbrooke in the mastership of the pack, and who paid a warm compliment to the manner in which hounds had been hunted during the ten years Mr. Sherbrooke had held the mastership. In his reply, Mr. Sherbrooke spoke with deep satisfaction of the host of valuable friends he and his wife had made during the time hounds were under his care.

We have to record the death of Captain Hugh Browning, of Clapham Park, Bedford, which occurred on December 18th, in his sixty-seventh year. Captain Browning was Master of the Oakley Foxhounds from 1888 to 1897, and showed consistently good sport with the pack.

We regret to record a nasty accident to Lord Chesham, which occurred while out with the Pytchley Hounds on December 20th, and resulted in three fractured ribs, through his horse falling in jumping a fence.

At the meet of the Earl of Eglinton’s Hounds on December 23rd there was a pleasing incident, when Mr. and Mrs. William Baird, of High Balsarroch, were the recipients of a presentation from the members and subscribers of the Hunt on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of their marriage. The presentation was made on behalf of the subscribers by Lord Eglinton, and consisted of a piece of plate and a purse of sovereigns. His lordship alluded to the assistance Mr. and Mrs. Baird and their family had rendered to the Hunt during their long residence in the country. They have been at High Balsarroch for twenty-six years, and occupied the neighbouring farm of Mount Fergusson for thirty years previously.

Mr. William Hanway, of Laragh, near Maynooth, died from heart failure on December 24th, in his seventy-first year. Mr. Hanway, who was a well-known rider across country and at the Kildare and Punchestown meetings, rode at the latter in April last, and was out with the Kildare Hunt the day before his decease.

A banquet was given at the Blue Bell Hotel, Belford, on December 28th, to Mr. Richard Burdon-Sanderson, who relinquished his pack of foxhounds last season after a long period of office, when a testimonial was given. The presentation took the form of a dessert service of old silver, and there was also given to Mr. James A. H. Burdon-Sanderson a silver tea-tray in recognition of his valuable services as deputy master of his brother’s foxhounds. The presentations were made in the presence of a large company by the Duke of Northumberland.

At the early age of fifty-one years, Mr. Clervaux Morley Saunders, of Bovicott, Devon, died at his residence on December 28th. Mr. Saunders was well known in the West country as a keen sportsman, and only a few years ago formed and hunted the Bovicott Otterhounds. He was also a breeder of horses, a member of the Council of the Polo Society, and a good supporter of agriculture.

While hunting with the Whaddon Chase Hounds on December 30th, the Countess of Orkney was thrown from her horse and sustained concussion of the brain.

On January 4th there died at Tissington Park, Derbyshire, the Rev. Sir Richard Fitzherbert, Bart., who was in his day a fine athlete and horseman. In the sixties the deceased gentleman represented Cambridge against Oxford at the hurdle race, and he was always a very good man across a country.

While out with the Duke of Buccleuch’s Hounds on January 6th, Mr. John Clay, of Chicago, who is hunting from Sunlaws, Kelso, had the bad luck to break his collar-bone.

Will Thompson, huntsman to Lord Fitzhardinge’s Hounds, sustained a bad fall on January 6th, through his horse swerving and coming down at a gate.

On January 6th, the Hon. Ivor Guest sold Pat 350 gs., Cotton 200 gs., Rarity 350 gs.; Captain the Hon. F. Guest’s Ireland made 200 gs., Spade Ace 280 gs., Scotchman 150 gs., Limerick 200 gs.; the Earl of Lonsdale’s Wallaby 300 gs., Fairy Saint 120 gs.; the Hon. Gilbert Johnstone’s St. Patrick 140 gs., Clansman 100 gs., and Call Boy 110 gs.

The Bedale Hunt has lost a prominent member in Mr. R. Hutton-Squire, who died suddenly at his residence, Holtby Hall, Bedale, on January 10th.

The skeleton of Ormonde has been received in England, to be added to the relics of the many other famous British racehorses now reposing at the Natural History Museum. Mr. Macdonough, his owner, having generously acceded to a request of the British Museum that his remains should be sent to this country to be preserved in the national repository of his native land. The skeleton will, it is understood, soon be exhibited to the public in the Gallery of Domesticated Animals.