BAILY'S MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF SPORTS AND PASTIMES. THE EARL OF HOPETOUN. JOHN ALEXANDER HOPE, Earl of Hopetoun, was born at Edinburgh, 1831. He was educated at Harrow, and at Christchurch, Oxford, and was gazetted to a cornetcy in the 1st Life Guards in 1851. But he did not join; and, taking the Pytchley Country in 1852, retired from the service. It is not too much to say that the subject of our present notice is a brilliant example of those noblemen and gentlemen who render a most essential service to the noblest of our sports by the support they give to fox-hunting. In the present instance it is peculiarly the case. Lord Hopetoun took the Pytchley Country when a very young man; and for four seasons no country could have been more efficiently or liberally hunted. The material he brought into the field was as good as could be: great care was taken in strengthening the kennel and the stud; an extra day was always given for the more effectual hunting of remote or unfashionable districts; and the names of Charles Payne and Jack Woodcock will always be associated with the sport which was shown under the management of Lord Hopetoun. For four seasons, without subscription, entirely at his own. expense, his Lordship hunted one of the best but most expensive countries in England; and, notwithstanding the popular Masters which the Pytchley can boast-from the Squire Osbaldeston and Mr. George Payne to the present Lord Lieutenant of Ireland-the manner in which Northamptonshire was hunted from 1852 to 1856 will not lose by comparison with any other period. He succeeded a very good sportsman, and one of the best men over a country, the Hon. Frederick Villiers of Selby; and was, at the end of his tenure of office, again succeeded by the same gentleman, in connection with the Hon. Charles Cust, who continued to hunt the country with the same servants. The hounds are the property of the country. Lord Hopetoun doubtless gained experience during the four years he was at the head of affairs; but very few men could have made better use of their opportunity than he. He became a good judge of horse and hound, the latter a far rarer accomplishment than is usually supposed; and when his stud was disposed of after his last season, to the number (if we recollect |