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"Not so young as he has been, not so slim as he once was; in fact, rather more than middle-aged and with a tendency towards the rotund; he has been our master, and the central figure of our countryside for so long most of us cannot think of what it would be like were he not there.
See him coming riding up the road to the meet on the sharp, white-legged black mare who goes so very well for him… How smart he looks in his well-cut coat, with his cap pulled down over his greying temples, and his tops so highly polished they almost reflect the gleam of the winter's morning sun!
One eye is upon Willl'um and the pack, already drawn up by the fingerpost. The other glances, with a perhaps unsuspected interest, at the gathering throng; and there is - here a nod, and there a word, and a moment's pause for laughter. And to most of us, hearing that cheery voice, or catching a glimpse of that active figure, there comes not only a sense of the world's being well, but, often, too, an urge to do something for its betterment."
Quoted from 'Hounds will Meet' by Richard Ball