IVERSITY OF B.C. LIBRARY

3 9424 00126 328

THE LIBRARY

THE UNIVERSITY OF
BRITISH COLUMBIA

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HUNTING
REMINISCENCES:

COMPRISING

MEMOIRS OF

MASTERS OF HOUNDS;

NOTICES OF

THE CRACK RIDERS;

AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE

HUNTING COUNTRIES OF ENGLAND

BY NIMROD.

ILLUSTRATED BY WILDRAKE, HENDERSON, AND ALKEN.

LONDON:

RUDOLPH ACKERMANN,
ECLIPSE SPORTING GALLERY,

191, REGENT STREET.

1843.

■WALTER SPIERS, PRlhTER, 17, NORTH AtDLEY STREET, LONDON.

PREFACE.

" It is possible these lines may be read when
the hand that writes them shall be dust.

Thus speaks our Author in one of the following
pages,* in a spirit, alas, too truly prophetic !

Arrangements had been entered into which would
have given to this work the advantages of the revising
care of its Author ; when Death suddenly transferred
the task to one who feels how inefficiently he has per-
formed his duty.

It is scarcely necessary to mention that the matter
contained in the following pages, first appeared under
the several heads of "The Characters of Hunting
Countries," "The Crack Riders of England," and
" Memoirs of Masters of Hounds."

« Page 85.

IV PREFACE.

The Reader, then, must in some measure, transport
himself back to the period at which the pen of that
most ready of writers, Nimrod, traced out the events
to which he here refers, since in many instances it was
found utterly impossible to remodel the language so as
to adapt it to the present time, and at the same time
to preserve its distinctive character.

Moreover, some indulgence must be claimed for the
many errors which may be detected by the Reader, and
which, arising from the natural lapse of time since the
original remarks were penned, could only be corrected
by the fountain head whence they first emanated.

With this short preface we commit our vessel to
the tide of fortune.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Exordium, 1— Shropshire, 2— Masters of Hounds in Shropshire, 3— Mr. Adams
of Ludlow, 3— Mr. Aston, 3— Anecdote of the late Mr. Forester of Willey, 3—
General Character of Shropshire, 4 — Game in Shropshire, 4— Shropshire Yeo-
men, 5— Shropshire Horses, 5. — The Ludlow Country, 6 — Clee Hills, 7 —
Childe of Kinlet, 7— Will Barrow, 7— Mr. Dansey, 8— Mr. Adams, 9— His
Whipper-in, 10.— The Shiffxal Country, 10— Its Masters of Hounds, 10
—Mr. Boycott, 11.— The Albrighton Country, 11— Its Fixtures, 12— and
Crack Riders, 13— Anecdote of Mr. Charles Eyton, 13.— The Shropshire
Hounds, 13— Mr. Pelham, 14— Sir Edward Smythe, 14— Sir Bellingham Gra-
ham, 14— Natural Faults of Shropshire, lo— The Twenlows, 15— Hawkestone
Park, 16— Hayman Hill, 16— Nessclifif, 16— Acton Burnell Park, 17— Sir Rich-
ard Puleston, 17— Jack Bartlet, 17— Drorao, 18— Ned Bates, 19— Sir Richard
Puleston's Country, 19— Mr. Corbet of Sundorne, 19— Tom Crane, 20— An-
ecdotes of Sir Richard Puleston, 20— Col. Wardle, 22— Sir Harry Goodricke,
22— Robert Jones, 22— The Hard-riding A\'hip, 23— Bon Mot of Sir Richard
Puleston, 23— Mr. Lloyd Williams, 23— Mr. Apperley, 24— Anecdote of Lord
Forester, 24— The late Sir W. W. Wynn, 25— Tom Penn, 26— Mr. Mytton of
Halston— His Kennel— Anecdotes of Mr. Mytton, 26— John Craggs, 29— Ned
Evans, 29— Mr. Wickstead, 30— Shrewsbury Hunt Weeks, 30— Sir Belling-
ham Graham, 30— Mr. Leycester of Ronton, 31— Farewell to Shropshire, 31.

CHAPTER II.

Lf.icestershire, 32 — Masters of Hounds in Leicestershire, 32— TAe MeyncU, 32
— The late Lord Sefton, 33— Conspicuous men in his time, 34 — John Raven,
34— Stephen Goodall, 34— Anecdote of Raven, 35— Joe Harrison, 36— Tom
Wingfield, 36 — Cork-legged Jones, S6— Leicestershire as a Hunting Country,
37— Crack Riders of Leicestershire, 37— Mr. Meynell, 38- The Quom Blood,
39— Lord Foley, 39— Green, 40— Richard Forster, 40— Mr. Thomas Assheton
Smith, 41 — " The Belvoir Day," 43— Mr. Osbaldeston, 44— Lord Southampton,
44 — Tom Sebright, 44 — Jack Stephens, 4-5 — The Advantages of Leicestershire,
48 — Its Disadvantages, 49 — Severity of the Country, 51 — Timber, 52 — Brooks,
52 — Leicestershire Graziers, 53 — Covers of Leicestershire, 54 — Billesdon
Coplow, 54 — Ashby Pasture, 55— Oaldby, oo — Kirby Gate, 55— Barkby Holt,
56 — Baggrave Spiny, 56 — Bunny Wood, 56— Burdett's Cover, 56 — Cream
Lodge Gorse, 57 — Glen Gorse, 57 — Green's Gorse, 58 — John Ball Cover, 58 —
Shoby Scholes, 59 — Widmerpool Inn, 59 — Charnwood Forest, 59— Nature of
the Leicestershire Covers, 60— Northstoke Wood, 61 — Anecdote of the late
Lord Huntingtower, 61— Stubton Gorse, 61— The Duke of Rutland, 62— Bel

vi CONTENTS.

voir Castle, 62.— The Cottesmore Country, 63— Crack Meets, 63— Wood-
villc Head, 63— Tilton "Wood, 63— Ram Jam, 63— "Wymondham Pasture, 64—
Whitwell Gorsc, 64— Cottesmore House, 64— Lord Lonsdale, 64— Covers in
Leicestershire hunted by other Hounds, 64— Misterton, 64— Stamford Hall, 64
—Mr. Applewhaite's Covers, 6-5— Burbage AVood, 65— Combe Abbey, 6.5—
Sutton Ambion, 6.5— Summary of Leicestershire, 66— Description of a Crack
Run in Leicestershire, 67-

CHAPTER III.

The Pleasures of Memory, 77— Earl Spencer, 78— Lord Alvanley, 79— Colonel
Anson, 79— The late Lord Amesbury, 80— The late Mr. Astley, 80— Christo-
pher Atkinson, 81— Dick Adamson, 81— Jack Bunce, 82 — The late Mr. Benton
on Heads, 83— The late Mr. Dansey on Heads, 8-3— Dickey Bayzand, 84— An-
ecdotes of him, 8.5— Burton, the Nuneaton Tanner, 87— Mr. C. Boultbee, 88—
Mr. John Boultbee, 88.— The Atherstone Country, 88— The late Lord
Vernon, 88— The Rev. G. Talbot, 88— Sam Lawley, 88— Harry Jackson, 88—
The Hon. S. Anson, 89— Character of the Atherstone in Lord Vernon's time,
89— Its Covers, 89— Masters of the Atherstone Hounds, 91— The Rev. G.
Talbot, Mr. Meynell, Mr. Adderley, Mr. Otway, Colonel Cooke, Mr. Os-
baldeston, 92— Sir B. Graham, 93— The Earl of Lichfield, 97— Sir John Gerard,
100— Mr. Applewhaite, 100.

CHAPTER IV.

Mr. Boultbee, 101— Richd. Bradley, 101— The Duke of Buccleuch, 102— The Duke
OF Buccleuch's Country, 104 — Dick Burton, 106 — Captain Burton, 107 — Mr.
Blount, 107— Mr. Middleton Biddulph, 107— Sir F. Burdett, 107— Mr. J. Bower,
108— Mr. Brj-mer, 109— Capt. Becher, 109— Lord Segrave, 110.— The Berke-
ley Country, 110 — Major Bland, 110 — H. Ayris, 112. — The Cheltenham
Country, 114 — Lord Segrave as a Master of Hounds, 11.5 — The Berkeley
Hunt Club, 117 — Sporting and Piety, 119 — Crack Riders in Lord Segrave's
Hunts, 120— Hon. C. Berkeley — Messrs. J. "Watts, "^''alters, "Wynniatt,
Cregoe, Bailey, Doyne, Coddrington, J. Charlton ; Captain Jenner, Mr. Maxse,
R. Canning, 120 — Cheltenham, 120 — Anecdotes of English Sporting Yeomen,
121— Tommy Frctwell, 121— Jerry Hawkins, 122— The Sporting Tailor, 128 ~
Captain J. Berkeley, 129— Captain A. Berkeley, 129— Mr. Grantley Berkeley,
129— Mr. Moreton Berkeley, 131— Johnny Bushe, 133— Parson Bennet, 13.3—
Mr. Bailey, 13.3— Sir R. Brook, 1.33— Colonel Brook, 134— Mr. Buck, 134—
Mr. G. Butler, 134— Bill Barke, L34— Jack Barnford, 134— Billy Breton, 134
—Sir E. Baker, 13-5- Bill Bean, 13-5- Will Barrow, 13.5— Captain Baird, 136
—Mr. De Burgh, 137— Sir James Boswell, 137.*

CHAPTER V.

The late Duke of Cleveland, 138— Crack Riders in theRaby Country, 142— Old Cor-
coran, 142—" Go along, Horse," 14.3— Mr. Cockbill, 143— Mr. Canning, 144—
Mr. Robert Canning, 146— Mr. "W. Coke, 148— The Fashion of Leathers, 149—
Mr. Childe of Kinlet, 149— Mr. H. Campbell, 1.50— Mr. Campbell of Saddel, 1.50
— Sir V. Cotton, 1.50— Messrs. Croxall, 1.50— Mr. S. Cresswcll, 1-50— Messrs. Cod-
rington, 1-50- Mr. Harvey Combe, 1.51— Channing, 131— Carter, 151— Jack

CONTENTS. VII

Chappie, 151— Mr. John Crew, 151— Mr. Claggett, 151— The Marquis of Clanri-
carde, 152 — Mr. Clarke, 152 — Dick Christian, 150— Mr. Letchmere Charlton,
153— Mr. F. Charlton, 153— Mr. Compton, 153— Mr. Otway Cave, 153— Sir G.
Cornwall, 153 — Lord Chesterfield, 154 — Lord Clonmell, 154— Sir John Dash-
wood (King), 154 — Messrs. G. and H. Dashwood, 154 — Mr. Davej-, 155 — Ad-
miral Dundas, 156 — Mr. Dowbiggin, 157 — The Messrs. Drake, 157 — The
present Duke of Cleveland, 158 — The Messrs. Delme, 158 — Mr. Darke, 159 —
Mr. Dansey, 159— Mr. Davis, 159— Mr. Doyne, 160— Mr. Drummond, 160—
Lord Delamere, 160— Mr. Empson, 161— Hon. John Elliott, 161— Captain
Evans, 161— Mr. Evans, 162— Messrs. Eyton, 162— Messrs. Edge, 162— The
late Lord Forester, 163 — The present Lord Forester, 165 — Major Forester,
166 — Hon. H. Fielding, 167— John Fryatt, 167— Mr. Brummell, 167— The
late Lord Charles Fitzroy, 168 — Lord James Fitzroy, 168 — Mr. Foljambe,
169— Mr. Fellowes, 169— Mr. Ford, 169— Mr. Fulwar Fowle, 169— Bob Forfeit,
169— Dick Foster, 169.

CHAPTER TI.

Sir Bcllingham Graham, 171 — The late Sir Harry Goodricke, 173— Mr. Gilmour,
177— Mr. Greene, 177— Mr. Gilbert, 178- General Gilbert, 178— Mr. Charles
Gould, 178— Mr. Gaskyl, 178— Mr. "W. Giffard, 178— Captain Greenwood, 179
—Captain Georges, 179— Hon. W. Gage, 179— Mr. C. Grseme, 179— Lord
Gage, 179— Mr. Gurney, 179— Stephen Goodall, 181— Goosey, 181— Lord
Robert Grosvenor, 181 — Mr. Gregson, 181 — Hon. George Germaine, 182 — The
late Sir S. Glynne, 183— Mr. Glegg, 183— Mr. Guildford, 183— Lord Howth,
184 — Sir Holyoake Goodricke, 184 — Hon. Martin Hawke, 185 — John Hawke,
186 — Warwickshire, 189 — Masters of Hounds in Warwickshire, 189 — Mr.
Warde, 189— Mr. Corbet, 189— Warwickshire Woodlands, 192— Crack Run in
Warwickshire, 192 — Warwickshire Covers, 192 — Warwickshire Enclosures,
194— Lord Middleton, 194— Mr. Shirley, 197— Mr. Hay, 197— Mr. Fellowes,
197— Mr. Russell, 197— The late Lord Willoughby de Broke, 198— The late
Earl of Aylesford, 198— The Earl of Clonmel, 198— Mr. West of Alscot, 198
— Sir John Mordaunt, 199 — Serjeant Goulburn, 199 — Crack Riders in War-
wickshire, 200— Mr. Wyatt, 201— Ben Holloway, 201— Mr. Holland, 201— Mr.
Hay, 201— Mr Handford, 201— Parson Hancox, 202— Bradley's Harry, 202—
The New Forest, 204— Mr. Harbin, 204— Capt. Harvey, 204— Sir Thomas
Harris, 205— Captain Healy, 205— Major Healy, 205— Mr Harland, 205—
Lord Hopetoun, 205— Mr. John Hill, 205— Sir John Hill, 205— Tom Hills,
206— Will Head, 206— Mr. F. Heysham, 206— Sir William Hoste, 206— Tom
Heycock, 206— Joe Harrison, 206— Mr. Harrison of Shelswell, 207.

CHAPTER YII.

Mr. Vere Isham, 208— Mr. H. Ishara, 208— Mr. Isted of Ecton, 209— The Earl of
Jersey, 209— Jonathan Griffin, 209— Mr. R. Jones, 210— Mr. Jones of
Brackley, 211 — Mr. Jenner, 211 — Sir F. Johnstone, 211 — Ludlow John,
211— Mr. W. Jolliffe, 212— Sir C. Knightly, 212— Lord Kintore, 213— Messrs.
Kingscote, 216 — Lord Kinnaird, 217 — Sir John Kaye, 217 — Captain Kennedy,
217— Mr. Knight of Chawton, 217— Mr. Kinmer, 217— John Lockley, 217—
Lord Lynedoch, 219— Mr. Ralph Lambton, 220— Sir R. Lawley, 220— Frank
Lawley, 221— Lord Wcnlock, 221— Sam Lawley, 221— Mr. Levett, 221— The

yiii CONTEXTS.

Earl of I.ichficld, 221— Mr. Lyccster, 222— Mr. Lloyd of Aston, 223— Mr.
Griffith Lloyd, 223-Mr. Lambert, 244— Mr. Lowth, 224— Mr. Joseph Leeds,
224— Colonel Lo^vther, 224— Captain Locke, 225— Lord Lisle, 225— Mr.
John Lucy, 225— The Messrs. Legard, 225.

CHAPTER VIII.

Oxfordshire, 226— The Beaufort Country, 227— Conspicuous riders of the
Beaufort Hunt, 229— The Rev. H. Waller, 229— The Somersets, 229— Mr. G.
Robins, 230— The late Duke of Beaufort, 230— Will Long, 231— Mr. Lewis,
231— Mr. Lindow, 232— Valentine Maher, 234— Mr. Maxse, 235— Sir J.
Musgrave, 237— Mr. Moore, 237— The late Lord Maynard, 238— Mr.
Musters, 238— The late Lord Middleton, 241— Lord C. Manners, 244—
Lord Fitzwilliam, 245 — Colonel Mellish, 245 -Lord Mostyn, 246— Mr.
Meyrick, 247— Major Moray, 247— Mr. Murray, 247— Mr. Mytton, 248— Mr.
Molony, 249— Mr. Montague, 249.— Captain Montague, 249— Sir C. Mordaunt,
250— Mr. Milbank, 250— Mr. Monson, 250— Mr. Maude, 251— Mr. A. Mac-
donald, 251— Mr. Medford, 251— Mr. S. Matthews, 251— George Marriott,
252— The Morants, 252— Mr. J. Martin, 253— Mr. Metcalfe, 254— Lord Ducie,
254— Lord Maryborough, 254— Mr. Morgan, 255— Mr. Neville, 256— Mr.
Napper, 256— Mr. Nicoll, 256— Mr. Field Nicholson, 256— Messrs. Newton,
256— Mr. Ncwnham, 257— Mr. Nunes, 257— Mr. F. North, 257— Mr. Norbury,
257.

CHAPTER IX.

Mr. Osbaldeston, 258— Hon. S. Ongley, 260— Lord Ongley, 261— The Oldakers,
261— Mr. H. Oxenden, 261— Mr. Smythe Owen, 261— Captain Owen, 261—
Mr. Oliver, 262— Mr. Minster, 263— The late Lord Plymouth, 263— Sir Henry
Peyton, 265— Mr. Peyton, 267.

CHAPTER X.

HAiirsHiRE, 269 — Sir John Cope's Country, 270 — Mr. Villebois's Country,
271 — Thorney Down, 272— The Hambledon Country, 274 — Mr. Laund, 274
— The Vine Country', 277 — Mr. Assheton Smith's Country, 279 — The
New Forest Country, 280— Lord Pollington, 283— Sir John Paul, 283— Mr.
Geo. Payne, 283— Mr. Parker, 283— Mr. John Price, 284— Mr. Barry Price, 285
— Capt. Price, 285— Mr. Robert Price, 286— Mr. Pu; shouse, 286— Mr. Parfutt,
286— Mr. Walsh Porter, 286— Capt. Pell, 287— Lord Rancliffe, 287— Mr. Wilson
Roberts, 288— Colonel Rolleston, 288— Mr. Rowland, 288- Jack Raven, 288—
Captain Horatio Ross, 289— Mr. Rawlinson, 292— Mr. H. Roberts, 292— Mr.
Richards, 292— Mr. Ridsdale, 292— Roffey, 292— Jack Richards, 292— Ran-
som, 293— Tom Rose, 293— Mr. T. A. Smith, 294— Mr. Smith, (late of the
Craven,) 303— Mr. Loraine Smith, 308— Mr. Smith of Kcmpshot, 309.

CHAPTER XI.

Mr. Sargenson, 310— Mr. George Swann, 310 — Sir Tatton Sykes, 310—
Messrs. Shafto, 310— Sir Grey Skipwith, 311— Mr. Sheldon, 311— Lord
Granville Somerset, 311— Lord Charles Somerset, 311— Mr. C. Stan-
dish, 312— Billy Stewart, 312— Count Sandor, 312— Shaw, 313— Jack Stevens,

CONTENTS. IX

314— Jack Shirley, 314— Will Staples, 315— Shock, 31o— Shock Jem, 315—
Mr. Shaw, 316— The late Sir Horace St. Paul, 317— Major St. Paul, 317— Mr.
Sloper, 317.

CHAPTER XII.

Mr. Thomlin, 318— The Marquis of Tavistock (present Dulie of Bedford), 318—
Mr. Thornhill, 319— Mr. J. Tomkinson, 319— Major Tomkinson, 319— Mr.
George Templar, 319— Mr. H. Taylor, 319— Mr. Tatchell, 320— Mr. Tilbury,
320— Dr. Trotter, 320— Mr. Vernon, 320— The Hon. Joshua Vanneck, 320—
Mr. Frederick Villebois, 321— Mr. Vansittart, 321— Mr. Vevers, 321— Mr.
Villiers, 321— Rev. John Vennor, 321— Mr. Vaughton, 322— General Sir
Harry Warde, 322— Mr. Henry Walter, 322— Mr. Worrall, 322— Mr. Whar-
ton, 322— Mr. Reginald Wynniatt, 323— Mr. Wroughton, 323— Jacob War-
dell, 323— Mr. Willan, 324— Mr. Henry Wyatt, 324— Mr. Wing, 326— Bill
Wright, 326— Tom Wingfield, 326— Mr. Whitworth, 326— Mr. Wynoe, 326—
Mr. Watson, 326— Matty Wilkinson, 327— Mr. Webb, 327— Mr. Wightwick
327— Colonel Wallace, 327— Mr. Edward Woodbridge, 327— Mr. Richard
Williams, 327— General Williams, 328— Mr. John Wormald, 328— Mr. Wood,
328— Mr. William Williamson, 328— John Winter, 329— Jack Wood, 329—
Bob Williams, 329— Major Wyndham, 330- General Henry Wyndham, 331—
Lord Waterford, 331— Earl of Wilton, 331— Mr. White, 331— Colonel
Yates, 332.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

1 " Hie you, Sir ! Catch my horse !"

2 The Kennel ....

3 Going out ....

4 " Tally Ho"— Initial T.

5 " Hey ! Rantipole" — Initial C.

6 Plan of the Burton Hunt

7 Plan of the Quorn Hunt .

8 Plan of the Pytehley Hunt

9 Plan of the Belvoir Hunt

10 Plan of the Cottesmore Hunt

11 The Return Home

12 The Road-side— Initial I.

13 " Who's afraid"— Initial V.

14 Plan of the Oakley Hunt

15 " Rather hot, I'm afraid!" .

16 Taken in Style— Initial I.

17 Plan of the Royal Hunt

18 " Come along — Come" — Initial G.

19 The Cover-side

20 Hounds in Kennel — Initial L.

21 " Good morning my dear" — Initial 0.

22 Plan of the Beaufort Hunt .

23 " Who is for Melton ?"

24 "Who-whoop!"

25 " That's the Road"— Initial F.

26 " Over he goes !" .

27 "Yoi! Over!"— Initial H.

28 Plan of the Hambledon Hunt

29 " Let a Man come to it"

30 A Row in the Roost— Initial U

31 Gently, Gently, Gentlemen, if you Please

thank ye . . • .

32 The Road to Cover— Initial T

Drawn by Wildrake
. Wildrake

Frontispiece.
Title. .

Wildrake 1
Wildrake 1
Wildrake 32
61
64
68
61
63

. H. Aiken 76

. Wildrake 77

Wildrake 101

130

H. Aiken 137
. Wildrake 138

159

. Wildrake 171

. C. Henderson 202

. Wildrake 208

. Wildrake 226

228

. Wildrake 235

. ■ . . H. Aiken 257

. Wildrake 258

Wildrake 268

. Wildrake 269

275

. Wildrake 286
Wildrake 310
One Moment, and I'll

Wildrake 313
. AVildrake 318

©[K]/Si[^irLi[^ Qc

n \i| /

HERE is oftentimes as
much pleasure in looking
back as forward ; and a
lively recollection of the
persons and performances
of some of our first-rate
sportsmen, contributes to
the cheerfulness of many
of my passing hours. Thus
it has occurred to me, that
^ I may transfer to the Sport-
ing World, some portion of
this self-gratification, as
well as amuse some leisure
moments by inditing short notices of the various eminent
sportsmen who have come under my eye — whether as
riders to hounds — or as masters of fox-hounds, and
huntsmen ; as likewise of a few of those who have filled
inferior situations in the various departments of " the noble

2 HUXTIKG REMINISCENCES.

science." I make no apology for doing this. Any man
who excels in the station in which he is placed, is entitled to
commendation, and— in allusion to that part of the sports-
man's prowess, riding to hounds— as we have greater reason
to look for quickness of perception, coolness under diffi-
culties, anticipation of events, self-command, and above all
a light hand and a firm seat, together with the other essen-
tials to a good horseman, in a person of a superior caste in
life, we should set a higher value on a happy combination
of such qualities when we find it in a servant, or indeed in
any one who has not had the advantages which we have our-
selves possessed. Such is the outline of my intended offering
to the sporting world, and I will throw off at once in my
native county, Shropshire.

Shropshire is one of the largest of our English counties,
being about fifty miles in length, and nearly as much in
breadth ; it is surrounded by three Welsh, and four English
counties, so that it is scarcely necessary to state that its
surface presents every variety of feature, and every descrip-
tion of soil; on the whole, it is pretty well cultivated, holds
a fair rank among the provincials as a field for fox-hounds,
and is celebrated for its breed of horses, whilst every man in
it, who has the means, is a sportsman, fox-hunting being the
favourite diversion ; although the shooter, the courser, and
the fisherman, have all signal oaportunities of amusing
themselves.

Shropshire — that is to say in its various parts — has
been hunted by the following persons, several of whom have
held conspicuous situations in the sporting world, namely :
the late Earl of Stamford ; the Hon. Noel Hill, afterwards
Lord Berwick, whose country extended from ten miles
below Shrewsbury, to Lutterworth, in Leicestershire, a
distance of upwards of seventy miles ! the late much re-
nowned Mr. Childe, of Kinlet-hall, near Cleobury-Morti-
mer, who is celebrated as having been one of the first
to introduce the present spirited method of riding to
hounds, and who was a friend of the great Meynell ; the

SHROPSHIRE MASTERS OF HOUNDS. .1

late very noted Mr. Forester, of Willey-park, near Broseley,
uncle to the late Lord ; the late equally celelD rated Mr.
Corbet, of Sundorne-castle, near Shrewsbury, who so long
hunted Warwickshire ; the late Mr. Richard Dansey, of
Easton-court, near Ludlow, father of the gentleman of that
name who afterwards hunted Nottinghamshire ; the late Sir
John Hill, Bart., o'f Hawkestone, near Hodnot, the father of
heroes and sportsmen, and one of the best sportsmen of his
own day ; the late Colonel John Hill, eldest son of Sir John,
a very scientific man with hounds, and one of the best horse-
men in England ; Sir Richard Puleston, of Emral Park,
near Whitchurch, with whom I first saw hounds; Sir Edward
Smythe, Bart., of Acton Burnell Park ; the late Colonel
Cook, author of " Observations on Fox-Hunting ;" Mr. I,
Cressett Pelham, then M.P. for the county ; Mr. Bovcott, of
Rudge Hall, near ShifFnal ; Mr. Walter Giffard, of Chil-
lington Hall, near Wolverhampton; the late Mr. Mytton,
of Halston, Sir Edward Smythe, ]\Ir. Smythe Owen, of
Condover Hall, near Shrewsbury, and Mr. Llovd, of
Aston, near Oswestry ; which three gentlemen, conjointly,
assumed the direction of what is termed the Shropshire
country, when resigned by Sir Bellingham Graham. The
Ludlow side of the country was likewise hunted some twenty
years or so back, by two scratch packs ; one kept by the
latd Mr. Adams, of Ludlow, a solicitor ; the other a sub-
scription p^ck, at the h^d of which was a yeoman by the
name of Aston, of Botterill Aston, near Bridg-enorth, a o-ood ■
sportsman, and a good workman in the saddle over a very
rough country. It was ofthis pack, called the Wrickton hounds,
that thelate Mr. Forester, of Willey, — one of the old school of
fox-hunters, — made an answer, so truly in character with the
man, to the question, " whether he approved of them .-'" having
been out with them a few years previously to his decease at
a very advanced age ; " Very much, sir," said he ; " I did not
see one d — d fellow in white top-hoots among the whole field ;
depend upon it they are sportsmen."

Before we throw off our hounds in this sporting country,

n 2

4 HUNTING REMINICENCES.

we will take one cast around it, and look at it with the eyes
of the general sportsman, as well as of the devoted fox-
hunter, who holds most other pastimes cheap. The fisher-
man is quite at home in Shropshire ; independently of the
Severn, which contains twenty-two sorts of fish, the Teme
and Corve, so celebrated for their grayling, and the Perry
for its trout, there are some as fine lakes as any midland
county can produce. Those of Ellesmere, Whitemere, and
Colemere, cover nearly three hundred acres of ground, and
abound in the finest pike ; at Sir Edward Smythe's, at Acton
Burnell, is a magnificent piece of water, covering twenty-
five acres, and the lakes of Hawkestone, Walcot, and Marton,
are of very considerable extent. The three meres above
mentioned, are great ornaments to the country, and they
are all to be seen from the high road to Chester ; they are
elegantly bordered by well cultivated banks, and although
none of them are the parents of streams, yet the supply from
springs keeps them always full. In the preserved waters
of Mr. Knight, of Downton Castle, near Ludlow, and at
the small village of Lentwardine, just in the county of Here-
ford, is the best grayling fishing in England.

The courser has always had an opportunity of trying the
speed and stoutness of his kennel in Shropshire. Previously
to the enclosure of Morfe Forest, near Bridgenorth, the
Morfe club showed excellent sport, and now and then pro-
duced a dog that rivalled the best blood of the south. This
celebrated ground , once a chase having deer, has long since been
disafforested, and was enclosed in 1815, giving between five
and six thousand acres of enclosed land ; it is however still
good coursing ground, and well stocked with hares. There
are many large preserves of game in Shropshire, and also
much wild shooting for sportsmen, from its vicinity to the
Welsh hills ; it is likewise, particularly on the Shiffnal side,
very celebrated as partridge ground. I am anything but
an advocate of battues, and unlimited slaughter of game, by
which everything in the character of sporting is swamped ;
but as a chronicler of sporting events, it may not be amiss to

SHROPSHIRE HORSES.

5

mention one day's shooting in Shropshire, as perhaps it was
seldom if ever exceeded in the very hot-bed of game. The late
Mr. Mytton and Mr. W. GifFard, his brother-in-law, left the
house at Halston, at ten o'clock in the forenoon of a very
wet and short day in December ; and between that hour
and dinner, shot 430 head of game; 333 of which were
pheasants. It was for a bet of 100 so vs. ; and the contend-
ing party killed 424 head, all in the Halston preserves ! !

It is to be regretted that the county of Salop, as it is
called, is not more favourable than it is to fox-hunting,
because there is no county in England where the " noble
science" is more respected and encouraged. Perhaps among
the higher order of its inhabitants there are more sportsmen,
— at all events, more well-wishers to sport, — than most of
our shires can boast : but of one fact we may assure our-
selves, there never was a body of men more truly friendly
to fox-hunting, and indeed to all other field sports, than the
Shropshire yeomen are ; and until crippled, as they have
of late years been, by bad times, almost every man of them
took the field. I do not forget Stephen Matthews on his
black mare, and a few more of " the zealous boys," as Sir
Bellingham Graham called them, particularly after a certain
hour of the day. I remember also, being particularly
gratified by the excellent feeling that subsisted between
tenant and landlord ; so long as this feeling lasts, nothing
can destroy England, and I do not hesitate to assert, that
nothing tends more to keep it alive, than our various sports
of the field, in which an unceremonious intercourse exists
between the higher orders and their inferiors, engendering
mutual admiration and respect.

Shropshire has long been celebrated for its horses, having
produced more good hunters than any other county (York-
shire I suppose excepted) in England : this arises from two
causes ; in the first place, the yeomanry have always been
distinguished for their very sporting character, and in the
next, they have been fortunate in their stallions. A horse
called the Hundred-house Snap, a descendantof Snap, by Snip,

6 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

and full of Arabian blood, covered many years in the county,
and his blood is by no means extinct ; the late Lord Forester
used to swear by the Snap horses, which for stoutness in
their work and good constitutions in the stable, were, he
said, excelled by none ; then there were several others very
nearly as good ; there was old Revenge, by Marske, out of
Figurante by Regulus, and bred in the neighbouring
county ; also Tommy, by Wildair, out of a Syphon mare,
her dam by Blank, the produce of each, as stout as steel.
Warwickshire men will remember Will. Barrow's two
splendid chesnuts, one by Revenge, and the other by Tommy I
a horse called Collier's Grey, on account of his being the pro-
perty of a person of that name at Ludlow, was likewise a
capital stallion for hunters in early days, as was a horse
called Minister, bred by Mr. Vernon of Hilton : all this
good old blood I consider to have laid the foundation of
the excellence of Shropshire horses, and the acquisition of
Sultan, who also covered many years in the county, has
been the means of preserving it. The Sultans have not
generally proved handsome, but are very stout in the field,
and for the most part make excellent hunters ; since Sultan's
time however, there have been many good stallions intro-
duced, and Shropshire horses are still in high repute. It is
somewhat extraordinary, but no less true, that all dealers
who have been accustomed to purchase Shropshire horses,
declare that they excel all other country-bred horses for keep-
ing up their condition ; and 1 well know that the principal
London dealers have always persons on the look out for
horses bred in Shropshire.

I will commence with the worst part, and so proceed
to the best. The Ludlow side of the county of Salop is
extremely rough and unfavourable for hounds, abounding
in hills, deserving the title of mountains, and woods almost
amounting to forests ; one part of it, however, deserves
notice from the peculiar method of hunting it ; we allude
to the fastnesses on the Clee-hills, called Titterstones, where
the foxes are stopped out by fires lighted at the mouths of

SHROPSHIRE THE LUDLOW COUNTRY. /

them in the night.* Although the surrounding country is
extremely rough and difficult, this is an interesting meet in
the spring, as the fox is hunted from his earth, which he is
forced to leave, by the drag, at an early hour of the
morning, and generally jumps up in view. Mr. Childe of
Kinlet hunted this place when he kept fox-hounds, and
used to surprise the natives by the rapidity w itli which he
would gallop down the sides of this hill, 1600 feet above the
level, amidst very large stones ; but he always asserted that
a horse which had free command of his legs, afouM never
fall on such ground, provided the rider gave him his head, to
enable him to see his ground ; he said the position of his
haunches was his security, but it is not every one, who, like
himself, has nerve and hand to try the experiment.

The well known Will. Barrow, many years huntsman to
Mr. Corbet's hounds, in Warwickshire, whipped in to Mr.
Childe at the time I am alluding to, and I have heard
him tell of this exploit of Mr. Childe ; I have also heard
him speak of the riot his hounds were subjected to 'on these
Clee Hills, by the little black sheep which are depastured
there jumping up before them, in view.

This part of Shropshire, however, is a capital test of horse-
flesh. If a horse will carry a man from the Titterstone-Clee
Hills, over the Brown Clee Hill to Kinlet Hall or Apley
Castle on one side, or to Wenlock-edge, on the other, with
a good fox and a good scent, he may be pronounced fit to
go in any country under the sun, as he will encounter every
kind of soil, every variation of ground, and every description
of fence. In fact, to keep his legs, he must possess the
activity of a cat, — and his rider must not be shy.

On the northern side of Ludlow, bordering on Hereford-
shire, is a fairish country for hounds, but very difficult for
horses, as the vales, which are narrow and deep, are very
strongly fenced, and hills every where abound.

In short, a fox found near Ludlow sometimes sh?5ws a run

* Strange to say, several bitch-foxes, who have laid up their cubs in these sub-
terranean places, have darted through the fires made at their mouths, and in defiance
of the shouts of the men attendin jthem.

8 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

of a very extraordinary character. He quits a very highly
cultivated country at a very short notice, and leads his
pursuers over mountains,— the Longmynd, for instance —
scarcely inferior to the Welsh. This, with part of Hereford-
shire, was the country hunted by the late Mr. Dansey, and
afterwards by Mr. Adams of Ludlow. Mr. Dansey was a
sportsman of the old school — a great friend of the late Mr.
Forester of Willey, and partook of some of the eccentricities
of that renowned sportsman. In his dress, he atfected the
style and costume of the plain English yeoman, but he was
a noble specimen of a man in his general appearance,
which was commanding ; and he was a most faithful repre-
sentation of a true-born John Bull. Perhaps the following
anecdote, given by a friend, may present a true picture of
this sportsman, as far as his toilet was concerned. My
friend was on one side of a thick hedge, and Mr. Dan-
sey on the other, but not visible to him. Mr. Dansey
having dismounted to do something to his saddle, his horse
was unwilling that he should mount him again, and a hearty
oath or two was the consequence, for the hounds were
finding their fox at the moment. At length — for he was
heavy, and inclined to be corpulent — he seized a favourable
opportunity for a spring, and found himself well seated in
his saddle. But a lamentable disaster occurred. In the
act of accomplishing this feat, crack went his braces in the
middle and down went his hreeks. " There by G — d,"
said he to himself, "there's a pretty job ; Tve only taken to
icear braces six weeks, and Til bet a guinea I lose my breeches
before we kill this fox."

Mr. Dansey was a very superior sportsman, and had one
of the finest and most musical pipes for a view holloa I
ever remember to have heard. He could make those large
Shropshire and Herefordshire woodlands ring with his voice,
from one end to the other of them, and his style of encou-
raging hounds in their work was delightful to the ear of a
sportsman — very much a la Musters, who, I am certain,
would have been gratified by having a sight of him. In

MR. DANSEY. »

society also, he was most amusing, having the high animal
spirits of a school boy ; but he died before he was fifty, a
martyr, perhaps, to those temptations which so few of us are
able altogether to resist.

Mr. Dansey was a good horseman, and a still better judge
of a hunter — often selling one for a good round sum. I
remember him telling an excellent anecdote of his having
Rold one called Jupiter for five hundred guineas — a very
large sum " by Jupiter" in those days — to a gentleman who
forgot to pay for him. After several unsuccessful applica-
tions, he hit on the following expedient. He went to his
house, and sat himself down in the kitchen. Now, said he,
here I am, till I get my money. I don't want your fine made-
dishes, but here is plenty of bacon in the rack, and lots of
perry-washings* in the pantry, and I shall do very well for
a fortnight or three weeks to come ! The threat had the
desired efiect, and the payment for Jupiter followed. Such,
indeed, was the strength of Mr. Dansey's constitution at
that time, that he would no doubt have performed his
promise, for no man, not even John Lockley, thought less
of sleep than he did. It was nothing uncommon with him
to go to his hounds from the festive board, without looking
at his bed, but the strongest frame — and his was adamant
— is not proof against such daring encroachments.

Had he taken as much care of himself, as Lockley did of
his equally fine frame, Mr. Dansey might probably have
lived to an equal age.

The Ludlow country was subsequently hunted by a sub-
scription pack, called the Ludlow hounds, under the direction
of the late Mr. Adams, of that place, a solicitor, and for
many years owner of a very strong pack of harriers, for
which that part of Shropshire is better fitted than for fox-
hounds,— not being roomy enough for fox-hunting, exclusive
of other inconveniences Mr. Adams was a good sports-
man, and I say this from practical observation of him in the

* Pern -washings — a sort of inferior perry, vfhich that county abounds with, and
a luvourite beverage witli Mr. D.

10 HUNTING REWINISCENCES,

field, having hunted with him a good deal at various periods
durino- the four or five years I resided in the neighbourhood
of Ludlow. He had a practice in his kennel, however, Avhich
I could not approve of, viz., that he did not boil his
flesh, and pursued the very old custom, when a horse was
killed for the kennel, of letting his hounds have a bellyful
of the offal.

Considering the extreme roughness of the greater part of
his country, Mr. Adams showed very good sport, and his

huntsman, John (I forget his surname) had nearly

the best hand on his horse my eyes ever beheld. And as a
specimen of his country, I will relate an anecdote. On my
return from Warwickshire, where I always hunted in those
days after the first week in November, I was accosted by my
next neighbour, a right good sportsman, with '' you should
have been with us last Monday" — describing a run over a
great extent of country fitted for anything rather than fox-
hunting. " Who had the best of it ? " said I, fancying
myself in Warwickshire, where such a question would have
been asked. " I think the boy upon the mule," was my
friend's reply. Now I doubt not the correctness of his
opinion. Mr. Adams's whipper-in, a very clever boy, rode
a still cleverer mule ; in fact, he could all but climb a tree,
and therefore could frequently go where horses could not.

The LudloAV country adjoins the Shiffnal country, to
which we will now proceed, and, although not very favour-
able to scent, the soil being for the most part too light, I
do not hesitate to pronounce it the most gentleman-like
part of Shropshire for fox-hunting, and, in some parts of it,
capable of showing many good runs in the season.

This country has occasionally been used as an auxiliary
to others. For example. Sir Richard Puleston hunted it
with his home country. Sir Bellingham Graham hunted it
in 1823, and in 1824 he also had it with the Atherstone
country, and used to hunt it for six weeks at a time at two
periods of the season, having his kennel at Ivetsy Bank, on
the old West Chester road. Mr. Mytton did the same, and

MR. BOYCOTT. 1 1

used the same kennel Avhen he had his fox-hounds at
Halston, also hunting a sniall country near home. Colonel
Cook likewise hunted it ; as also did Mr. Osbaldeston
when he had the Atherstone. It then became a regular,
detached hunting country, taken with a subscription by
Mr, Boycott ; and as such we will proceed to look at it.

Mr. Boycott was not a master of fox-hounds previously to
his taking to this country, but was very well known as a
sportsman, though better perhaps as a good rider to hounds.

Here, indeed, he has been conspicuous, and particularly so
— the best test of horsemanship, by the bye — for being in a
good place on a middling horse. But we must do him the
justice to say he has had many good ones, and sold several
hunters, at large prices. Gentlemen huntsmen, however,
being in fashion in his time, Mr. Boycott performed the
office himself, assisted by two good whippers-in, and showed
very fair sport — quite as good indeed as could be looked for
in a country like his, from a new master of hounds, and all
the accompanying disadvantages. His kennel was at his
own seat, at Rudge Hall, about seven miles from Shiffnal,
on the Bridgenorth side, and he hunted three days a week,
throughout the season. His pack was composed of a strong
body of hounds which he purchased of a Mr. Nunn, near
Colchester, and of drafts, of course, from others. His health
declining, caused him to give up the hounds, but, to the last
he was a difficult man to beat on his old white horse.

This country is now no longer called the Shiffnal, but the
Albrighton country, the kennel being removed to a village
called Albrighton, on the Wolverhampton side.

The Albrighton country is very narrow, commencing near
Cannock, in the neighbourhood of Mr. Littleton's and Lord
Anglesey's, and stretching into Worcestershire, on the
Stourbridge side ; these points may be said to bound its
length. Those denoting its width may be called Wolver-
hampton town and Newport,

The pleasantest part of Shropshire, although not the most
favourable to hounds in their work, is the country I am

12 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

now speaking of. There are a few fixtures in it which can
show fine runs, with no obstacles to going on with a good
flying fox, which cannot be said of the greater part of Shrop-
shire. For instance, the Lizard, between ShifFnal and
Newport, the property of the Earl of Bradford ; Snowdon-
pool* ; Patshull (Sir G. Pigot's) ; High Onn Wood ; Ton-
grough ; Brewood Park ; Chillington ; Woodcote Park (Mr.
Coates's) ; Sheriff Hales ; Bishop's Wood ; Boscobel ; Mr.
Botfield's cover ; the Manor Rough ; Mr. Slaney's gorse ;
Ryton gorse (Mr. H. Molyneux's) ; Wrottesley covers (Sir
John Wrottesley 's), near Wolverhampton; Rudge Heath and
gorse (Mr. Boycott's) ; the Ran-dans (Worcestershire) ; Gat-
acre Park; Davenport House; Enville (Lord Stamford's); Dud-
maston ; Whitty Moor, &c., &;c. On the Bridgenorth side,
likewise, are some good wild fixtures ; such as Apley Castle
(Mr. Whitmore's) ; Stanleys (Sir Tyrrwhit Jones's) ; Morf
Forest ; Pudsey's gorse. White Ladies is another of the
Albrighton fixtures. Within a mile of it is a place cele-
brated in ancient history as having been the refuge of the
unfortunate Charles after the battle of Worcester ; and in
modern times, as, for more than forty years, the residence of
one of our first sportsmen — the late John Lockley.

The subscription to the Albrighton hounds being on rather
a limited scale, admits of no unnecessary display.

What is generally termed "the field" is not numerous in the
Albrighton country, seldom exceeding fifteen or twenty red
coats, and perhaps a score of others of divers shades,
not excluding hlack. Among the principal attendants
on the Albrighton in my time were the following : — Mr.
Holyoake (father of the Leicestershire flyer) ; Colonel
Horton, an excellent sportsman, and always in a good place ;
Messrs. Horden, Wrottesley, and Pigott ; the two Messrs.
Eytons, of Wellington ; Mr. St. John Charlton ; Mr. John
Aston, an old and zealous sportsman ; Mr. Boycott ; Mr.
Evans, of Wolverhampton, renowned for the condition of his

* Sir Bclliiigham Graham found fifteen foxes in sixteen days' draw, in this cover,
when Mr. K. Slauey liad it.

SHROPSHIRE RIDERS. 13

horses, and consequently for the good prices he has received
for them ; Mr. Botfiekl, of Decker Hill ; Mr. Gatacre, of
Gatacre ; Mr. Charles Whitmore, a zealous sportsman ; Sir
Thomas Boughey, the best mounted man in the country ;
Messrs. Jasper, Bedford, Jones, and Wright, good men over
a country; Mr. Slaney, then M. P. for Shrewsbury, and his
brother, occasional attendants on these hounds — the former
hunting chiefly with the Shropshire hounds, and the latter
residing in London, but now and then making his appear-
ance on a good one; Mr. Smith, of Badger, never missing
a day ; Mr. Charles GifFard, a lively boy in the field ;
cum multis aliis — too numerous to mention.

Having named the Messrs. Eyton, it may not be
amiss to give a good anecdote of Mr, Charles Eyton.
Coming up one day to the Hatton Brook (no trifle at any
part of it), as the hounds were drawing over the country,
some one sang out that there was a ford close at hand. " So
much the better," said he ; " but my horse has seen the
brook, and he will be quite uncomfortable for the rest of the
evening if I don't let him jump it ; so here goes !" Another
good anecdote is related respecting the establishment of the
Albrighton packs, when Mr. GifFard succeeded Mr, Boycott.
He purchased Mr. Dansey's pack, when that gentleman
relinquished Herefordshire, as Mr. Boycott was desirous
that his hounds should go to a distant country. He con-
sented, however, that a few couples of them should be
offered to Mr. Giffard, provided the selection was made by
a stranger. The stranger appeared ; and having selected
the very best hounds in the pack, Mr. Boycott declared off,
protesting against playing any longer at that game !

The principal part of Shropshire, as a hunting country,
is occupied by what are called the Shropshire hounds ; but
it has for many years past been but very irregularly hunted
— indeed, for several seasons without any hounds at all. It
was, however, at last taken by J. Cressett Pelham, Esq., of
Cound Hall, near Shrewsbury. The eccentricity of Mr.
Pelham's character is too well known to need remark ;

14 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

neither is it necessary to add that as a man of honour and a
gentleman it stands high everywhere. But I believe I
may state without the cliance of contradiction, that eccentri-
city of character, and the management of a pack of fox-
hounds, accord but ill. The man to shine here is your
straight-forward, plain-dealing, matter-of-fact man, firm in
purpose, and still firmer in action. Of Mr. Pelham, then,
as a master of hounds, I have not much to say ; but the
thanks of sportsmen are always due to a gentleman who
hunts a country so long as Mr. Pelham hunted Shropshire,
all at his own cost. Mr. Pelham was succeeded by Sir
Edward Smythe, Bart., of Acton Burnell Hall, near Shrews-
bury, a sportsman of many years' standing, and very popular
among the Salopians.

In 1823, the gentlemen resident on the Shrewsbury side
of the county, determined upon building a kennel and stable,
suitable to a proper fox-hunting establishment, and their
resolutions were put into effect in a very masterly manner, at
an expense of £1,500, which sura was raised by subscription.
The kennel, capable of holding a hundred couple of hounds,
and complete in every respect, with stalled stabling for
twenty-six hunters, and six loose boxes, was built within
two miles of the town, on the Whitchurch-road, and, as
soon as the walls became dry, was occupied by the hounds
and horses of Sir Bellingham Graham, who took to the
country with a subscription in 1824, and hunted it, together
with the Shiffnal country, two years and a half. The prin-
cipal covers the Shropshire hounds hunt are within reach of
this kennel, but there is also a temporary one at Lee Bridge,
when they meet on the Prees side, where some of their best
covers lie.

Shropshire, as a hunting country, varies more than any
other with which I am acquainted, some part of it being
good, a great deal of it indifferent, but by far the greater
part bad. All this, however, is very easily accounted for.
In the first place, a large river, the Severn, runs through the
centre of it, and is consequently a serious interruption to

SHROPSHIRE. 15

hounds. The height called the Wrekin also presents
itself in nearly the best part of it for sport, and the gene-
rality of the covers are large and rough. Nor are these all
the objections to it. The low lands are deep, and, in many
parishes, boggy ; and black, false-bottomed drains — the most
unpleasant obstacle to the sportsman — abound in some
directions, and, unfortunately, in those in which foxes are
much given to run. As to those parts of the country con-
tiguous to Bridgenorth, Much Wenlock, and Ludlow, they
are perfect antidotes to fox-hunting ; but still they have
been hunted by fox -hounds as long as I can remember, and
I hope they will long continue to be so.

Shropshire is an easy country for horses as regards fences.
They are on banks, with single ditches, and by no means
large, but they lie thick, and being thorny, are injurious
to horses' legs. In short, all the provincial countries are of
this character. But Shropshire requires a hunter, and a
good one, to carry a man with hounds, as three fields in four
are ploughed, and almost every field in the Shropshire hunt
is deep in the winter months. In the Shiffnal country this
is not the case. "With the exception of the turnip-fields
(and they are many), the soil being light, that country carries
the horses above ground, and the fields, particularly on the
Newport side, are larger than those about Shrewsbury.

The best part of the Shropshire country lies between the
towns of Wem and Drayton, where there is a great expanse of
level fertile plain, which, though described by one of its topo-
graphical historians as " flat, dirty, and unpleasant," is on
that account favourable to hounds. It is in this flat, dirty,
and unpleasant vale that the best cover in the hunt is to be
found, called the Twenlows, the property of Sir Rowland
Hill, Bart. This place is really capable of showing a run,
should the fox be inclined to fly from it ; for there is a large
expanse of deep country before him, such as keeps the horses
back (a good brook generally at starting, for instance), and
gives the hounds a chance. But the great evil in Shrop-
shire is its hollowness, which almost makes it impossible to

16 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

keep foxes above ground for any length of time. I remem-
ber the curious fact of Sir Bellingham running thirteen out
of sixteen of his foxes to ground the second season he hunted
it ; but this might be remedied by digging out many of
those which are not breeding earths. It is, however, a
roomy country, and admits of four regular days a week ; is
generally full of foxes, and lies (in the part hunted by the
Shropshire) very well for scent, considering the great pro-
portion of ploughed land.

A grand feature in the Shropshire country is Hawkestone
Park, the seat of the Hills, among whom was one of the
best sportsmen England ever saw — the late Sir John Hill.
As a meet for hounds, Hawkestone is anything but good, as
not one time in ten will a fox fly from the security of its
rocks and covers ; but it is an excellent nursery for foxes,
and they make for it, before hounds, from various parts of
the country. As connected with fox-hounds, and in cha-
racter with the natural predilection of the family for the
noble diversion of fox-hunting — to which, perhaps, may be
owing the prowess they have displayed in arms — one of the
lions of the place, to which the stranger is conducted by
the guide, is a singular crag of a pyramidical form, finely
clad with ivy-bound trees, and strong underwood, called the
" Fox's Knob," from the circumstance of a fox having been
unkennelled there, which leaped into the valley beneath.
The fall being great, reynard was killed on the spot, and
also some hounds that followed him. The terrace at Hawkes-
tone is one of the finest in England ; and in the grounds,
which are most extensive, there is every variety of hill, vale,
wood, and water.

There are two other conspicuous places in the Shropshire
hunt— Hayman Hill and Nesscliff. The former is on the
property of the Corbets of Sundorne, and commands a
splendid view of the Shropshire Vale. It is needless to
observe, that being on the Sundorne property it is always a
sure find, and often shows a run— sometimes to Hawkestone,
at others to Acton Burnell, &c., &c. The other fixture,

SIR RICHARD PULESTOX. 17

noted in ancient history, is NessclifF, ten miles from Shrews-
bury, on the Oswestry road, so called from a clitF Avhich
overhangs the place, in which is a cave said to have been
the hiding place of a notorious robber, who plundered that
part of the country. NessclifF is a sure find, and a Halston
fox affords a pretty run over a stiff and deep country.

Acton BurnellPark, Sir Edward Smythe's,wasone of their
best meets, and, being the property of such a dear lover of the
sport, andjointmaster of the pack, was of course wel' preserved.
Here are the remains of the old castle in which a par-
liament was held in the reign of Edward the First, and in
which the sovereign himself was entertained.

The late Sir Richard Puleston hunted part of Shropshire
from his own kennel at Emra). The Duke of Bridge-
water's covers were some of his chief preserves for foxes, and
Petton, Boreatton Park, and Oatley Park near Ellesmere,
among his best fixtures in the county.

Having been dropped within ten miles of his kennel. Sir
Richard Puleston's were the first fox-hounds that I hunted
with. Sir Richard was never what is termed a hard rider,
but always a good horseman, and was so considered in
Leicestershire in his early days. When on Flying Ben or
his Blue horse, each of which carried him many years, he
was generally in a good place with his own hounds if
they ran straight, and a perfect knowledge of his country
gave him great advantages when they did not. He was
what may be called a very gentleman-like horseman, but not
a dashing one, nor so quick as those of the present day.
But it was not here " like master like man," Jack Bartlet,
Sir Richard's first whipper-in, was one of the quickest of the
quick. Nor was this all. In those days, five and thirty
years since, it was somewhat rare to see a servant sitting at
ease on his saddle, without having his knees very much
bent, his rump stuck out as though it was not part of him-
self, and his horse's head in a vice, as it were, from the
iron grasp of a great mutton fist. I was of course but a
youth when tlie performance of Jack Bartlet first attracted

c

18 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

my notice, but so much the more striking must have been
his superiority ; and I well remember his vast quickness in
getting to his hounds, and the neat, nay, elegant manner in
which he handed his horses over the awkward, rather than
large, fences of his very enclosed country ; a field of fifteen
acres being somewhat of a novelty in it. I have him now
fresh in my mind's eye, on his grey cropped stallion. Helmet,
or a still better hunter, a thorough-bred mare, called Eu-
phrosyne, which he rode for many years; and I must do
justice to his memory (for I believe he is gone to ground)
to say, that I have yet to see a neater, quicker, or better
horseman thr.n Jack Bartlet. He was, however, cast in the
right mould to ride. His frame was slender but well propor-
tioned, with good length of fork for his height, his shoulders
well back, and his weight about eleven stone with his saddle.

Sir Richard Puleston kept fox-hounds, on and off, as the
saying is, upwards of thirty years ; and besides the Shifiiial
country, hunted the Atherstone, now held by Mr. Apple-
whaite, formerly by Sir B. Graham, and afterwards by Lord
Lichfield. He was considered a very judicious breeder of
hounds, and his blood, that of Dromo*, especially, was much
sought after by other masters, far and near. The Duke of
Cleveland acknowledged to me the great benefit he received
from one large draft from the Emral kennel, at one time ;
at another, he gave Sir Richard seven hundred guineas for
a large lot of entered hounds, which were accompanied by
his celebrated whipper-in. Bob Williams, and a capital mare
which the said Bob Williams rode, and which the Duke called
" the Puleston mare." She was one of the last of the Old
Hundred-house Snap breed.

Sir Richard hunted his own hounds, and did it well.
His voice was exceedingly musical, his dog language cor-
rect ; and having served a short apprenticeship in Leicester-
shire, his " turn-out" was altogether comme ilfaut. But he

* This celebrated hound is buried in the pleasure-grounds at Emral, with this
inscription on the headstone,

" Alas ! poor Dromo !

Re)Tiard, with dread, oft heard his awful name."

SIR RICHARD PTTLESTON. 19

wanted one requisite to make him complete as a huntsman.
He did not get forward enough always to be in his place ;
and in the course of time, resigned his office of huntsman to
Edward Bates, commonly called Ned Bates, who succeeded
Jack Bartlet as head whip ; and who hunted his hounds to
the last. The second whipper-in, when I last hunted with
these hounds, was son to Bates, and as, to use his master's
own words, — " he was got by old Ned, out of a Cheshire
dairy-maid — no bad cross," he promised to make a sports-
man.

Sir Richard's home country was very far from a bad one,
great portion of it being grass land, with very practicable
fences ; but injured in the best parts by the river Dee, in
many places not ford able, and the bridges far apart. Latterly,
the late Sir Watkin Williams Wynn made some gorse
covers on the Denbighshire side of the river, greatly to the
improvement of the country, which, generally speaking,
holds a good scent.

Sir Richard, to a certain extent, followed the plan of his
more wealthy neighbour, and brother master, Mr. Corbet of
Sundorne Castle, the " Father of the Trojans," as he was
called, in breeding his own hunters, and several conspicuous
ones were the produce of it, besides those used by himself.
He bred Mr. Mytton's famous one-eyed gelding, Baronet,
who carried his owner nine seasons, without his ever finding
the bottom of him ; and, as one jDroof of his excellence, I
saw him clear nine yards over water, under him, in cool
blood. He also bred Mr, Robert Canning's Pickle, one of
the finest animals to carry weight ever seen by man, and
sold to the late Mr. West, of Alscot Park, Warwickshire,
for four hundred guineas, after Mr. Canning had ridden
him four seasons. Pickle's dam was a very small mare.

Sir Richard Puleston's establishment was, in all depart-
ments, remarkable for the superior character and deportment
of the servants, and amongst them was one, the son of his
steward, who afterwards occupied a conspicuous place in the
hunting world. This was the very celebrated Tom Crane,

c 2

20 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

huntsman to the Fife hounds, previously to ^Valker
filling that office, with so much credit. He (Crane)
hunted the Duke of Wellington's hounds in Spain ; and
afterwards those of Lord Stewart, when residing at Kiltsee
Castle, the seat of Prince Esterhazy, who gave his lordship
the use of it during his stay in Austria. When with the
Duke, Crane's passion for hounds had nearly proved his
destruction. He followed the chase into the enemies' lines,
when two or three bullets were let loose at him, though
happily without effect, by the piequets. The fact, however,
goes far to show hoAV light in the scale against the real love
of fox-hunting are father, mother, dukes, lords, native
country, — even life itself, which was here put to hazard in
the zeal for it.

Three remarkable events occurred during Sir Richard
Pules ton's career as master of hounds. A vixen fox once
broke cover, carrying a cub in her mouth, and some of the
field having thoughtlessly holloaed on the pack, she was
run into, and killed. By some means the London press got
hold of the unlucky event, and — although I am sure he was
as innocent of the charge as I myself am — Sir Richard was
roughly handled on the charge of cruelty to an animal in
the exercise of parental affection, and that of the highest
order. He was one of the last men to be accused of
wanton cruelty to any living creature, and I speak from
the experience of many years of his acquaintance.

Again, when he hunted the Shiffnal country, there was a
fox in Chillington Park (Mr. Gilfard's), which his hounds
could not kill. Being invincible, he obtained the name of
CcBsar, and I heard the late proprietor of that fine domain,
once say to Ned Bates, " A guinea for old Ccesar.'" But it
was " no go."

Lastly, these hounds once lost their fox in an extraordi-
nary manner, in that part of the home country, called the
Malpas country. After a most brilliant chase, during which,
reynard — a shifty one, it appears — tried to house himself
more than once, the whoo-whoop resounded in the ancient

SIR RICHARD PULESTON. 21

church yard of Malpas. But where was the fox ? in the
church, or in its yard, it was evident, for he was viewed in,
but neither viewed nor hunted oitt. "Whether he got into
the church," says the reporter of this fine run, " or might
have been the spirit of some huntsman of the olden time
come to try the mettle of hounds and men of these degene-
rate days, and so gone to his narrow house again, is not
known, but vanish he did."

There was one extraordinary feature in the character of
Sir Richard Puleston, as a sportsman, which cannot be
passed over. After having abused and ridiculed hare-hunt-
ing, up to a certain period of his life ; having, in fact, almost
quarrelled with his only son for being partial to it, he took
into his head to breed not one, but two packs of hare-
hounds which, although I never saw them, I have heard
spoken of as very perfect of their kind. This took place
when there were no fox-hounds at Emral, and I conclude he
was unhappy at seeing the benches of his kennel vacant, and
having no " cry" of any sort to greet the accustomed ear.

As a companion in the social hour, Sir Richard Puleston
possessed talent of the highest order ; his manners wore the
polish of a court, and he so excelled in colloquial wit, as to
have been a favourite companion of George the Fourth, by
whom he was made a baronet. I could give a detail of his
bon mots, and repartees, which would have been deemed
worthy of Sheridan or Foote, but I shall confine myself to
two or three which are somewhat of a sporting character.

Being informed that his only son was out with a pack of
harriers, he said, " I have entered him to hare, hut I hope he
loill he steady afterwards." His hopes here were disappointed,
for his son, the present baronet, has kept harriers nearly as
long as his father kept fox-hounds, and has them to this
day.

During the pei'iod of Sir Richard himself keeping harriers,
a fox jumped up before them, and they killed him. On a
friendly remonstrance from the then master of the Cheshire
pack, against further trespass upon his manor, Sir Richard

22 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

replied : — " As your hounds occasionally kill my game, I
may surely be allowed now and then to kill yours"

When speaking of a certain lady, who was in the habit of
turning her eyes up towards heaven, after a saint-like form
one moment, and talking rather loosely the next. Sir Richard
observed, in the language of the stud-book, that " she was
got by the Whole Duty of Man out of the Woman of Pleasure "
Sir Richard Puleston died in the year 1840, at the age of
seventy-seven, another proof of the benefit to health of the
active pursuits of the field, inasmuch as he may be said to
have lived all the days of his life ; and an excellent charac-
ter was given of him in the Shrewsbury Chronicle, as a
country gentleman, a sportsman, a landlord, a friend and
neighbour ; and though last, not least, a good Christian.

I was also dropped within a dozen miles of another kennel
of fox-hounds, kept by the late Colonel Wardle and Sir
Harry Goodricke (father to the late baronet), wdio were
confederates in a pack which hunted Flintshire, the kennel
being at Hartsheath, the residence of the Colonel. The
Baronet's riding day was then gone by, owing to attacks of
gout, but the Colonel was a fine horseman. Few persons
knew him better than I knew him, and had he devoted
himself to fox-hunting instead of to politics, he would have
signalized himself as a sportsman ; for he had one great
essential, which is, a burning zeal, almost unequalled in real
life. He had also all the requisites for an English country
gentleman.

These hounds were hunted by a man of the name of Ro-
bert Jones, whom I knew well, — he afterwards kept the
White Horse Inn, in the beautiful village of Overton, be-
tween Ellesmere and Wrexham ; was celebrated for his
breed of terriers, and generally possessed a stallion. Of his
merits as a huntsman I am unable to speak, for reasons
already given ; but he was a well-conducted laerson in private
life, and much respected in his public situation, as Boniface.

I remember a circumstance that occurred in one good run
these hounds had. A hard-riding whipper-in, whose name I

SIR HARRY GOODRICKE COLONEL WARDLE. 23

forget, was put on a four-year-old horse, to which he objected
at starting, telling his master he feared he should kill him if
they had a good run. " Do the best you can with him," said
his master, "but don't kill him if you can help it," On
the road home, however, Wardle overtook the whip, " pad-
ding the hoof," with his saddle and bridle at his back. " I
told you how it would be, sir," said he, " he's dead."

When the Colonel gave uj) his hounds, his brother .
fox-hunter, Sir Richard Puleston, said a good thing on the
occasion. " Wardle has given up his hounds," said he, " for
want of the kennel" — alluding to a species of coal known by
that name, which was not then so abundant on his estates
as it had been.

By the means of a mis-print, it has been believed by
many readers of the celebrated poem of Billesden Coplow,
by Mr. Lowth, that Colonel Wardle was one of the per-
formers in the memorable run which furnished the author
with his thesis. The person alluded to was the renowned
Jacob WarJeZZ, now also gathered to his fathers, the decease
of Colonel Wardle having preceded his by some four or five
years. He died abroad, having, to use his own words, " ex-
patriated himself in disgust with his native country."
Better had it been for him that he had " stuck to the brush,"
and signalised himself as a sportsman ; contenting himself
with drawing covers, instead of entangling himself in the
thorny mazes of political strife, with a blank draw at the last.

Early impressions will last a man's life, be it the " three
score years and ten," and another score added to them, —
that is to say, if they are stamped deeply. It is no wonder
then that the first well ajipointed sportsman that I met with
in my teens, should be now fresh in my mind's eye ! for, as
Hudibras says,

" He that excels in what we prize,
Appears a hero in our eyes."

This was no other than the well known and universally
esteemed Mr. Lloyd Williams, of Penylon, near Wrexham,
just on the borders of North Wales, for many years the

24 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

leading' rider in Sir Richard Puleston's and other hunts in
the neighbourhood : and also always keeping a good place
in Oxfordshire, where he hunted several seasons, in his
countryman's, the late Sir Thomas Mostyn's, time.* Inde-
pendently of his horsemanship, which was extremely neat
and gentlemanlike, and the correctness of his stable appoint-
ments, Mr. Williams's choice of hunters was good ; and all
those who recollect his Tarquin, Old Port, and others, will
do well to carry them in their mind when they purchase
hunters for themselves — that is to say, if the weight tallies.

Contemporary with Mr. Lloyd Williams was a brother of
mine, and his being my brother is no reason for his being
omitted here, for I believe the sun seldom shone on a better or
more straight-forward rider. But then he was a parson! And
what of that ? Don't be surprised if I bring out a bishop,
and above all, don't imagine I mean disrespect towards any
body or any thing; for notwithstanding St. Jerome has said
" Venatorem nunquam legimus sanctum" — some of the best
parish priests that I have known have been sportsmen ; —
charitably disposed and well conducted country clergymen,
who, spurning the affectation of a sanctity neither called for
nor approved of hy nine-tenths of mankind, occasionally partake
of the health-giving and gentleman-like diversion of hunting
and other sports of the field — once recommended to them
by their superiors.

But to the proof of this " straight-forward rider." It is
to be found in every country in which he hunted, and all
those few now left who hunted with the late Duke of Beau-
fort, in his day — the day of the Spectre Mare, and Hermit
— will recollect how straight he went. Neither is he for-
gotten in Worcestershire, where he finished his hunting
career with the death of his gallant grey. But perhaps I
have still better authority — that of the late Lord Forester,
who, on discussing the riders of a certain hunt, settled the

* At the time I am speaking of, this gentleman's name was Lloyd Ken5-on, first
cousin to Lord Kenyon. He subsequently became Mr. Lloyd only ; and is now
Lloyd Williams ; all of which changes arose out of several accessions of property,
of which no man is more deserving.

/

SIR VVATKIN WILLIAMS AVYNN. 25

matter by exclaiming, in his usual forcible style — " Give me
that little parson in the oil-skin hat." Now all his Lordship's
old friends could swear that this is no forgery. The words
were uttered over the horse-shoe table at Wynnstay, and
they are exactly his.

Previously to quitting the field in which I was first entered
to hounds, I may be allowed to notice one or two more of the
riders with whom I first came in contact. At the head of
these 1 will place a person of great weight, in every sense of
the word, viz., the late Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, of
whom, with his own harriers, and with fox-hounds, in several
different countries, I saw a great deal in chase. I shall
begin then by saying, that my countryman was one, who,
I believe, never knew fear : and although he was, in his
noviciate, by no means the cleverest horseman of his years,
he persevered until he accomplished the horseman's art,
as will be readily attested by many sportsmen who have seen
him go very well over Leicestershire, and other gallop-
ping countries, very much to the credit of his horses and his
groom. But looking at his horses, what splendid ones did
he ride to carry his weight, viz., eighteen stone ! I think I
hear his quondam one-eyed pad-boy, Tom Penn (I say quon-
dam, for he broke his neck), after having conned over, per-
haps, the finest hunter in the field, pompously exclaim — " If
that there horse was but a bit bigger, 1 should buy him for
Sir Watkin." To do justice to Tom, however, he was a
good judge of a horse to carry a welter weight, but the
coolest subject to his superiors that ever wore a livery.
Of the worthy Welsh baronet, indeed, he may be said to
have been master, as the following anecdote will show. Tra-
velling one day with a brother sportsman, (the Hon. Philip
Pierrepoint, I believe,) he passed his stable in Oxfordshire.
" We shall see the horses," said Pierrepoint, " Of course,"
said Sir Watkin ; and they ^^■ere worth seeing. But if I
recollect right, Xerxes said " sazV," but Zephyrus said " no."
And Tom Penn said " no," and after the following fashion
too. " W ell, Tom," suid the Baronet, after alighting from

26 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

his carriag-e, " how are the horses ?" " The horses are well
enough, Sir Watkin, but I am reij hill." "What ails you?"
" Damnatioiiist pain in my side I ever had in my life." " I
should like to see the horses." " You can't, they have been
shut up these two hours." The baronet and his friend re-
entered the drag, and pursued their journey.

Now I well recollect the fact of my knocking down
a groom, who lived nine years in my service, for
refusino- to admit me into my stable; but so convinced
was I that he was right and I was wrong, that I paid
five pounds smart money the next morning, and he
lived several more years with me. But if 1 thought it
wrong that mi/ horses should be disturbed, how much more
necessary must uninterrupted repose be to those who had
carried such a weight as Sir Watkin's ! Let us picture to
ourselves the morrow after a fine run over the deepest part
of the Bicester Vale, and one of those horses banged, bruised,
and sore, taking courage to lie down, and, it may be, rolling
half over in his stall or box, and then settling himself com-
fortably, with head reclined and out-stretched legs, in the
fond expectation of a few hours' rej)ose, — as much looked
for by horses where regular stable hours are kept, as by
ourselves when we retire to our beds. Fancy then, I say,
the door opening, and baulking this poor animal of the treat
he had prepared for himself. Why we must all come to the
same conclusion, that Tom Penn was right and his master
wrong. But I have something more to say of Sir Watkin
as a horseman. He had, to my eye, as fine a hunting
hand (if I may use the expression) on his horse, over a
country, as I ever saw ; and let the pace be quick or slow,
he was never seen interfering with his mouth, but merely
giving him the ofl&ce as circumstances might require. The
figure delineated in the Leicestershire plates, as " Going in
and out clever," was intended for Sir Watkin, and is an
excellent representation of his person and seat.

The late Mr. My ttonhunted different parts of Shropshire for
twoor three seasons, having at one time the ShifFnal country,

J

MR, MYTTON, 27

which he hunted alternately with his own. His kennel then
was at Ivetsy Bank, on the old Chester road ; and strang-e
to say, Mr Mytton used frequentli/ to ride from Halston to
covers even beyond Ivetsy Bank to meet his hounds, and
return home to dinner, — making upwards of eighty miles on
the road, and he has been known to do this on two succes-
sive days. I certainly envy the strong physical powers
that enable any man to perform such Herculean feats as
these, but I consider them very prejudicial in their effects,
and an unnecessary waste of horse-flesh. The best runs
Mr Mytton's hounds had, were from the covers in his own
neighbourhood, with wild travelling foxes that came down
from the Welsh hills. Sir B. Graham once found one of
these bits of Welsh vermin at Bobbin's Wood, which led his
hounds nearly to the romantic town of Llangollen, on the
Holyhead road, where they killed him. With another,
which the Halston covers produced, he had, perhaps, as
severe a day for hounds and horses as ever was experienced
in Shropshire, the chase continuing for two hours and forty-
five minutes, at the end of which he was'killed. Those who
know the country can judge of the severity of this run,
when I state that after going with extraordinary swiftness
nearly to the town of Ellesmere, the fox put his head right
about, and crossed the deep and extensive vale to Lord
Dungannon's woods, near Chirk. Here he was again
headed, when he boldly faced the Welsh mountains, and
died near Llansillen in Denbio-hshire. Three horses died
also.

Mr. Mytton was one of the " irregulars," for with a fair
pack of hounds he would spoil them by turning out bag
foxes before them. As a master of hounds this was a sad
blot on the sporting reputation of my old friend ; and I
shall never forget the quiet rebuke Sir Bellingham Graham
gave him when, after inspecting his hounds in the Halston
kennel, he was shown a leash of foxes in another place.
Mr. Mytton believed them to be Welsh ones, from a dis-
tance ; but it was by no means impossible that they might

28 HUNTING REMINISCENCES

have been taken in some of the best covers in the part of
Shropshire at that time hunted by Sir Bellingham.

That the sort of off-hand talent displayed on all occasions
by Mr. Mytton, should have been brought into action in a
pursuit so congenial with his feelings as fox-hunting, is only
what might have been expected, and to a considerable
extent was it displayed in his character as a master of
hounds. As for myself, I am at a loss to account for many
things that came under my observation having reference to
his fox-hunting establishment. In the first place, with a
very indifferent huntsman, and a very wild master, who
would have looked for steadiness in Mr Mytton's hounds ?
And yet they were not more unsteady than many others I
could name. I here speak of the pack with which he hunted
the Albrighton country, from 1817 to the close of the season
of 1821, inclusive, making five seasons in all, and five days in
the week ; and I may add, with a fair share of sport. Se-
condly, who would have looked ^ov punctuality m the hour of
meeting, from a person of Mr. Mytton's uncertain habits ?
and yet, although he never possessed a watch, he was scarcely
ever known to be half an hour beyond his time, come from
where he might. But, I repeat, who would have looked for
anything like management or order in Mr. Mytton's hunt-
ing establishment ? and yet it did exist. Who could have
looked for anything like steadiness in hounds, which he
once, in my presence, let out of the kennel at Halston in a
very hard frost, with a bagman before them, — returning as
they might, for no horse could follow them, — after having
amused themselves in any way that might have been agree-
able to them ?

All things considered, it was not likely that many masters
of hounds would be inclined to breed from, still less to pur-
chase, the contents of Mr. Mytton's kennel. On his giving
up his first pack of fox-hounds, however, — for he had been
a master of harriers from his boyhood, — he luckily found an
Irish customer for the greater part of them : whilst his
second, which he purchased of Mr. Newman of Hornchurch,

MR. MYTTON. 29

Essex, were sold for somewhere about the value of their
skins. Nor was this to be wondered at. He not only
hunted them himself, but would occasionally, as I have wit-
nessed, and described in the Memoir I wrote of his Life,
play all sorts of antic tricks with them, both in the kennel
and in the field. For example : I once saw him, when well
primed with a Shropshire luncheon, make two very wide casts
for his fox, which he knew was not gone that way, merely
for the sake of inducing his field to follow him over some
rather awkward fences !

I could never discover whether or not Mr. Mytton was at
heart a sportsman — that is to say, whether or not he enjoyed
seeing his hounds at work, beyond the mere pleasure any
master might feel at the finish of a good run; who.: — al-
though he himself had little enough of that infirmity in his
composition — his vanity might be flattered. I never heard
him cheer an individual hound when drawing, or in chase ;
nor, with the exception of Hudibras, whose portrait was
taken with his own, had he any favourite hound, as most
masters have; neither did he know the names of all the
hounds in his kennel. This last assertion, however, requires
some qualification. He would tell his friends he did not
know their names, but whether such was really the case, I
cannot take upon myself to say, knowing his diposition on
trifling matters to disguise his real sentiments.

I have said that Mr. Mytton's hounds had not justice
done them by their huntsman, who was far from clever,
although an excellent servant in all other respects. His
name was John Craggs, and he was unfortunately killed by
a fall from a restive horse in the stable yard at Halston.
His second pack, as I have already said, were hunted by
himself, and whipped in by Ned Evans, who was a beautiful
horseman, and by no means deficient in his duties in the
field.

Of Mr. Mytton as a horseman, it would be useless to say
a word, were it not to confirm the truth of an opinion often
urged by me — namely, that men above eleven stone get

30 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

better over a country than men under that weight. The
fact is, strength will be served ; and to show how necessary
it is in the saddle, in assisting a hunter over a country, Mr.
Mytton was never known to have his so completely beaten
as not to carry him to the end of a run ; neither was he
ever obliged to walk home, as might have been expected to
have been the case, from his desperate style of riding. He
had a heavy hand ; but, from the immense strength of his
arm, it was a vast support to his horses; and no horse ever
yet foaled, would have carried his weight — good thirteen
stone — at his pace, with a loose head and a slack rein.

Some part of Shropshire was also hunted by Mr. Wick-
stead's hounds, and a small part of it, on the Oswestry side,
was hunted by the Welsh pack, a few years back, kept by
a gentlemen named Jones, of Maesmawr, near Welsh-pool,
the sale of whose horses, when the pack was given up,
excited much interest. Every thing connected with this
establishment was conducted on the old system — the real
hunting to death of the fox ; and in proof of their prowess, I
may chronicle the well-known fact of their having killed
fifty-four out of sixty-three foxes, the last season of their
hunting.

The Shropshire gentlemen meet twice in the season at
Shrewsbury, for a week each time. These weeks are called
the Old and the New Shrewsbury Hunt weeks — the former
in November and the latter in January. The gentlemen dine
together in the great room at the Lion Inn, and each hunt
gives a splendid ball and supper to the ladies. Perhaps
no other county in England, but Salop, can boast of such
gay doings as these. But the " proud Salopians" are very
sociable people, and generally do these things in good style.

Shropshire was never hunted in a form equal to that in
which Sir Bellingham Graham hunted it, in consequence of
the magnificence of his establishment. The celebrity of the
man, also, gave much eclat to his proceedings, and in spite
of one disastrous season for scent — very generally acknow-
ledged as such — his hounds afforded excellent sport. He

SHROPSHIRE. 31

likewise found many congenial spirits among the natives,
and has often been heard to say, he quitted the country with
regret. There are several excellent riders in Sliropshire ;
but there is one — Mr. Leycester of Ronton Castle, near
Shrewsbury — of whom Sir Bellingham pronounced the
flattering opinion — that he never saw a better anywhere.

We now take our leave of Shropshire, undoubtedly one
of the chief of our sporting counties, being celebrated for
the sporting character of its aristocracy, and still more,
of its yeomanry. In fact it presents a true picture of
the o-enuine Ena-lish character, as exhibited in the state
of the various classes of society ; and its pi'oximity and
relation to North AVales, contribute to heighten the colour-
ing. The gentry are not, perhaps, wholly free from that
species of pride which common consent has allowed to them,
but it consists more in dignity than haughtiness, and conse-
quently is rather a failing than a vice. Indeed, it may admit
of a question, whether, in these levelling times, it tends not
to encourage, rather than to impede, the exercise of those
social virtues which ameliorate the condition of the people ?
One thing, however, is certain : — The middle classes in
Shropshire are well informed, enlightened, and celebrated
for their good fellowship and hospitality ; and their example
has not been lost upon those labouring classes who are de-
pendent upon them.

32

©[}(!2SilFTri[S

ASTING over my boyisli
days, I Avill proceed to
the first year ofmy visiting
Leicestershire, which was
in 1802, I believe, at all
events it was the first year
of Lord Sefton's taking
the Quorn hounds from
Mr. Meynell ; and I
cannot do better than
commence with Mr.
V^^ - V ." - ^ -^. '"■''- rJ-'" Meynell himself. Of

'~',;ui4i..,j; ~-«i course I saw him too late

in life to form a fair judgment on his usual method of riding
to hounds, which I always heard spoken of as not only
judicious but bold. I can only, at this distance of time,
indeed, call to my recollection one instance of his coming
under my observation in a run, and that was in a very sharp
burst of about twenty minutes, from Thrussington Wolds,
our fox being so blown at the finish of it that he sank in
attempting to cross a canal. I travelled along side this
pattern for fox-hunters great part of the way, and have his
figure at this moment before me in my mind's eye. He
rode a strong black horse, possessing twice the speed he
appeared to have, and of course, a perfect fencer. Indeed,
I saw his rider charge a very fair brook, just before the
finish, scarcely appearing to look at it ; his attention being
riveted to the hounds, which he was frequently heard to

LORD SEFTON. 33

cheer. Although forty-one years ago, I have a good recol-
lection of" his face, and still better of his person ; his grey
locks more than peeping from under his black cap, and his
keen, aye, piercing eye. I remember also that he sat
rather on one side on his saddle, as if he had one stirrup
shorter than the other, and was without spurs, but kept kicking
his horse's sides with his heels, not at all afraid of going the
pace over all kinds of ground. His appearance was ex-
tremely sportsmanlike.

I now come to his successor, the late Lord Sefton, at that
time in his prime, and, the best mounted man in England
for his weight, which is saying a great deal. But what
prices he gave ! Plato, Gooseberry, and Rowland, allof which
I remember in his stud, cost him nearly a thousand pounds
apiece ; and he oflPered Mr. Loraine Smith, about this period,
eight hundred guineas for his famous Hollyhock horse,
which, unfortunately for the latter, he refused, as he after-
wards died in chase in consequence of the rupture of a
blood vessel. Lord Sefton's style of riding over a country
was peculiar. He was one of the quickest men I ever met
with in making up lost ground, or turning to his hounds in
a run ; but when he got well away, he had seldom much
ground to make up, and considering his great weight — which
eventually estranged him from fox-hunting — he was a very
brilliant performer in the field. He was averse to timber
fences in a run, always avoiding them if possible, and — as
all heavy weights have the power to do — boring through
the thickest blackthorn hedges in preference to them.
In allusion to his weight, and the pace he travelled at over a
country, the author of The Epwell Hunt Poem, in a ludicrous
description (never published) of a run he saw in Leicester-
shire, in his time, thus speaks of his Lordship : —

" Earl Sefton came next, and, for beef on the rib.
No Leicestershire bullock was rounder ;
A wonderful weight at a wonderful rate,
He flew like a twenty-four pounder!"

I have reason to believe that the late Lord Sefton was

D

34 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

one of those clear-lieaded men in all worldly matters, vdio
do well whatever they attempt to do. At all events, his
lordship did honour to fox-hunting, in the highly-spirited
manner in which he hunted the Quorn country for five con-
secutive seasons. The stables are to this day monuments
of his liberal expenditure. He was the first master I ever
heard of, and I believe him to have been the first, who
kept two huntsmen, — John Raven who hunted the old pack,
and Stephen Goodall, the young one — and I also believe him
to have been the first to introduce the second horse system,
now so regularly practised. Then, the cover-side in the seasons
I am alluding to, 1802, and 3, bore an aristocratic appearance
such as it may be said scarcely to have borne since. When
approachable by wheels, there would be seen not only his
lordship's coach and four, driven by himself, but numerous
other teams, the carriages containing ladies to see the
hounds throw off.*

I was too ignorant of hunting at the date of Lord Sefton's
occupying Leicestershire, to offer a decided opinion of his
lordship as a sportsman, but he had a great advantage in the
society of the celebrated Mr. Meynell, whose services, he
was no doubt, too good a judge not to make available.

Every thing was done in a princely style at QuorndonHall.
The kennels contained nearly a hundred couples of hounds,
and the great stable, containing twenty-eight horses, was lit
up at night by a patent lamp to every fourth stall. That
Lord Sefton's reign should have been so short (it did not see
the sixth season), is to be lamented ; and the cause of his
giving up had somewhat the appearance of fastidiousness.
He declared that he could not find horses to carry him at
the pace he wished to go ; — that pace was certainly an
ultra one.

The conspicuous men in the field in Lord Sefton's time
were, his lordship himself, Mr. Germaine, Sir Henry Peyton,

* Several noblemen and gentlemen— amongst them the late Lord Foley, the late
Sir Stephen Glynne, and Mr. Mellish— hunting with the Quorn hounds at this
time, had their teams.

JOHN RAVEN. STEPHEN GOODALL. 35

Lord Foley, Sir Stephen Glynne, Mr, T. A. Smith, Hon.
Berkeley Craven, Hon. Joshua Vanneck, afterwards Lord
Huntingfield, Mr. Hawkes, Mr. Lockley, the late Lord
Forester, Lord Delaniere, Mr. Bennet, Mr. Lindow, the
late Colonel Mellish, Mr. Charles Meynell, Colonel Rolles-
tone, and amongst the yeomen and graziers, Joe Deveril, of
Shoby, Tom Hinton, of Hoby, commonly called " Garaeboy
Hinton," Wings, Jonathan King of Beilby, Marriott, the
Melton draper, and Ben Rowland the farrier, to whom Lord
Sefton gave a large price for his horse.

At the time I am alluding to, John Raven and
Stephen Goodall, both long since dead, were huntsmen
to Lord Sefton ; Joe Harrison and Tom Wingfield whip-
ping in to them. It may be necessary to state that
each huntsman had his pack. Nature had interdicted
superior horsemanship to Goodall ; for although she had
given him his full share of brains, she formed him w ith a
great carcase upon short legs (very good qualities in a
horse), and an aptitude to feed (still better in a hog), that
would not be satisfied until the maximum exceeded twenty
stone. But Raven was cast in a very dififerent mould.
Straight as a dart, as full of power as he was of muscle, and
with a voice and features well fitted to his calling, he
struck me as the beau ideal of a huntsman and a horseman
combined. He also had his hounds in perfect command upon
all occasions, so much so, that I recollect I never heard him
blow his horn but once in three days' hunting, and that
was when a hound called Cruiser was lost. I likewise
remember his cool conduct with regard to a celebrated
hound called Guzman : he was running a hare, with a hedge
between them, — in fact running he did not exactly know
what, as he only got an occasional glimpse. A whipper-in
started after him, when Raven called him back, saying,
" Leave him alone, he will stop when he sees what he is
running;" and he did stop. Guzman was a throaty hound,
but his blood is to be traced in several kennels to this day,
having been held in high esteem.

d2

36 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

Cork-legged Jones* did not whip in to Lord Sefton, liav-
ing died in the service of Mr. Meynell, but I know that Tom
Wingfield and Joe Harrison did. A nephew of JohuRaven's
also appeared in the costume of a whipper-in, riding LordSef-
ton's second horse ; he was not ridden to points, as is the present
system, but close in his lordship's wake ; and as young Raven
could ride in the same length of stirrup leather as his lordship,
thehorseswere exchanged at the most convenient opportunity.
This system, however, could not become general, inasmuch
ai it would not do to have all the second horses going in,
and adding to, the crowd : and as it is the pace that kills, it
can only be considered advisable in the case of a very heavy
weight, which Lord Sefton was.

Joe Harrison was likewise a splendid horseman, and
I believe and hope he is still alive. Indeed, some time
ago I heard of a person in a blue coat taking the
lead, and keeping it, to the surprise of the whole field,
over an extremely difficult country, and when the thing was
ended, the artist was discovered to be old Joe Harrison.
Of Tom Wingfield I need not say much, as he has been so
many years before the public since he left Leicestershire, as
huntsman to the Mostyn hounds, No man need ride better
than Tom Wingfield could ride, and he could see a country
and hounds better out of that one eye of his than most
])eople can with two, I shall never forget him once turning
round to me, in Leicestershire, after he had looked back and
perceived that the fence we had come over had stopped one
of the field ; and the emphasis with which he exclaimed — " /
think, sir, that there gentleman has no business in our shire."

Leicestershire, situated in the heart of England, bounded
on the north by Nottinghamshire, on the south by North-
amptonshire and Warwickshire, on the east by Lincoln and
Rutland, and on the west by Derbyshire, is of no great ex-
tent, being only about thirty-six miles in length, and thirty

* Tom Jones, otherwise " cork-legged Jones," was a capital whipper-in, but as
hard a drinker as he was a rider. A friend of mine, who saw him a few days prior
to his death, told me he confessed to him that sometimes he could not recollect
when he awoke in the morning, where he had left his leg over night.

LEICESTERSHIRE. 37

in breadth ; the extreme points being the town of Market
Harborough, and Cavendish Bridge, on the road from
London to Manchester. In the absence of all perfection, it
is as a hunting country as nearly approaching to it as nature
and art can make it, and its fame may be said to have
reached the remotest corners of the civilized world.

At the conclusion of the last century the sporting reputa-
tion of this far-famed county was at its height. They were
the days of Mr. Meynell, who was then looked upon as not
only the most intelligent and successful huntsman of his
time, but as one who introduced a fresh era to the sporting
world. They were also the days of Charles Wyndham and
Lord Villiers, of Forester and Cholmondeley, of Childe of
Kinlet, and Loraine Smith, of Ralph Lambton and John
Lockley, George Germaiue, John Hawkes, and several
others to whom the present generation is indebted for the
dashing style of riding to hounds which continues to distin-
guish our modern sportsmen. Towards the conclusion of
Mr. Meynell's occupation of Leicestershire a galaxy of bril-
liant young horsemen also appeared in the field, amongst
whom were Lord Foley, Sir Henry Peyton, the late Sir
Stephen Glynne, Messrs. Thomas Assheton Smith, Lindow,
Bruin, Edge, and some others whose names will be remem-
bered for ages to come.

Mr. Meynell was succeeded by the Earl of Sefton, who,
as I have already said, hunted his country (the Quorn)
in a style of great magnificence, and his lordship was suc-
ceeded by Mr. T. A. Smith, who kept the Quorn hounds
/^ nine seasons, and then Mr. Osbaldeston took to them. He

kept them till the middle of the season of 1821, when Sir
Bellingham Graham became their master, but after two
seasons resigned them to Mr. Osbaldeston again, who
hunted the county till Lord Southampton took possession of
it. The country is now hunted by a committee, at the head
of which are Sir Holyoake Goodricke, and Mr. George
Payne.

Now a word or two of these respective masters. Of Mr.

38 HUNTING REMINISCENCliS.

Meynell, the Maecenas of fox-hunling, it is almost presump-
tuous in me to give an opinion, liaving- only seen him in the
last year of his brilliant career. But I well remember the
lessons he gave to all would-be huntsmen. I remember
the steadiness and docility of his hounds, and the superior
manner in which they hunted through hares, cattle, or
sheep ; the quiet way in which he waited for them to recover
the scent when lost, and his division of his pack when they
made their casts, instead of having them driven after his
huntsman like a flock of sheep. I also fancy I hear his
chiding voice and his cheering holloa. The one was effi-
cient without unnecessary noise ; the other musical, distinct,
and thrilling through the heart and nerve of every one who
was near enough to hear it. His scream, in a view, natu-
rally acute, was remarkable and susceptible : he had a won-
derfully quick eye to the faults committed by his hounds,
which he could the better discern from the reliance he
placed on their own powers in chase. He allowed them to
spread, and to use those powers at a very gentle pace, which,
from his command over his field, it was fortunately in his
power to do. Of blood, he was more indifferent than most
owners of fox-hounds are wont to be. " The wildest packs
of hounds," he has been heard to say, " are known to kill
the most foxes in cover, but very seldom show good runs
over a country." Mr. Meynell made no display of his
riding in the field, but when with his hounds in chase
nothing that he considered feasible would stop his being in
his place. As a companion he was the delight of every
society in which be appeared. To an excellent understand-
ing he joined great knowledge of the world ; and his walk
through life having led him into the best of company, the
combination of the man of fashion with the sportsman ren-
dered his character complete in the situation he had under-
taken to fill.

It is difficult at the present time to say what has become
of, that highly-prized strain of blood of the celebrated
Hugo Meynell, commonly called the Quorn blood. Perhaps

LEICESTERSHIRE. THE QUORN BLOOD. 39

we should find most of it in the Cheshire kennel, that
good sportsman, the late Mr. Heron, having regulaidy
bred from it for a long succession of years, when he had the
management of that old-established pack. It is also to be
found in the kennel of his grandson, Mr. Hugo Charles
Meynell Ingram, of Hoarcross, Derbyshire, who was presented
with it by Mr. Heron — and I must say it was a compliment
due to him. Among the lot were three bitches, two of
which were descended from Mr. Meynell's famous Stormer,
and one from General, the sire of the equal famous Guzman,
who was out of Priestess. The dam of these bitches was
also of the Quorn blood. The Stormer blood is now in
great repute in the present Mr. Meynell's kennel, his cele-
brated Nathan being a noble specimen of it. He is
by Mr. Meynell's Bertram, out of his Nelly, which was
descended in a direct line from Stormer and the Quorn
blood on both sides. Bertram was by Lord Althorp's famous
Abelard (Mr. Warde's famous Charon sort), out of Mr.
Meynell's Bridesmaid — the grand-dam of which bitch was
given to Mr. Meynell by the well-known Jack Raven,
huntsman to his grandfather, to the period of his giving up
the hounds. She was got by Ranter, out of Bonnybell,
a favourite bitch of his master's, and one which Raven used
to say he could swear by.

As I have before observed, Mr. Meynell was succeeded
by Lord Sefton ; and he was succeeded by the late Lord
Foley, who had for some seasons been residing in the county,
and was in every way qualified for the undertaking, barring
the lessons of experience.

I did not see much of Lord Foley whilst master of the
Quorn hounds, which he kept not quite two seasons, because
I was at that time elected a member of the Stratford-on-
Avon Hunt Club, and the attraction was, consequently,
Warwickshire. Lord Foley, however, could not be other-
wise than popular in any situation in life ; he did everything
with an open and liberal hand, and it is much to be regretted
that he at length was diverted from the hunting field, to

40 HUNTING nEMINISCENCES.

the destructive pursuits of the dice, and the hazard table.
I was frequently out with his hounds when he hunted Wor-
cestershire, and saw one very remarkable run with them,
such as it was hardly to be expected so indifferent a country
could have afforded. A person by the name of Green was
bis huntsman, but being an indifferent horseman, and in
my opinion a still more indifferent huntsman, his first whip-
per-in, Richard Forster, afterwards huntsman to Mr. Ville-
bois, and until lately in that situation with the H. H. (late
Mr. Villebois's), as often performed that office as himself.

A few years previously to Mr. Meynell resigning Leices-
tershire, the face of the country, as a hunting country, under-
went a material change. During the greater part of his
hunting, all the Nottinghamshire and part of the Market
Harborough side of the country was open, and the foxes
were as wild as the region in which they were bred. The
consequence was runs of much greater duration than those
of later times. Second horses, as they are called, were then
never dreamed of; and some of the few who are now left of
those who hunted in Meynell's best time, will tell us it was
pretty well if a man could say where he should dine or sleep,
much less where he should fall in with his second horse in
the run. It must be admitted that, advantageous as to the
preservation of foxes, and consequently the certainty of find-
ing, as may be the number of artificial gorse covers now
planted in Leicestershire, they are at variance with the v. ild
character of fox-hunting, by tempting the game to run short.
Perhaps, speaking generally, one fox found in Leicester-
shire in 1792, may have been worth a brace found in 1842.
Another alteration has also been effected. The new enclo-
sures, particularly in the Harborough country, were strongly
fenced with posts and rails, to preserve the quicksets that
now form the bullfinch hedges, which from their luxuriant
growth would fain arrest the progress of the sportsman ;
and it can only be seen to be believed what thick places the
Leicestershire horses will make their way through, after
having had a year or two's experience of them in the country.

MR. THOMAS ASSHETOX SMITH. 41

The post-and-rail fence, however, required an accom-
plished hunter, and the "going in and out clever" formed a
subject for a print very fresh in our recollections, and most
admirably delineated by the artist. Mr. Lindow " going
a slapping pace on the Clipper," also formed one of the set
of those admirable sketches, and I always lament there is
not some well-skilled pencil at work on those scenes each
succeeding year. I am quite certain the artist would be
very well paid for his trouble, provided he knew what he
was about.

Lord Foley was succeeded in the possession of the Quorn "N^

hounds by that most conspicuous sportsman of modern
times, Thomas Assheton Smith, who kept them eight or
nine seasons. As combining the character of a skilful i
sportsman with that of a desperate horseman, perhaps his
parallel is not to be found, and his name will be handed
down to posterity as a specimen of enthusiastic zeal in one
individual pursuit, very rarely equalled. Mr. Smith did
not become a master of fox-hounds because it was the
fashion to be a master of fox-hounds, neither did he go a
hunting because others went a hunting, neither did he ride
well up to his hounds one day, and loiter a mile behind them
the next. No ; from the first day of the season to the
last, he was always the same man, the same desperate fellow
over a country, and unquestionably possessing on every
occasion, and at every hour of the day, the most bull-dog-like
nerve ever exhibited in a saddle. His motto was, " I'll be
with my hounds," and all those who have seen him in the
field must acknowledge he made no vain boast of his prowess.
His falls were countless, and no wonder ! for he rode at
places which he knew no horse could leap over, but his object
was to get one way or other into the field with his hounds.
As a horseman, however, he has ever been super-excellent.
He sits in his saddle as if he were part of his horse, and his '
seat displays vast power over his frame. In addition to his
power, his hand is equal to Chifney's, and the advantage he
experiences from it may be gleaned from the following

42 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

expression. Being seen one day hunting his hounds on
Radical, always a difficult, but at that time a more than
commonly difficult horse to ride, he was asked by a friend
why he did not put a martingale on him to give more power
over his mouth — his answer was cool and laconic ; " Thank
ye, but my left hand shall be my martingale." Mr. Smith
was the first gentleman who fulfilled the character of hunts-
man to his hounds in this far-famed country. In this occu-
pation his desperate style of riding was of very material
service to him, as he never had his eye 09*1118 hounds, unless
when left behind by a fall, though he was quickly in his place
aa-ain after that. The best of horses, — Jack-a-Lantern, Tom
Thumb, his big grey horse, and Gift, — good as they were,
would, however, sometimes stand still with him in a burst,
and then he was obliged to wait for a whipper-in to come
up, and take possession of his horse to proceed with ; but
this was not of course an every-day occurrence. As a
huntsma# then he may be said to be eminent in chase,
decidedly so, because nothing stopped him in his casts, and
we know how many foxes are lost by an ugly fence being in
the way at this critical time. Leicestershire is a country
of all others in which wide and bold casts are successful, for
reasons which I shall hereafter produce. Every person
who has been in Leicestershire knows the necessity of having
good command over the field, a very serious and often
hazardous duty devolving on the master of the pack. Here
Mr. Smith was also successful. He set out by declaring
that he was not the best tempered man in the world, antl he
hoped, if at any time he said what might be deemed harsh
to his brother sportsmen, they would attribute it to his zeal
to show sport, and not to an intention to give offence. We
have the pleasure of stating then, that, with one or two trifling-
exceptions, producing no serious results, he passed through
his fiery ordeal, continued for the number of seasons I have
specified, and quitted his proud station as master and
huntsman of the Quorn hounds in 1819, esteemed as a
sportsman, and valued as a man. There may be some who

MR. THOMAS ASSIIETON SMITH. 43

iiijay tell me his language was sometimes coarser than occasion
could justify, and it is not for me to decide the point. All
I will say is, — his language was never that of a bully, for a
braver man never stepped on the earth, nor one who displayed
in clearer colours, the thorough courage of a true bred
Briton. Indeed I may ask with the poet —

" Is there the man into the lion's den
Who dares intrude to snatch his young away ? "

and answer Thomas Assheton Smith is he !

Although Mr. Smith quitted Quorndon Hall when he
resigned the Quorn country to Mr. Osbaldeston, he con-
tinued to hunt with the several packs in the neighbourhood
during his annual visits to Belvoir Castle, where he generally
remained throughout the season. Here again Mr. Smith,
or Tom Smith par excellence, was the same hard riding Tom
Smith he had ever been, and unlike many quondam masters
of fox-hounds, he took pleasure in hunting with l#unds not
his own. He is now, having succeeded to the vast estates
of his father, once more a master, hunting the country sur-
rounding his own seat in Hampshire, having given Sir
Richard Sutton a thousand guineas for his hounds ; and his
old Leicestershire servant, Dick Burton, assisting him in the
kennel and the field. His persevering in hunting so
indifierent a country as his present one, after having had
cream of Leicestershire, stamps his character still deeper as
a sportsman, though indeed it has never yet been doubted.

The mention of Belvoir Castle, brings to my recollection
the extraordinary exploit performed by Mr. Smith when he
hunted the Quorn country, in a run he had of nineteen
miles point blank, known by the appellation of " the Belvoir
day."

I now take leave of Mr. Smith as the Master of the
Quorn hounds, and as one of the best men that ever went
across Leicestershire or any other country, but it is jiossible
I may return to him in his present country when I bring
Hampshire as a hunting country to the notice of my readei's.

44 HUNTING REMINISCENCES,

In the mean time I heartily pray for his health and
happiness, and many successful seasons to come, for I
" ne'er may look upon his like again."

Mr. Smith was succeeded in the Quorn country by Mr.
Osbaldeston, who hunted it four seasons, when he resigned
it to Sir Bellingham Graham, who kept it the next two.
Mr. Osbaldeston now took it again (in 1823), and retained
possession of it till Lord Southampton became master of it
in 1828, which brings me to the verge of present times. His
lordship's reign was but a short one, having professedly
come forward only until some more fit person could be found
to take his place, and 1831 was the last season of the Quorn
hounds.

Indeed previously to his retirement, Lord Southampton
had removed the hounds from Quorndon, to a new kennel
which he built at the Humberstone Gate, in the town of
Leicester, from whence they were again removed by Sir
Harry Goodricke to another new set at Thrussington, a few
miles from Melton Mowbray, and they were then known by
the name of " Sir Harry Goodricke's hounds," though of
course they hunted the Quorn country.

When Mr. Osbaldeston commencedhis career in Leicester-
shire, his hounds were hunted by Tom. Sebright, afterwards
in the service of Earl Fitzwilliam ; and it is but fair to
presume that some of the well-stored maxims of that cele-
brated huntsman laid tbe foundation of Mr. Osbaldeston's
fame, both in the kennel and the field. It is the duty of the
historian, no matter what the subject, to speak the truth,
and I hesitate not to say, that for some seasons after
Sebright left him, Mr. Osbaldeston needed his assistance
in the fi-eld when difiiculties presented themselves beyond
his mark ; and the absence of such assistance was very
generally lamented. But what will not zeal and persever-
ance effect ? That best of all masters, experience, by which
the preceptor had benefitted, at length told upon the pupiL
and for some years past Mr. Osbaldeston has been acknow-
ledged as a judicious clever huntsman, and in every way

MR. OSBALDESTON. 45

qualified for the arduous duties of that situation. It has
been the fashion to decry him as being too precipitate in
his judgment, in the trying difficulties of the chase; but
much as I would recommend the calm exercise of our faculties
on all perplexing occasions, I consider quickness of decision ■. ^
the life and soul of fox-hunting. A fox instantly recovered
is worth recovering in Leicestershire, with two hundred
men in the field ; the stumbling upon him by the time he
has got two miles a-head of the pack is only productive of
mischief. Hounds are ridden over — pressed upon they are
sure to be — confusion arises, and as a fresh fox is always at
hand, that is the best cure for the disappointment. Add to
this — no illiberal reflections are then abroad in the evening
all that is said amounting to this — " D — d unlucky losing
that first fox ; very pretty whilst it lasted, the Squire's cast
no doubt was right ; but depend upon it he was headed by
that shepherd and his dog." " But why did he not try
back," asks one of the old school, not used to so fast a
country ; I think by the crows he's gone over yonder hill."
'' Very likely, sir," says Jack Stephens, as he holds a gate
open for the hounds, who are on their road to Shancton
Holt, where they are sure to find in ten minutes.

It would be an act of great injustice to so celebrated a
sportsman as Mr. Osbaldeston, not to give him all the
credit due to him in the arduous and trying situation of
master of hounds and huntsman, especially in Leicestershire,
where difficulties of no common occurrence are to be en-
countered. That the gentleman in question possesses the
most essential qualifications for this station, such as untirino-
zeal, prodigious bodily strength equal to any exertion to
which the human frame is put, is very generally allowed,
and his knowledge of the animal, hound, is equal to that of
any man that every bred or possessed one. On this subject
no more need be said ; but it is in the character of a
huntsman that an equal share of perfection has not altogether
been allowed him. In fact it has been often remarked in
my presence, that as regarded hunting hounds, the " Squire,"

46 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

as he is called, never made but one fatal mistake, and that
was, in not keeping Sebright as his huntsman. If he (the
Squire) had bred the hounds, and Sebright had hunted them,
they seemed to think perfection would have been attained.

But how happened it that superiority should be allowed
to the servant over his master ? The answer is given in a
few words. Like the late Lord Middleton, Mr. Osbaldeston
wanted a little more command of temper than he was wont
to display in the field, — not towards the field, because in
this case that is a minor consideration ; but it was when
opposed by untoward circumstances, that his would break
loose to his discomfiture, and often to the destruction of his
sport. My experience has convinced me, that in all that
relates to hunting — whether to hunting hounds or to riding-
after them — coolness is nothing short of an essential, and I
have yet to see a man whose temper is flurried do either
to perfection. Who brought his hounds to cover in better
condition than the Squire did ? who found his fox in a more
sportsman-like style ? who need ride nearer to them in the
burst? who, I may add, made a more judicious ^rsi cast, or
if nothing very trying occurred, who went on more correctly
and successfully to the finish ? But in fox-hunting, things
do not always go on smoothly ; on the contrary, in no
pursuit are there more chances of interruptions, if not fatal
accidents, to mar the proceedings of the day, however
auspiciously commenced. Here then was the bar to per-
fection in Mr. Osbaldeston, as a huntsman, — his zealous
temper could not brook a succession of those casualties
which will arise in fox-hunting, so many causes producing
them, and it too often happened, that when he lost his temper,
he lost his fox.

Mr. Osbaldeston is much of my opinion respecting the
use or rather the necessity of blood, to ensure hounds doing-
well in the field. He agrees with me, that weather has
very much more to do with the business, and that hounds
will never be slack with a good scent if they are well bred.
He himself told me, that the best week's sport he had had

MB. OSBALDESTON. 47

up to the time at which he made the remark, was after his
liounds had been out nine times without getting* blood.

In his calling as a huntsman, Mr. Osbaldeston had a great
advantage in the untiring nature of his constitution. Whilst
hunting his hounds six days a week, neither his spirit nor
his strength appeared in the least subdued, and I remember
whilst on a visit to him at Quorn, when he was doing this,
that he did not retire to rest until an hour or two after
midnio;ht. I also recollect asking^ him whether he would
go in his stanhope to Widmerpool (which was the fixture)
as the road was good ? " Oh no," was his reply, " there is
nothing like the pig-skin," so we rode.

As a horseman, both over a country and over a course, I
consider Mr. Osbaldeston quite first-rate, although since
the compound fracture of his leg (which I witnessed) he has
appeared not so much at his ease as he was wont to be, when
any of the field were following him to a fence.

Mr. Osbaldeston did honour to fox-hunting, and I wish
he were now in the field again. Lord Cardigan offered,
at the end of the last season but two, to subscribe a thousand
pounds per annum towards his expenses if he hunted North-
amptonshire, provided he himself could have the country, if
he wished to have it, at the end of three years ; but there
being a hitch amongst the gentlemen of the shire, respecting
the remainder of the subscription, the thing fell to the
ground. I have reason to believe better sport was never
shown in the Pytchley country than during the period of its
being hunted by Mr. Osbaldeston.

As a breeder of hounds, Mr. Osbaldeston has raised him-
self to the very pinnacle of fame. It is universally admitted
that no man understands the system of breeding the modern
fox-hound more perfectly than he does, and this point is
settled by one peep into his kennel. He has a most correct
eye to the sort of hound that can not only go, but maintain
the pace, and there cannot be a doubt but his blood will be
in repute for generations to come.

It is doubly kind in all-dispensing Providence to accom-

48 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

pany a prevailing passion for any laborious amusement with
the physical powers to pursue it to the dregs. Such is
assuredly Mr. Osbaldeston's case, and his performances in
the saddle entitle him to the appellation of the " modern
Hercules" of these times. I thought he had done more
than man ought to do when he hunted his hounds six days
a week, in such a trying country as Leicestershire ; but his
nerve and pluck have no bounds, and his strength is equal
to all his ardour. It has been jocosely said of him, that he
must be " copper-bottomed," or he could never have stood
all this work in the saddle, alluding no doubt to his feat at
Newmarket. But I wish to give him no super-human
advantages. He is a fine specimen of the pluck and muscle
peculiar to Englishmen — multum in jyarvo — a rara avis — in
short we know not what — so sing with Pope —

" For works like these, let deathless journals tell,
None but tli3'self can be thy parallel ! "

That Leicestershire has advantages as a hunting country
which it would be vain to look for in others — at least to a
e-reat extent — it is useless to assert, because the fame of it
has been established for the last hundred years ; but were I
to contend that it has not its disadvantages also, I should
betray a want of experience in it, which would materially
detract from my credibility. I will commence then with
the former.

Nothing is more inimical to scent than frequent variations
of soil, and even admitting the nature of the soil to be pretty
nearly tlie same, yet so far as hunting is concerned, the
quality of it is materially altered by being put under the
operation of the plough. Perhaps the effects of the variation
of soil cannot be more satisfactorily appreciated than by a
Warwickshire sportsman, who has witnessed hounds running
their fox with a breast high scent over the Warwickshire
Vale, but has perceived a great falling off in pace when
they have ascended the Oxfordshire hills. The vast quantity
of old maiden turf then, with which the county of Leicester
abounds, is greatly in favour of hounds, and the general

COVERS IN LEICESTERSHIRE. 49

fine quality of the land, so well attested by the occupiers of it,
for the purpose of producing beef, is highly benefici il to scent.
Amongst the mysteries that attend that phenomenon, this fact
may be relied on — nor would it be difficult to illustrate it to
the comprehension of a not highly gifted individual. Upon
mere mechanical principles indeed, hounds at one moment
streaming over a meadow, and the next crossing a greasy fallow,
sticking to their feet like birdlime, and greatly depressing
their powers, must experience a great difference between
countries. The covers in Leicestershire also being for the
most part small, hounds get quickly away after their fox,
and from the number of rails that are used in the fences,
they are not often stopped, by measuring the hedges, which
is a considerable impediment to speed in most of the inferior
countries. Their travelling to and from the places of
meeting is also good, being generally along bridle roads, or
through fields — it being no uncommon sight in Leicester-
shire to see a guide-post stuck up in the middle of a large
field — perhaps of sixty acres or upwards — without any beaten
track leading to it. I may also add the well-known fact,
that in inferior countries, where the plough prevails over
grass, hunting is over at least a month sooner than in Lei-
cestershire.— When the dust of March, so prized by the
farmer, flies over the fallows, it is all up with any certainty
of sport.

The disadvantages of Leicestershire are these. In the
first place, the immense crowds that attend hounds after
Christmas at their favourite places of meeting, and con-
sequently at those best adapted to afford sport, is much
against sport. In fact, hounds that hunt Leicestershire
require almost an experience of the country before they can
excel in chase. They must learn to disregard the pressure
of horses, as Mr. Osbaldeston's pack did, and the Belvoir
do, or they will often be driven over the scent. This is
also chiefly fatal at the most perplexing period — the first
two or three fields after the fox has got away, and before
the hounds have packed, or settled well to the scent. To

50 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

the huntsman likewise, Leicestershire presents difficulties
unknown in other countries. The stain of sheep we well
know is bad enough for hounds, but that of cattle is worse.
Such is the strength of the land in this county, that a con-
siderable quantity of the latter are abroad throughout the
winter, and herds of them frequently obstruct the smooth
proceedings of the chase. The huntsman is often greatly
posed in making his casts, when hounds throw up in the
middle of a large Leicestershire ground. In more enclosed
countries, he has generally something near at hand to guide
him, whereas here he maybe said to be " at sea." If his hounds
cannot make it out without his assistance, he is often at a
loss for his point. The number of artificial covers induce
his foxes to run short, therefore he can only make a faint
guess at his line. If then he should trot his hounds away
to one headland of this large ground, with the hope of
hitting off his fox at his meuse, and he should have made
his escape at the one opposite to it, enough time will be lost
to enable a flyer to get two miles ahead of his pursuers,
and very few " hunting days," as they are called, are good
enough to allow of this. The evils, however, which occa-
sionally result from the great size of the Leicestershire
enclosures, are more than compensated by the beautiful
exhibition they afford to the eye of the sportsman, of hounds
in chase — such as no other country under the sun can display.
Its undulating surface — for it is quite a mistake to call this
a flat country — also assists here, and a perfect panorama of
hounds in chase is often exhibited in a run, to the inexpres-
sible delight of the truly enthusiastic sportsman.

Many persons object to Leicestershire on account of the
great crowd ; and truly this objection has its weight, as it
increases the perils of the field, by no means inconsiderable
of themselves. At times the rush of the horsemen at starting
is little less than awful, and nerves of the stoutest manufac-
ture must feel some impression, when, if your horse should not
clear the fence you are then riding at, you are almost certain
to be ridden over by one, if not more of the field. I repeat,

MAP OF run

I IF Till'.

BURTON

m o wr N !:> 3.

Thr uam*:t trt' th*' M^t.* nrr-
The -^(rtim* «7T'/T«.fi« thfir ih.r

LEICESTERSHIRE FENCES.

51

it is some trial of nerve to look before us at a strong black-
thorn hedge, five or six feet high, with a rail or wide ditch
to boot, and " who knows what," on the other side ; but still
more so, if at this time we look behind us, and see two or
three of our friends running away with their horses, or their
horses running away with them — for the difference matters
not — roaring out at the toj3 of their voices, " Go along, sir ;
pray go along ! we shall be left half a mile behind ! ! !"

There are other objections to Leicestershire which hold
good with many, and these are — the strength of the fences,
and, as it istechnically termed, the "severity" of the country to
horses, particularly on the Harborough side. To a certain
description of sportsmen these objections may be deemed
insurmountable ; namely, to those with weak stables and
still weaker nerves. It is quite true that there are fences
in this country to be encountered in every run, which, if
cleared, take a great deal out of a horse, and if not cleared,
bang and bruise his legs, if they do not give him a fall ; but
they possess one advantage which is too often denied to those
of the rural countries. This consists in the sound nature of
the ground from which the horse takes his spring ; and I
well remember the advice of a good old sport s:nan, who
rode harder in his seventieth year than many do in their
thirtieth. " When your horse gets weak in a run," said he,
" don't look for the weakest place in the fence, as too many
are apt to do, but look to that where the ground is good for
your horse to rise from." Doubtless he was right ; for
without a proper fulcrum the exertion of leaping is doubled,
and as horses become exhausted they are more given to become
careless. Another advantage also accompanies Leicestershire
fences — Ihey are all planted on the ground, consequently
the horse is not under the necessity of trusting to the ticklish
security of a bank or cop to sjiring from, which if it gives way
with his weight is nearly certain to get him into a difficulty.
Moreover, such fences can never be taken in stroke,
which the fences in Leicestershire are, or the horses could
never live with the hounds. The formidable ox-fence is the
worst obstacle to a horse crossing Leicestershire.

E 2

52 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

Good timber-leapers are essential in Leicestershire, as
almost every fourth fence in a run is one of this description ;
and thus is the fact accounted for, namely, when any part of
a hedge becomes weak it is necessary to guard it with a rail
until it recovers its strength ; for in the fly-season what
would be considered a good fence in most other countries is
of no avail in Leicestershire, where so many large bullocks
are fed. In the Harborough country there are some
awkward ravines or dingles, which, unless it be to those who
know them well, are the severest obstacles to a man riding
over Leicestershire.

I hear some people speak lightly of the brooks in Lei-
ce-tershire ; but judging of them from experience, and
having found myself at the bottom of some of them, and
on good water-jumpers too, I am not of this opinion.
The Whissendine and tlie Smite are always difiieult, even
when time is allowed to make choice of a particular part,
where the banks may approach each other and be sound ;
but when taken as they come — that is, in chase, when hounds
are running hard, and there is no time to look — the odds
are that a horse must clear more than twenty feet to get
over them. There are other brooks besides these, namely,
the Burton Brook, the Stanten Brook — one under Norton
by Galby, another near Woodwell Head cover, and one
under the Coplow. The river Soar, which passes by Lei-
cester, and Mount Sorrell (or Mount Soar Hill, as it was
called once), and runs through the grounds of Quorndon
Hall ; and the river Welland, which divides the counties of
Leicester, Northampton, and Rutland, cannot be leaped by
horses ; although Mr. T. Assheton Smith once charged the
latter at the end of one of the most desperate runs ever
known in Leicestershire.

As the Soar takes its course from the Trent, it is seldom
an interruption to hounds hunting the better part of Lei-
cestershire ; neither are the Wreake, or Wrekin, as Camden
calls it — which passes through Melton to the Soar — nor the
canal which also passes through Melton, much regarded by
sportsmen, as they very rarely meet with them. Not one

LEICESTERSHIRE. 53

horse in ten, however good in some countries, would be able
to do the trick in Leicestershire. In the first place, if he
had been accustomed to the neat little plashed or pleached
hedges, however awkward, which most countries are fenced
with, he would never face the strong thorns which Leices-
tershire horses make their way through. Indeed, it is much
doubted whether his rider would like them, until somewhat
reconciled to them by experience. Several hunting countries
also, are almost entirely destitute of brooks ; and unless a
hunter be a brook-jumper, he is no horse for the country
I am now speaking of. The high ridge and furrow of the
old grazing grounds are likewise extremely distressing to
horses — especially to those whose form will not admit of
their passing over them smoothly. Neither are the ant-
hills to be thought lightly of, as they require that sort of
sound commanding action which, although very difficult to
procure, is indispensable to enable ahorse to gallop over them
quickly and at the same time with safety to his rider. Let
a horse go for half an hour in the first flight in a quick thing
and then go well over Tiltou-field, and leap an ox-fence out
of it, the day has been when five hundred pounds would have
been as ready for him as five hundred shillings for a cart-
horse supposed to be worth a pound or two more at a fair.

Alluding to better days — to those when agriculture
flourished, and, consequently, money abounded — it was
grateful to the eye of a sportsman to behold the prosperous
condition of the Leicestershire grazier. He had generally
four, and often more, good hunters in his stable, and his do-
mestic comforts were usually on a par with his stud.
Since the days of Meynell he has been highly respected at
the cover side, and to persons of his class is the fox-hunting
of Leicestershire very pov.erfully indebted — the preservation
of foxes being chiefly in their hands, in consequence of the
small number of large landed proprietors taking any interest
in fox-hunting. There are, however, your Oldacres, your
Thomlins, your Heycocks, and many others whose pockets
have stood proof against the ruin which has overwhelmed

^4 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

their neis-hbours, but the shock has been too seTere for most
of them, and their means must be greatly diminished.

A grazier, on a large scale, is entitled to the means of
amusins: himself, for the considerable sum he has at work in
his stock ; and more than this, if hunting be to his taste, his
business suffers nothing by his pursuit of it as compared
with the plough-farmer ; he has nothing to do in the dead
winter months that cannot be accomplished before he mounts
his horse to go to cover. It is true, he has fairs to attend, but
they do not commence till spring, and then his business at
these fairs begins so early, and hounds throw off so late, that
there is plenty of time for a grazier to buy fifty head of
cattle in the morning, and then canter away to his hounds.
The great Meynell generally paid the graziers the compli-
ment of giving them half an hour's law when he knew that
there was a fair in the neighbourhood.

I will now look at some of the covers, beginning with the
Quorn country, and I suppose I must start from the Coplow,
it having been immortalised in song. It stands in a very
commanding situation, a small distance from the village, in the
centre of an unrivalled grass country, and is always a sure find.
A grove of trees contributes to its ornament ; but the pleas-
ing object to the sportsman is the fine gorse with which it
is covered, and its truly fox-hunting appearance. Were a
foreigner to visit England for the purpose of seeing what he
can see nowhere else — that is, fox-hunting in perfection — I
should wish him to see a fox well found at Billesdon Cop-
low, and killed at Ranksborough Gorse. The most fertile
imagination of the most enthusiastic sportsman upon earth
could not picture to itself any thing finer than this. Al-
though it isnow themonth of July, and the hounds are basking
in the sun or creeping under the shade of the benches, I can
fancy I see them, streaming away, with their heads up, and
sterns down, over Tilton Great Fields, making for Lozeby
Gorse, but turning to the right for Somerby, never turning
again until they turn up their fox in the road just below the
gorse. This would occupy about an hour, and such an hour !

ClfACK MEETS OF LEICESTERSHIRE, ASHBY PASTURE. OO

" Oh, hour of bliss !
To equal this

Diana strove in vain ;
Thrice happy man,
Who, in the van.

His place can well maintain."

In 1826, Mr. Osbaldeston had a magnificent burst of
forty-eight minutes, without a check, from this famous cover,
jjassing over the fine lordships of Norton by Galby, and
Oadby, and killing his fox at Wigston, in the presence of
only seven of a large field ! !

Ashby Pasture is a splendid fixture, and for a dozen miles
in at,ny direction hounds cannot go wrong from it. Indeed,
thence to Cotsmore, Woodwell Head, or Sewstern, the very
cream of the country is before us. Cream Lodge Gorse,
near Great Dalby, and also close to the Pasture, is one of
the most favourable meets — and a noble piece of gorse did I
see there before it was burnt down ; but Glen Gorse, on the
road to Harborough — likewise a renowned fixture — is
nearly the strongest cover I ever saw hounds draw. Indeed,
it is almost inaccessible to them, and foxes have been found
difficult to getaway from it. Oaldby Toll-bar, four miles from
Leicester, on the same road, is also in great repute from the
excellence of the surrounding country ; and Kirby Gate,
on the Leicester and Melton road, is remarkable for being
the first meet in the season — namely, on the first Monday
in November.

Ashby Pasture, is in the parish of Great Dalby, in the
very heart of the grass country, and far away from a
town. From Great Dalby to Tilton was the ground
fixed upon for the great Steeple Chase between CJasher
and Clinker — the former ridden by Mr. Osbaldeston (his
owner), and the latter by Dick Christian ; and a better
five miles can scarcely be found in the county. The
ancient Leicestershire family of the Noels were domiciled
at Great Dalby in very early days. From Ashby Pasture
to Syston is a beautiful burst. Lord Aylesford's Cover,

56 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

near Thrussington Wolds, is a good place, and capable of
showing a fine run into the Duke's country.

Barkby Holt, near the village of Beeby, the property of
Mr. Potchin, is a very favourite meet ; this is also a cover of
some extent, and a sure find. From thence to the Coplow,
about five miles — and such five miles as no other country can
show, exhibiting each variety of ground to try the powers of
a horse, — was chosen for the great Steeple Match between
Lord Kennedy's Radical and Captain Ross's Clinker, and
was also, some years back, the scene of a Sweepstakes
between the late Lord Forester, Sir Gilbert Heathcote, and
Mr. Charles Meynell, who won it.

Baggrave Spiny,* not far from Barkby Holt, is a
capital place. Five years ago Lord Lonsdale found his
second fox, a good old-fashioned woodland gentleman, in
Loddington Reddish, and went straight away for Baggrave
Spiny, and Lozeby Plantations, without a check. Sir Harry
Goodricke, and the well-known yeoman, Mr. Heycock,
particularly distinguished themselves in this tremendous
burst ; and the day's sport concluded with killing the fox
in a truly workmanlike style, at the end of three hours and
upwards, near to the town of Uppingham. Mr. Osbaldeston
had likewise one of his best days from Barkby Holt. The
fox came right away for Tilton, but did not enter the wood ;
and after skirting Laundwood also, he faced the open for
Somerby, and was killed close to Cold Orton (or Overton),
after one hour, and fifty-eight minutes.

Bunny Wood, INotts, is in rather a rough country, but a
sure find, being the property of that good sportsman, Lord
Ranclifie. Debdale Gorse and Bunny Decoy are in the
draw, from whence foxes generally go for the Widmerpool
Covers, Gotham Wood, or Normanton.

Burdett's cover (Sir Francis's), under Burrow Hills, has a
capital country about it, and was made by the worthy Baronet

* The word Spinj', as denoting a cover, is peculiar to Leicestershire and one or
two other countries. It may be traced to the Latin v/oid spina, a thorn ; and John-
son gives the adjective " spiny, thorny."

CRACK MEETS OF LEICESTERSHIRE. 57

whose name it bears ; for many years a great supporter of
the hunt, and one of its boldest riders. This cover showed
one brilliant run. The fox went straight away over Burrow
Hill by Little Dalby, down to the Oakham Road, when he
was headed. He returned over Burrow Hill, leaving Great
Dalby to the right, Burrow Town to the left, by Knossing-
ton to Owston Wood. One hour and thirty minutes over a
very severe country, and all the horses had enough of it.

Cream Lodge Gorse is one of the largest and strongest
gorse covers in the Quorn hunt, extending over upwards
of twenty acres. It was Avilfully set fire to a few years
back, but is now all the better for it. The following inter-
esting run from this gorse took place in Mr. Osbaldeston's
time : — A fox stole away, and being viewed by the hounds
as they came up to the cover, they got well away with it.
He skirted Ashby Pasture to Thorpe Thrussells, near to
Thorpe Satchville, over Burrow Hill, and away to Adcock's
Barn. He there made a short turn to the left, nearly in the
face of the crowd, and passing over the fine lordship of
Great Dalby, was run into, in the middle of afield of nearly
one hundred acres, between Melton and Kirby (Sir F.
Burdett's), after a dashing burst of exactly forty minutes.
The kill was an extraordinary one ; Dick Burton, then
whipper-in to Mr. Osbaldeston, was with his hounds, and
viewed the fox before them for rather more than a mile.
He saw him cross the road near to the village of Burton,
when he entered the field in which he was killed ; and when
he got into the middle of it, he laid down, and coiled himself
up like a lap-dog before a parlour fire. But the story does
not end here. Three couples of hounds which were some-
what a-head of the pack, dashed over him without his
stirring: when the main body came up and killed him.

Glen Gorse is a very crack place, the meet being generally
at Oadby Toll Bar, four miles from Leicester on the Har-
borough road, and attended by many of the surrounding
hunts. It is a magnificent piece of gorse, and a sure find ;
but business is apt to be disturbed by foot people, the ueigh-

58 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

bouring' population being numerous and manufacturing, and
they steal away on this occasion from their stocking frames,
" to see what is to be seen." Foxes run from this gorse
over the finest part of the Harborough country, as well as
occasionally to Enderby or Tooley. It is a beautiful burst
from Glen Gorse to the Co plow, not an unusual line. Greene's
Gorse is the next draw in general, should a fox not get well
away from Glen. Gleu Gorse has afibrded several capital
runs, but one which particularly merits notice, being the
third severe thing on the same day. The following is a
correct account of it from an eye witness : — " Met Mr.
Osbaldeston's hounds at Mowesley, found at Laughton Hills ;
came away for Gumley, leaving* Laughton and Mowesley
to the left, and lost him at Fleckney Town, after a beautiful
burst of twenty-five minutes, without a check. Found a
fresh fox in Fleckney Gorse, came well away with him on
the left of Fleckney and Wiston, to Glen Gorse, leaving it
on the right by Stretton Hall, and lost him at Houghton,
forty-five minutes, very fast. Found a third fox in Glen
Gorse, ran him in cover for an hour, broke away by Oadby
and Weston, leaving Kilby on the right, through Fleckney
Gorse, leaving Shearsby Gorse to the left, by John Ball
cover, crossed the AYelford road by Shearsby Town, to the
right of Great Peatling. The hounds were stopped at
Willoughby Waterless, after a run of one hour and fifty
minutes, with their last fox. All the horses beat but Mr.
Osbaldeston's Yorkshire Stingo, who carried him through
the whole of the day, and was the only horse in the field at
last.

John Ball Cover, near Shearsby, is a very favourite
fixture in the Harborough country. This cover was made
under the direction of Mr. Oldacre, a most respectable
yeoman, residing between Leicester and Melton, under
whose superintendency several others have been made. By
his care in preparing and clearing the ground previously
to the seed being drilled, and keeping the plants clean by
the use of the hoe, they generally held foxes the second

MAP OF THE

VJ 1 1 T a

PYTCHLEY

M D r IT ID S,

CRACK MEETS OF LEICESTERSHIRE 59

year; and a handsome Silver Cup was presented to Mr.
Oldacre for his exertions. In addition to this mark of
approbation, some of the principal gentlemen of the hunt
attended the christening of one of his children, and stood
as sponsors.

Sboby Scholes, shows fine runs into Lord Forester's
country, &:c. This fixture is rendered memorable from a
tremendous run in the great Meynell's time, on the first
hunting day of the season. The hurst was to Frisby Gorse;
but after passing over the fine — nay, unequalled — lordship of
Gaddesby, Great Dalby, Queenborough, and Syston, the
fox was killed close to Mount Sorrell. Those who saw it
have asserted that Mr. Meynell, on his favourite grey horse,
and his celebrated hound Champion, equally distinguished
themselves on that day.

Widmerpool Inn, a small public house, ten miles from
Melton, on the Nottingham road ; is not a popular fixture,
but the numerous gorses about it are fine, with good rides
in them, and they are a preserve for foxes in the surrounding
covers. Foxes from the Segg's Hill country, &c. often come
here, showing excellent runs. Just above Widmerpool,
however, the country is rough and deep in the winter, and
very sticky for horses in the spring, consequently not a great
favourite with the Melton gentlemen. It is, however, a
good spring hunting country.

The forest of Charnwood, which formerly extended to
Loughborough, is a valuable acquisition to the Quorn
country, for spring and autumn hunting, being about twenty
miles in circumference, and for the most part excellent
scenting ground. When approached, however, by a modern
sportsman, who has just been sailing over the green sward
of the Melton and Harborough countries, there is something
about the forest covers appalling, if not disgusting ; but with
a good pack of hounds and an active huntsman, foxes are
got away from them beyond all expectation, and many tine
runs have been seen with the Quorn hounds from Charn-
wood Forest. In one respect, indeed, it has the advantage

60 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

of the ffrazino: districts of Leicestershire, in that the sur-
rounding country is free from three curses to which they
are every day subject — namely, the stain of cattle and sheep,
shepherds, and their dogs. Nothing is more puzzling to
young ones — indeed, to old ones also — than the former evil,
and the latter often cuts up sport when nothing else could
mar it. Some parts of this forest, however, are very bad to
ride over, on account of the large stones which abound in
them ; and it was here that Dick Burton got his bad fall
when whipping-in to Mr, Osbaldeston. Foxes, however,
oftener take a better line, pointing for Quorn.

My readers at home are no doubt aware of the nature of
the Leicestershire covers ; but those in distant countries, of
whom I am happy to say I boast a large share, may not
possess any knowledge of them. I must therefore inform them
that, in the Quorn, and Lord Forester's countries, they are
chiefly gorse covers, and in Lord Lonsdale's about an equal
number of gorse covers and woods. In the Quorn country,
between seven and eight hundred pounds per annum are
paid in rent for the ground the gorse covers occupy ; and
other expenses are incurred in the preservation of them
during the summer months. There are likewise some arti-
ficial covers in the Quorn country which answer tolerably
well, but hounds do not draw them kindly. They are formed
by planting live blackthorn stakes, which are plashed down
within about two feet of the ground. Long rough grass
soon grows over and covers them, affording a secure kennel
to a fox. The ground should face the south, to have the
advantage of the sun, and the extent of it should not be
under three acres. William Craddock, Esq., of Sanford
Hall, near Loughborough, a good old sportsman, kindly
superintends the preservation of the covers in the Quorn
country.

There are woods and spinies in the Quorn country ;
but with the exception of those in the immediate vicinity of
the forest, they do not exceed a hundred acres in extent.
Indeed Camden speaks of Leicestershire as being "all a

CnACK MEETS TX LEICESTERSHIRE. 61

champaign country, rich in corn and grain, but the greatest
part of it deficient in wood." If such were the case in the
time of Camden, who has been more than two hundred
years in his grave, of course there is much less wood now.
Indeed, according to his map of the county, Dalby Wood
appears to be the only one worthy his notice in any j^art of
the Quorn country, with the exception of Charnwood and
Leicester Forests, the latter of which no longer exists.

Northstoke Wood, at the one hundred and fourth mile-
stone on the great road from London to Grantham, was
one o'" the favourite meets with the Duke of Rutland when
he slept at the Black Bull at Witham Common (as he used
to do), on the road from London. This cover was the pro-
perty of a gentleman of the name of Turner, of North Stoke,
now deceased, an excellent friend to fox-hunting. And
hereon hangeth a tale. The late Lord Huntingtower, who,
despite his name, as the world knows, was no friend to fox-
hunting, lived near this worthy old gentleman, and wished
him to cut down some trees which obstructed a fine view
from his windows, though at three miles distance fiom him.
Mr. Turner objected, but his lordship was not to be disap-
pointed. " Accordingly," as the old women say, he sent a
great number of men with hatchets, &c., and down came the
trees whilst the Squire was at church. Of course the pun-
ishment was a severe one, and too well known to our
readers to need a repetition here ; but " never mind that,"
said his lordship — " he cant put the trees in their places again."

At Stubton, the seat of Sir Robert Heron, between
Grantham and Newark, there is a noble gorse cover. The
sportsman who meets hounds at Stubton Gorse must possess
two essentials — namely an accomplished fencer and a stout
heart. Perhaps no part of the country is more strong, and
a peculiar sort of fence is made in it. It consists of a plashed
hedge, of more than usual strength, with a wide ditch on each
side of it ; a stranger would wonder how the horses get
over them at all without either injury or falls. Fortunately
there is a good deal of timber, which, though high and

62 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

strong, is preferable to those raspers, the blackthorn being
remarkably strong in this deep soil.

Few countries can show finer woodlands than those in
Lord Forester's hunt, and most excellent sport have they
afforded for a long series of years.

My readers abroad must feel intense interest respecting
so celebrated a pack as these of which I am now speaking,
and also of the late noble possessor of them. It is then my
duty to inform them that the Duke of Rutland kept his fox-
hounds on a scale of great magnificence for thirty-three
seasons, and then resigned them to his nephew. Lord Fores-
ter, with the accompanying compliment of £1,200 per annum
towards the expenses of them,* But his Grace does all
things with a munificent hand ; and the magnificence and
hospitality of Belvoir Castle in the hunting season, has
exceeded, I believe, even the magnificence and hospitality
of English nobility itself In short, I have reason to think
it was unique ; and what boundless benefits must the sur-
rounding country have experienced from the disbursements
of such a large and splendid establishment ! Were there
half a score of Belvoir Castles in every county in England,
provincial and rural suffering would be at an end. Of the
castle my limits will not allow me to say more than that it
is one of the most extensive of our baronial residences, and
every way worthy of the noble estates which are attached to it.

The situation is bold and commanding ; and it has been
asserted that his Grace can look over from twenty to thirty
thousand acres of his own land from the tower which forms
so grand a feature in the building. It is situated in the
county of Leicester, but so close to the extremity of it that
the stables are in the county of Lincoln. A considerable
range of stabling, and houses for the accommodation of
grooms and helpers belonging to the visitors at Belvoir, are
also outside the park, as it would have required the revenue
of a principality to have maintained such a host at the castle.
The Duke has retired from the hunting field.

* Hounds have been kept at Belvoir Castle for at least a century.

.©"^

.3 ],1&£T§ ©TT^s e®TT^,

ii^c

Th^ rtanves or' the ifeett arv

diatinmtirhed by a crosa. UlllsK

The tiffurat ar^/Bfj theii- Jii-

■tarux in JUU&t tivrn Cottesmore.

Scale Oft' Miles

<5 i i i i-

CRACK MEETS IN LORD LONSDALe's COUNTRY. 63

The following- are the most distinguished places of
meeting in Lord Lonsdale's country : — Woodwell Head,
Wymondham Pasture, Barley Gorses, Gunthorpe Gorse,
Whitwell Gorse, Blaston Pasture, Cole's Lodge, Wing
Gorses, Ayston Gorses, the Punch Bowl, Ranksborough
Gorse, Laund Wood, Tilton Wood, Burrow Gorses, Ram
Jam, Cottesmore Gorse, Gibbet Gorse, Loddington, Reddish
W^ood, Berry Gorse, Little Dalby, and Burton Gorse.

Among the above are some of the rerj best fixtures in
Leicestershire, but the greater part are in Rutlandshire.
Woodwell Head, perhaps, stands first, as it may be said to
be splendidly situated for hounds, being in the midst of a
champaign grazing district, in which, if a fox once gets out
of cover, he must fly for his life. From W^oodwell Head to
Goad by Park is a delightful burst, and such as no other
country under the sun can show. In short, the Lordships
of Teigh, Market Overton, Whissendine, &c., appear to have
been laid out for fox-hunting. Foxes often run over the
vale of Belvoir from Woodwell Head Cover.

Perhaps a finer cover in a finer country cannot well be
found than Tilton Wood, in the Harborough country. To
see a fox come " right well away," as Goosey used to say,
boldly facing Skeffington Field or Xewton Hills, cheers the
heart of a sportsman, and makes the fast ones look about
them. There is no more severe country in Leicestershire
for horses than from Tilton Wood to Woodwell Head.

Ram Jam, a road-side public-house near Streeton, on the
great North-road, about four miles from Witham Common,
eight from Stamford, and about as far from Oakham, is a very
celebrated fixture, and in an excellent country. It is on
record that the word entire, as applied to porter in London,
was imported from this place. The landlord was famous
for his various sorts of beer, which he was very particular
in mixing to suit the palates of his customers, and some of
his mixtures much resembled porter. When this liquor,
then, came into use in London, the brewers called it entire,
to show that it was not a mixture.

(]4 HUNTING EEMINISCENCES.

Wymondham Pasture is another beautiful place for
hounds. All the Teigh, Whissendine, and Harborough
country is open to it on one side, and the best part of the
Melton country on the other.

Wliitwell Gorse, four mil s from Oakham, is also a
favourite fixture. Barley Gorses, Cottesmore Gorse,
Burrow Gorse, near Somerby, Gibbet Gorse, Wing Gorse,
Burton Gorse, and the Punch Bowl, are likewise first-rate
places in this far-famed country.

Cottesmore House, it must be remembered, is not in the
county of Leicester, but in Rutland, and so indeed are the
majority of Lord Lonsdale's fixtures. Cottesmore House
was the property of Sir Gilbert Heathcote, who had a large
estate around it — when times were good — say £10,000 per
annum, within a ring fence. Sir Gilbert, be it remembered,
was himself a master of fox-hounds.

With respect to the Earl of Lonsdale, few men are more
respected as a sportsman and a gentleman, and almost all
his family — male and female — have a turn for the noble
science of fox-hunting. The Hon Colonel Lowther, his
lordship's son, is considered one of the best sportsmen and
hardest riders of the present day. He takes an active part
in the hunting establishment.

Having described to the best of my ability the principal
fixtures of Lords Lonsdale and Forester's (late the Duke of
Rutland's), and Sir Harry Goodricke's country (once the
Quorn), it only remains for me to mention a few of the
remaining covers in the county of Leicester hunted by other
hounds.

Misterton and Stamford Hall Covers, in the neighbour-
hood of Lutterworth, belong to the Pytchley country. No
covers in England are capable of showing finer runs than
these. All the Harborough country, and the best part of
it too, is open to a Misterton fox.

Mr. Applewhaite's hounds, in the Atherstone country,
also have a few good fixtures in Leicestershire. Among
them are the following: Sibson Wolds, Sutton Ambion,

SUTTON AMBION. 65

Welsborough Gorse, Market Boswoith, Ortoii Gorse near
Twycross, Burbage Wood, Nailston Wiggs, Kirkby Mal-
lory, Tooley Park, Gopsall (Lord Howe's), Lindley Gorse,
near Atherstone, Shenton Goi'sc, Lindridge Wood, &c., and
some excellent covers lately made at Elmsthorpe, Marstou,
and Dunton.

One of the most favourite covers now spoken of, is Bur-
bage Wood, within three miles of Hinkly, on the road from
Lutterworth. This fine cover, though of considerable extent,
used to be a very uncertain draw, having never been proj^erly
preserved, and constantly shot in and disturbed ; but of late
years it has been well stocked with foxes, under the superin-
tendence of Major Jervis of the Leicester Militia, a good
friend to the sport. It is impossible for a fox to take a bad
line of country from Burbage Wood. To Weddington
Wood indeed is indifferent. But if he puts his head for
Tooley Park, or Enderby, Kirkby Mallory, or Bosworth,
Whetstone Gorse, or Glen, he takes us over as pleasant
and gentlemanlike a country as the most fastidious would
ask to ride over. A Combe Abbey fox (Lord Craven's)
shows a capital thing over a good sporting country. There
is generally a large assemblage of sportsmen when the
Atherstone hounds meet at Burbage Wood, and a tickler
for the nags is often experienced with a fox that can reach
the forest.

Sutton Ambion is likewise a favourite fixture. Orton
Gorse and Gopsall excellent ; and Market Bosworth infe-
rior to none. There is always a large field at the latter
place, and the fate of a fox is now ofien fixed on that very
ground on which was once decided the fate of a crown.

I have now, I think, taken the circuit of this far-
famed country, which shares its honours with no less than
six packs of fox-hounds, viz.. The Quorn, The Pytchley,
Lord Lonsdale's, Lord Forester's, Mr. Dansey's, and Mr.
Applewhaite's. That it never had its ecpial in advantages to
hounds, and facilities to horsemen who can ride to hounds, is a
fact too well known to dwell upon ; but that Leicestershire

F

66 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

now, is not what Leicestershire was, is also a truth, to be la-
mented. The late Lord Forester has been heard to declare
that time has been, when he could have sat on his horse at
Melton Spiny, and, cast his eyes around from that commanding
spot, without distinguishing a single ploughed field. The war-
prices, however — wheat ata guinea per bushel, and othergrain
in proportion — altered the face of Leicestershire. A consi-
derable part of the fine old green sward was turned up, and
even now much of it remains under the plough. In the
Vale of Belvoir, particularly, a greater alteration has been
effected than in the Quorn and the Cottesmore countries — so
much so indeed, that if a stranger were to make his debut in
some parts of it, on his first visit to Melton, he might fancy
himself deceived in the accounts he had received of it as a
grass country.

In another respect, however, Leicestershire and the Vale
have improved, and this is by the land being for the most part
drained, which renders it easier for the horses, and more
agreeable to their riders. I have heard of the deep ana
almost boggy state which some part — indeed great part — of
Leicestershire was in, previously to the general adoption of
the soughing system, from a few of those old sportsmen left,
who hunted it in the former part of Mr. Meynell's time,
when, with a very good scent, a horse was thought to have
distinguished himself greatly if he could live twenty minutes
with hounds, certainly not so fast as those of the present day.

At certain periods of the hunting season, however, Leices-
tershire and the Vale are at present sufficiently deep to stop
nineteen horses out of twenty, when the pace is quick, and
they are put along at the pace, with a few ox-fences in their
way. Admitting all this, Leicestershire is, not the easiest,
but certainly the pleasantest, and the most gentlemanlike
country — if I may be allowed such a term — to ride over,
that can be found in the United Kingdom.

Having ridden over it myself, I may perhaps be al-
lowed the attempt to describe " the sort of things," as Mr.
Brummel was used to say (when taking a wide latitude, in

A CRACK RUN IN LEICESTERSHIRE. 67

giving his opinion upon some things), and fancying myself
well-mounted at Fleckney Gorse, repeat the description a
very hard-riding Meltonian gave me a few days back, of a
magnificent run from that cover. I make no apology for
the language ; it may not be a la Cicero, nor quite equal to
Demosthenes, but it is business-like, and, in parts, I think
touching.

" I tallyhoed the fox away," said he, " so of course got a
good start. I was on a very quick one, nothing like the best
in my stable ; in short, ouIt/ a five year old, and not so wise
as he should be ; but I had had a taste of him, and I could
neither blow him nor funk him, for he would face any thing-
When he was in training — which by the bye was only last year
— he was a little queer in his temper, and he never appeared
comfortable in a crowd, so that I always, when I could, took
a line of my own with him.

" Our first fence this day was a flight of rails, with a
yawning ditch on the further side, which I thought it was
my luck to have the first fly at ; but, looking earnestly at
the hounds, as every man should do, you know, I never saw
young M — , who came right across me at the fence, and got
a nasty sort of a fall (he told me afterwards, he could not
hold his mare ; if so, all well ; if not, it served him right). I
tried to stop the young thorough-bred one ; but he threw
up his head, and it was ' no go ;' so, thinking my own the
more valuable life of the two — I mean more valuable than
young M — 's, — I let him go, and all I saw of young M — ,
was his mare's belly and his own head, the rest of his body
being under the mare. However, I never touched him, I
am happy to say, and two others did as I did ; but the third
was not quite so fortunate. He jumped on his head, as
he thought, but it was only his hat, as his head had just then
slipped out of it. But you know, my dear fellow, these
things will happen in our fast country. No joke, you are
aware, for a fellow to fall at the first fence, with such a crowd
close behind him, all trying to get first, in fact, all jealous as
girls. However, I kept my line ; and if I remember right,

F 2

r>8 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

the next fence was nothing — only a gate, a stiff one to be
sure ; hut young ones are always good at timber, that is to
say, if they will but look at it ; but the pace was beginning
to tell already, for the country w^as most infernally deep.
There were not more than eight or ten very near the hounds,
and no one exactly on my line, so I didn't care a rush for a
fall. I saw things were going well, and puggy was facing a
rare country. In short, we could plainly see we were in for
a tickler.

" I began to be sorry, however, that I was riding the
young one — indeed I meant to have had him second horse,
and I will say this, Wilson* advised me to it. However, I
let him go ; and as I only gave three hundred for him at
Newmarket, I thought I'd try what he was made of. You
know, my good fellew, it's no use keeping horses to look at
at Melton, and if they are good for nothing, send them to
the hammer ! Let them try their luck in the rurals. You
know they won't do for us.

" The next fence was a bullfinch — black as night itself.
You could not have seen through it with a lantern. As to
what was t'other side Heaven only knew, / could not
guess ; but what was to be done ? The hounds were going
the top of the pace, no time to turn a yard right or left ;
two fellows rather nearer to them than I was (could'nt boar
that you know) so at it we went. As for the young one, he
absolutely appeared to like it, but I cannot say I did,
though I should have thought little of it with most of my
other horses, and you know I have near a score about as
good as my neighbours. It was a rasper to be sure, and I
can't say but I was glad when we were over it. The next
man to me would not have it at all, but there were five
more well with the hounds to my left — all the rest no where.
To be sure the pace was nothing less than terrific. John
White sang out — ' sharper than common this morning my
boy, how does the young one like it?' and you know he
seldom cries out on that score. Indeed he reminds me of
* His head groom.

A CRACK RUN IN LEICESTERSHIRE. 69

Jem Robinson the jockey. Jem swears a race horse never
yet went fast enough for him, and declares if it would not
hurt him, he should like to he shot out of a cannon's mouth;
and so it is with John White and a few others. The pace
is scarcely ever good enough for them. However, there
was no cause for complaint now. My horse kept going well,
in short he delighted me. I would not have taken a
thousand for him. He jumped an ox-fence — the next but
one after the bullfinch — and then a stile with an awkward
foot-bridge, and a brook, quite as well as old Bounce would
have jumped them. I have got a trump, quoth I, to myself ^
for there was no one very near to have heard me. The
blood of old Prunella will tell. But he kept shaking his
head in a curious manner. I had never seen him do so
before. If I had had my whip in my hand, I should have
given him a nobber, for you know its awkward, going very
fast at high and strong timber — post and rail, or what not —
with a blind ditch on your side (and you know the ditches
in Leicestershire are like all other ditches in November,)
with your horse shaking his head like a terrier shaking a rat.
But I had lost my whip at that infernal bullfinch, and part
of my breeches too. I know not how it happened, but that
day I was not in leathers. I suppose Johnson thinks
corderoys less trouble, and often says when he wakes me —
' Likely to be wet, sir, better not wear leathers to-day.' The
sly rogue ! the washerwoman polishes the corderoys, but he
cleans the leathers, you know. However, to proceed with
my story. When we checked for a niinute or two under
Carlton Clump, I found what it was that made the poor
devil shake his head. He had got a great thorn in his eye,
out of that infernal bullfinch, and the blood was running
down the side of his head from a tear from another, I got
the thorn out the best way I could, but he was evidently in
great pain. What was to be done? I could have cried.
You know I love horses better than most things, and I
abhor cruelty in any shape. I would not it should have
happened for a thousand guineas or more. But it was done.

70 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

I looked out for the second horses, not one was to be seen ;
and how should they? We had come as straight as a bird
could have flown, for at least six miles. I condemned
myself; I wished myself any where but where I was, I said
— ' What could have possessed me to have ridden Edwin
first horse to-day, in such a country as this, when Footpad
is so fit to go, and Wilson told me I'd better not.' ' I'll go
home,' I said ; but confound it, — at that very moment
Ravisher and Rantipole hit off the scent, and, my good
fellow, what could I do ? What would you have done ?
Edwin had recovered his wind, and as he shook his head
less, and played cheerfully with his bit, I hoped he was
better. He was carrying me magnificently ; not more than
a dozen fellows with the hounds ; a splendid country before
us — / took the lead again ; I shall never forget the third
fence we now came to, which was out of the next field but
one to Shankton Holt. It was not a double, but a treble
(a trouble I was going to say). It was of this description,
but thank heaven there are not many such. There was first
a ditch, then a rail, then another ditch, and then another rail.
You see there is no landing for a horse if he takes this at
twice, except on the first rail, or in the second ditch ; but the
old ones will double these fences when very well handled
too.

" But the wind was in Edwin, and I knew he would face
anything, but I doubted his being up to this queer double.
I sent him at it, then, at the rate of forty miles an hour,
thinking to clear it all ; but, far as the clever young horse
could fling himself, he could not clear the whole. He
alighted with one fore leg over, and the other under the
outermost rail, and gave me a thundering fall. ' It's unfor-
tunate,' said I to myself, glancing my eye at the fence, as I
arose from the ground, ' if I had known that middle rail
had been so weak, we should have gone in and out clever —
at least with only a scramble. I'm out of luck to day,'
added I, ' but here goes again,' and soon jumped into my
saddle.

A CRACK RUN Ii\ LEICESTERSHIRE, 71

" The hounds turning to me a little, I was almost imme-
diately in my place again. ' What now ?' said one. ' Disas-
ters come thickly this morning,' cried another. ' All right
again,' replied I ; ' take care of yourselves, for we are in for
business to-day, and I perceive one or two of you have been
kissing your Mother Earth. Don't holloa till you're out of
the wood, my boys !' The scent appeared better and better;
indeed, the pace had been awful since the check in the wind-
mill-field. I looked back twice, and could only see four, and
there were but five besides myself with the hounds, 'This
is beautiful,' I said. ' Divine ! ' shouted L. I thought so too,
I could not help giving them a cheer, which I don't often do
Ten minutes more, however, began to tell tales. One of the
best nags out of Melton began to look queer, at least I
thought so ; but R. had rammed him along at a devil of a
rate, and you know he rides with rather a slack rein.
' Never loose their heads, my boy, whatever you do,' said
my uncle to me, soon after I was breeched ; and no doubt
you have heard of him in old Meynell's days. He was one
of the best of that time, though he might be reckoned slow
now. Well, to proceed with our run. We crossed the
brook under Norton-by-Galby, and went as straight as a
line for Rolleston Wood. ' Ha ! ha ! another ox-fence,' said
I to myself, as we rose the hill in Galby Field, which being
deep and holding, took rather tightish hold of the nags. In
return, however, I kept a tight hold upon mine, and was
delighted to find him so well. ' I'll not have this ox-fence,'
said I ; ' they are turning to the right, and I'll make for the
sheep-pen in the corner.' But there was no-such luck for
me or my horse. The scent lay nearly right a-liead of us,
but the hounds, if any thing, were bearing to the left, ' Here
goes, then, there is nothing else for it ;' so catching fast hold
of his head I sent him at it manfully : but it had like to have
been a case. The ditch was broad and deep, the hedge
thick and plashed, and the rail beyond them strong. Neither
was this all. There was a considerable fall into the next
field, which would have been bad enough had my horse

72 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

landed on the ridge, but unfortunately he landed in the
furrow, and the furrow was deep and sticky. The dro}i
must have been seven feet at the least, and he had a struggle
to keep his legs, for he must have cleared more than seven
yards in length, or he would not have got over it at all. It
told upon him ; but I soon got him upon a headland, and
standing up in my stirrups, took a pull at his head, which
recovered him wonderfully before he got to the end of the
ground, which was sixty acres or more. In short, he cleared
a high gate into the Uppingham and Leicester road, a little
to the right of Billesdon, and a large straggling blackthorn-
hedge and ditch out of it with apparent ease to himself,

" ' This cannot last long^ I said, ' I wish the foi would
die, or that Footpad would make his appearance.' The
latter chance, however, was out. ' He'll go to ground in
the Coplow,' I vainly said to myself, ' or at least we may
come to a check.' The devil a bit ; he never went into the
Coplow, but straight away as if for Lozeby Plantations. ' I
shall kill the young one,' thought I ; but what, my good
fellow could I do? We went right over Tilton Field — the
devil's own place for a tired one — and out of it I got a fall ;
but I believe it was my own fault. The fence was of this
description: — it was plashed, and newly plashed, with
growers in it as thick as a man's thigh ; but (the devil take
all Leicestershire hedgers!) the brushwood leaned, uncut,
towards me, over at least two yards of ground, and there
was a yawning ditch on the further side. Edwin was going
gallantly at it, when, perhaps, thinking I was upon Guinea-
j>ig, or perhaps fearing we might drop short, I rammed both
spurs into his sides, and he jumped further than he need
have done. He kept his legs on landing, but the third step
he took his toe struck the top of a mole hill, and down he
went on his head. He rolled completely over me, and we
lay on the ground together. He was up first, however, for
I could neither stir hand nor foot ; but it was only from the
wind being knocked out of me, and in a very few minutes I
caught him. Lideed, he was walking quietly away, with his

A CRACK RUN IN LEICESTERSHIRE. 73

back turned to the hounds. (Between you and me, he
began to thmk he had had enough of them.) I did not like
his appearance. His tail was shaking — his flanks worked
violently — there was that stare about his eyes which horses
show when they are over-worked — and he staggered as I
leaned my weight on the stirrup. I stood still for a moment
but I could hear nothing. ' It's all over,' said I ; ' I must
go home ;' and I patted Edwin on the neck, but dared not
look at his eye. The very thought of it annoyed me
excessively : ' But accidents,' said I, 'will happen.' I opened
a gate on my left, and turned short on the headland, which
led me on to a hard road. Here Edwin struck into a trot
without being urged to it by me. ' Hark !' said I, ' I think
I hear the hounds;' but Edwin had heard them already.
From a trot he struck into a gallop, and I viewed them
about a mile before me. ' He'll not face this wind,' said I,
' I have a chance of dropping in with them yet, and, perhaps,
I may alight upon Footpad, for that's a clever little boy on
his back.' But I ought to have been on him myself, and
then I should have been in my place. ' By Jove,' continued
I, * they are coming round to us — he is turning short for
Quenby. I shall catch them at Newton village. What a
ticklino; the nasrs must have had over the hills!'

" I fell in with them in a road beyond the village. There
were now seven men with the hounds, and I made the
eighth. 'Where have you been?' said one. ' Where I
deserve to he,' was my reply. ' Are you hurt?' ' No.'
But Edwin ! what state was he in ? Why, my dear fellow
I'll tell you. The hard road had recovered him, and he
leaped a widish place out of the lane when the hounds
crossed under hio nose, as well as he would have leaped it in
the morning. ' Hes heart of oak,' said I, and sent him at a
flight of rails quite as high as his back, which he cleared
with apparent ease. In short, he appeared the freshest
horse in the field ; for he had had his puff" whilst the others
were going over Newton Hills (but remember, he was only
a five-year old.) Distress showed itself in all; even

74 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

Mountebank began to refuse, which he never does till he is
beat, and T — swears he was never beat but twice. L — got
fast in a sheep-pen; for although old Dance-away jumped
into it he would not jump out of it: in short, the jump was
out of him, and we never saw him again. ' Where's the best

place ?' cried Lord , who could not face some timber,

and was looking for a creep through a bullfinch : he could
not find one, and we never saw him again, * How shall we
get over the brook?' holloaed N — who would have jumped
one twice as wide in the morning without thinking about it,
' Go quick at it,' said I, and Edwin went a yard beyond it.
' Well done the five-year old !' holloaed W — .' and in an
instant he was over his head in the water, for his horse
never rose at it at all.

" There were only four of us now wath the hounds, and it
began to be labour and sorrow. As for Edwin, I found it
.was all over with him. The flash in the pan had exploded,
or I should rather say it was extinguished at the brook.
Still, however, I am ashamed to say, I persevered with him,
but I could scarcely lift him along ; — he dragged his legs
through his fences, and I could not make him rise. He
was down on his head twice, though we did not part com-
pany. In addition to this, with the finest mouth in the
world, he leaned half his weight on my hand, and the
hounds were leaving us apace. ' I'll try him once more,'
said I; so got him on a smooth head-land (for the ridge and
furrow were destroying him) and sent him at a stile at the
end of it. For the first time in his life he refused ; I put
him at it again, and I thought he was going to take it ; but
he had not the power to rise, and, swerving a little to the
right, he ran his head into the hedge and floundered on his
knees on the bank. I jumped off" him immediately, and
thanked him for not giving me a fall. I could still see the
hounds, and three men going by their side. But I could
only see them, I could no longer be with them ; like Richard
at Bosworth, what would not I have given for a horse !
" The sequel, however, is to come. The fox was killed

A CRACK RUN IN LEICESTERSHIRE. 75

about three miles beyond, after one of the finest chases
recorded even in Leicestershire. But in what a situation
were myself and poor Edwin ? As for myself, I was bruised
and sore, and had dislocated one of my fingers ; I had also
lost my whip ; but these were only trifles. I could not
bear to look upon Edwin. I got on the off-side of him to
lead him, because it was the near eye that was injured. I
looked for a village, but I could see none ; but I saw the
house of a Leicestershire grazier, and that was enough for
me. I led Edwin to his stable, and his hack conveyed mo
to Melton.

" ' Wilson,' said I to my groom, and no man has a better,
* send a boy back with this hack directly, and put yourself
into a gig without loss of time, with everything necessary
for a tired and maimed horse, and leave him not till he is
recovered — that is to say, if — (mind ye, my good fellow, I
had my fears). ' Contrary to your recommendation, Wilson,
I rode the young one the first run this morning; and,
unfortunately for me, it has been the best we have had
these three years.' ' 'Tis a pity you rode Edwin, sir, when
Footpad wants work,' said Wilson in a low but respectful
tone, such as grooms are wont to use. ' I think he'll make
the best horse in your stable in a another year or two. But
where shall I find him, sir?' continued he. ' At that
excellent fellow's house, Mr. T.'s, near Hungerton. He
has turned his own horse out of his best loose box on
purpose to make Edwin comfortable.' ' But where is he cut,
sir?' asked the unsuspecting groom. ' Is it an overreach,
or have you staked him?' ' I've done neither,' I said; ' you
loill see; get to him as quickly as you can.'

" Do you know, my good fellow, we dined at B.'s, a
capital party, and went to Lord C.'s afterwards, where all
sort of fun was going on ; but hang me if I could eat my
dinner or enjoy any thing after it for thinking of my poor
young horse. But it is time to finish this story, for upon my
word I don't like to think of it. The next morning was
Sundav, and I told Johnson not to call me till ten. How-

76

HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

ever, being fidgetty, I rang my bell at nine, and asked if
there were any tidings about my horse. ' Yes, sir,' said
Johnson ; ' Wilson came home last night.' ' How is that?'
said I. ' Edwin was dead, sir, before he got to the house'
'Shut the door,' said I, hastily, ' and don't come near me
till twelve.' I have a good mind to say I'll never go a-
hunting again."

, / / ' '/

'• ' . , ' ' 'It ''■■"/'".''

77

©[M]/S^[F^T1[K^

THINK it is Addison
wlio compares memory to
those curious repositories
in animals that are filled
with stores of food, on
which they may ruminate
at their pleasure when
taken from the pastures
in which they have col-
lected it, and there is
something in the simile
not altogether inapplica-
ble to myself. Driven
from those scenes from
which I might reap stores of subject matter for the future, I
am compelled to draw upon my reminiscences of the past ;
but I rejoice to say that there will soon be an end to this, and
I shall return to my labours like a giant refreshed. Allow
me, however, one other comparison. The powers of the
mind resemble those of the body ; the more we exercise
them the more vigorous do they become, and seldom fail us
when we call upon them on a pinch. " But," said John
Lockley, " never try to remember untoward events ; let them
j)ass " or, as Horace advises, give them to the winds and
waves. That this was the plan the former pursued I have
little doubt, and that it mainly contributed to his green old
age. And what is more probable than that such should be

78 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

the case ? for, if to the fairy visions of hope we add nothing
but pleasing recollections of the past, the stream of life must
glide smoothly along, with little injury to the channel
through which it passes. Let us then sing with Moore,

" When time, who steals our }-ears away,

Shall steal our pleasures too ;
The mem'ry of the past shall stay,

And half our joys renew.
Then fill the bowl — away with gloom !

Our joys shall always last :
For hope shall brighten days to come,

And mem'ry gild the past."

My reminiscences present such a long catalogue of names
wliich I wish to introduce to my readers, as eminent masters
of, and riders to hounds, that I feel myself under the neces-
sity of arranging them alphabetically, and so proceeding from
alpha to omega, with their respective merits, impartially de-
tailed. But observe this — although the precious gem receives
its lustre from the foil, I shall draw no obnoxious comparisons ;
but confine my remarks to those alone whose merits stand
upon their own fame.

How can I do better than commence with Lord Althorpe?*
To speak of him as a rider to hounds, however, I must
go a long way back — just thirty years — and I am free
to admit, that the retrospective glance strongly reminds
me of the last peep Adam took at Paradise. The fol-
lowing appears in my hunting book ; perhaps his lord-
ship may forget it, but I never shall, for it cost me a horse
for which I had just given a hundred and thirty guineas,
and the only consolation that accompanied the melan-
choly event was, I saw the finish.''' " Friday, December 30,
1803, met Mr. Warde, at Winnick Warren, Northampton-
shire. Ran to ground, bolted him, and (scripsisse pudet !)
killed him. Found again five minutes before twelve o'clock,
near the same place, and killed him when attempting to
reach the earths at Thorncomb, in Leicestershire, after a
run of one hour and three quarters, with only two trifling
checks; and which run was declared by Mr. Warde and

* Now Earl Spencer.

LORD ALTHORPE. THE HON G. ANSON. 79

Lord Spencer, to be the quickest, for the time, ever seen in
Northamptonshire. A large field was out ; and amongst the
few who saw him killed, were Lords Spencer and Althorpe,
Mr. Elwes, and Mr. Buller." Lord Althorpe was always
considered a very hard rider, but having unfortunately had
his shoulder put out of joint by a fall, and it being subject
to be displaced again by exertion, he was obliged to give up
hunting, of which I believe few men were much more fond.

Lord Alvanley, considering his great weight — say sixteen
stone — has had but few equals. In nerve, no superior. He
was not to be beat so long as his horses could live under him.
The last time I saw his stud, it consisted of sixteen hunters
— about his usual complement — and I would not wish to see
a better, for his pace and country. I dare say many of my
readers remember his lordship's lark in Lord Lichfield's
country, when he took £5 each from eight hard-riding men,
to return £10 to all who caught him, giving him a small
start. Lord Lichfield and Mr. Biddulph had that honour,
but no one else, although the distance was upwards of three
miles, and over a stiff" country, near Dunchurch. I perceive
somewhat of a similar bet was proposed by a Mr. Storey,
a few seasons ago in Oxfordshire; the ground fixed upon being
March-Gibbon Field, the severest, I think, ever ridden over,
at certain times of the year, and if a horse goes best pace
over it, and leaps the brook, on the far side, in his stroke,
he is qualified for any country, and for any man whose
weight he is equal to.

The Honourable George Anson was a fine horseman, and
has frequently distinguished himself in fast things over Lei-
cestershire. Indeed few men have gone better. But all of
his name that I have ever seen, or heard of, can ride. How
well I remember that gallant fellow, Sambrook Anson, in
the late Lord Vernon's time ! he was not exactly in the form
to ride — not a George Anson — but, by Jove, he was hard to
beat so long as the wind was in his nag. I remember seeing
him leap an awful gate into a hard road, with his horse all
but in convulsions, and himself dead blown as well. But

80 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

he would be with 'em, if possible, and he was one of the
j oiliest fellows in the field that ever was seen.

Do you remember Phoedrus's fable of the old woman
putting her nose into an empty wine cask? " Ye Gods!"
said she, in raptures, " what precious liquor must this vessel
have contained, when even its lees impart so fine a savour!"
Now I am sorry to say I shall have to speak of two or three
celebrated riders whom I never caught a sight of until far
advanced in the wane of life, and amongst these was the
late Lord Amesbury — better known as Mr. Dundas, of
Barton, M.P. for Berkshire. He struck me, even when
past the age allotted to man, to be a particularly strong and
good horseman ; and a proof of nerve, uncommon at that
time of life, was, that I saw him, in 1824, riding horses by
no means of the stamp to carry old age to hounds. One
of them, I recollect, was called Wisdom, known as such in
the Racing Calendar, and certainly of some experience as a
hunter; but I saw him another day on a raw, unlicked
thorough-bred one, appearing to have almost every thing to
learn. It is, however — to me at least — delightful to see
such gamesomeness in old age ; and I am often out of
patience with stupid human nature, that sets an imaginary
value upon life just in proportion as its real value is gone
by. As for Lord Amesbury, he appeared to think no more
of a broken neck than the youngest and bravest of the
last season's Meltonians did, when he got well away from
Glen Gorse. If spirits preserve any of the frailties of the
flesh, can this worthy man find a heaven without hunting?
Certainly not ; he must be born again.

The late Mr. Astley, of Odstone, also one of Lord
Vernon's men — the breeder of Magic and other race horses,
and famous for his long horned cows and new Leicester
sheep — was one of the best of the old ones, and could ride
well to hounds after he had passed the grand climacteric.
I cannot draw on my memory for the exact amount of his
weight, but I should book him in his teens, in the scales,
I remember seeing him get a very awkwfird fall at a fence,

ATKINSON ADAMSON. 81

and shall never forget the coolness with which he answered
the usual question — are you hurt? " Not much" said he,
" only my collar bone is broke." I saw a good deal
of " old Astley," as he was called, in the field, and
thought him one of those quiet sportsmen who throw a
lustre over the chase, and as such I cherish the recoliectiou
of him. But whatever he did, he did con amore ; as witness
his annual visit to Ballinasloe fair, Ireland.

It appears as though the first letter of the alphabet were
unfriendly to first-flight men in the field, but I close the list
with two huntsmen whose merits, as riders, are beyond
doubt. Christopher Atkinson, once of the Surrey Union
hounds, is one ; and Richard Adamson, huntsman to the
Vine pack, the other. Each of these men was educated
in a good school. Atkinson whipped-in to Sir Bellingham
Graham, and distinguished himself on many occasions as a
horseman, but particularly in making into a hunter, as the
phrase is, one of the most restive young horses that ever
went into a field ; and furthermore be it said, into as com-
plete a hunter as a sportsman would ever wish to throw a
leg over. I allude to a horse called Doctor, at that time in
the Baronet's stud, and afterwards the property of Mr.
Wroughton of Wroughton, in the Craven country, where I
saw that gentleman ride him with Mr. Warde's hounds.
His (Atkinson's) riding was likewise much admired in
Surrey, where I have reason to believe he was but indif-
ferently mounted.

Before I speak of Adamson, I must say a word of his
father, and I would ask one or two of those crack men
of his day who remember him, if they ever saw a much
cleverer fellow, on a middling nag, than old Dick Adam-
son, who hunted Sir John Dashwood King's harriers for
many ma7iy years.

But you will ask me — was not Dick well mounted in the
stable of so tasty a man in horseflesh as Sir John Dashwood
King ? Not he indeed, for Dick would choose his own horses.
Amongst others, he fancied an ugly Ipp-eared brute, out of a

82 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

gentleman's carriage, calling him Clodhoj)pcr, which he rode for
several years, and it was astonishing the good figure he cut
upon him, with his very fasthounds. As to the five feetwalls
on the Gloucestershire hills, he hopped over them as he
would over a sheep hurdle ; and when he threw off in that
deep vale, between Moreton-in-the-Marsh and Stow, he
cared nothing: for the Evenload Brook, not to be sneezed at,
I assure you; In short, not one hunter in twenty could be
backed at it, barring either a fall or a scramble. But to
return to his son, of whom I saw a good deal during ray
residence in Hampshire. I call him a very pretty horse-
man indeed — never appearing to hurry and upset his horse,
although always in a good place ; and I have reason to
believe that, during the time I was in his country, he
lamed fewer horses than any hard riding man that ever came
under my observation — no bad criterion of a good hand and
seat. His start in life was as second-horseman to Lord
Scarborough, which post he filled for five seasons, and he
afterwards lived as whipper-in to Mr. Musters.

The letter B produces a bountiful collection of hard
riders, which I shall take as they present themselves.
What think you of Mr. Bunco, for a start? Who
is more deserving of the box place on our coach than
" Jack Bunco," as he is called by those who know him, and
now and then by those who know him not. But this is par
excellence, and not after Jack Bunco the pirate, for an
honester man does not live, nor a truer sample of a real,
unsophisticated, unforeignized Englishman. I may also add
that there does not live a truer lover of hunting, nor many
better judges of it, barring a few of the profession. But it
is a sure sign of the /?/ror venaticus being pretty strong on
any man, who, weighing fifteen stone, follows hounds for thirty
years. No further proof is required. Mr. Bunco has had
some good horses in his time, and one or two which
have been transported into better countries than those
he has generally hunted in, and at good prices. But
was Jack never in the swell countries himself? I believe

MR. BUNCE. 83

but seldom, his stable not being sufficiently strong for so
strong a man, but he was once at Melton, and on the score
of old acquaintance I am sure he will pardon my showing
him up. Not knowing his road to cover the first day, he
kept his eye on two horses Avaiting at the door of the old
club, which were presently mounted by Messrs. Vanneck and
Lindow, The turnpike road was soon abandoned, and their
horses' heads (both good hunters) put straight for the
place of meeting. Now what was to be done ? Our hero
had but one alternative — either to "follow the leader," or give
up his day's sport ; so being tolerably mounted, on what is
called in the provincials a useful horse — his crack hunter
being gone forward — he made the attempt. The pace was
good and the fences large, notwithstanding which Bunco
was in their wake ; but at last there was death to all his
hopes. The Burton Brook was taken in stroke by the well-
mounted Meltonians, but in the middle of this our hero
was landed (is not this a "Bull" by the way?) and thus
ended his Leicestershire debut.

The mention of this name reminds me of an anecdote that
purchasers of hunters will do well to remember. Heavy
weights must not be particular as to the neat appearance of
horses ; and Mr. Bunce having been informed that there
was what is termed " a good sort of a plain strong horse"
to be sold, near Northamj^ton, went thither to look at him.
On his arrival in the town he called on a well known good
judge, the late Mr. Benton, to ask his opinion of the steed.
" I have seen him," says he, " but he won't do." " Why
not ?" demanded Mr. Bunce. " I saw Ms head through the
Avindow," replied Mr. Benton, " and I said — 'tis imposs'ible
you can make a hunter." Now here is one other proof of
Fronti nulla fides, for he made an excellent hunter, — was
ridden by Mr. Bunce three years, — and then sold for as many
hundred guineas. The late Mr, Dansey used to say, " We
don't ride on the head," and his experience, as a very heavy
weight, led him to the conclusion that large heads, well put
on, are a recommendation to horses carrying Aveight.

"^ ^ g2

84 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

In Mr. Lowth's notes to his famous Billesdon Coplow
Poem, he says, "None but good fellows are ever esteemed
worthy of a nick name." Before quitting the provincials
then, I will ask the question — what sportsman has not
seen, or at any rate heard of, the renowned Dicky Bayzand?
He has been some years in his grave ; but if he had kept
away from Newmarket, where he was a flat among sharps,
and contented himself with the handsome competence he
was heir to, he would have been still going above ground
to the amusement of his friends, and to the credit of fox-
hunting, for he was a right good sportsman and a dear lover
of that sport. He was likewise, at a certain pace, an excel-
lent huntsman, but too slow to see a quick thing — hoimds
7'nnning straight. This proceeded from several combined
causes. To be sure he was heavy — not less than fifteen
stone with his saddle — despite of all his care to reduce him-
self,— but this should not have stopped him, mounted as he
generally was, or as he might always have been, with his
judgment in horse-flesh, which was good. Secondly, he
always appeared afraid of allowing his horses to go fast over
rough ground, or across grips. Thirdly, he was shy of strong
fences, and took too much time over weak ones ; and lastly,
as his horses were always on sale, and were generally laid
in at high prices, he was fearful of " letting them go too
fast under his weight, lest they should let the cat out of the
bag at the same time ; " for although he was an excellent
judge, he often like others got hold of the wrong sort. It
is a curious fact, however, though by no means a solitary one,
that the horse he went best upon was his old black horse,
for he had no name, which he rode for many years, and
which must have been a very difiicult one to ride. How-
ever, I will describe him, and your readers shall judge for
themselves. He was upwards of sixteen hands high, with
an immense head and an iron mouth ; a hard jauller,
and a rusher at his fences. But he was well bred and
stout, and, possessing the power of a dray horse, seldom
felt distress ; and perhaps it was this that inspired his

DICKY BAYZAND. 85

rider with confidence. He was, it is true, an accom-
plished fencer, but no man could have ridden him unless a
very superior horseman, which Bayzand certainly was
allowed to be. Slow, however, as my old friend was, com-
pared with what he ought to have been, with his stable and
his good eye to hounds — for few men had better — he could
give an excellent account of a run, and describe all its
interesting points with great minuteness. In short, he was a
sportsman, and looked up to as such in all countries in which
he hunted.

Were I to ransack my memory for all the amusing cir-
cumstances relating to this extraordinary character, as I
may denominate him, I should far exceed the limits of my
pages, so one or two must suffice. He was one day going-
better than common, on a fine grey horse that he had pur-
chased of me at a long price — no doubt with a view of
selling him to some one at a much longer, for he was not
quite equal to his weight — when he got an awful fall over a
high post and rail fence. Dicky was as dead as he is at
present for a short time, and his friends imagined it was all
over with him ; but coming to himself, as the saying is,
he appeared in his true character, for the first words
he uttered (and most emphatically did he utter them) were
— " No fault of the horse, by G — d." Neither was it ; for
he had alighted with one leg up to the shoulder in a vacant
post-hole — an occurrence that we may wonder does not
oftener put the neck of the fox-hunter to hazard. Next to
a rabbit-hole fall at best pace over a gentleman's park ; or
what we call coming rump first over four strong rails, it is
the most dangerous fall one can have.

As it is possible these lines may be read when the hand
that writes them shall be dust ; and as we have been told,
there are " sermons in stones, and good in every thing,"
perhaps I may indulge the notion that some good may arise
to those who have yet to enter upon the grand theatre of
the world, if I produce from the ashes of this celebrated
sportsman a beacon that shall warn them against approach-

86 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

ing the rock on which was shipwrecked his happiness and,
I may safely add, his life. His fate was this: — He had
enough, he grasped at more, and he lost all ! Perhaps in
many of my readers' eyes, few people were much more
desirably settled in life than Mr. Bayzand. He had a com-
fortable house, with a very profitable farm ; a good income,
a good stable of horses, good health, and good friends. He
had also good credit. If he wanted £500, he had it for
the asking. What more could he want ? Why, we might
answer, nothing. But it is with individuals as with states : —

" At postquam Fortuna loci caput extulit hujus,
Et tetigit summos vertice Roma deos,
Crevermit et opes, et opum furiosa Cupido :
Et cum possideant pluriraa plura volant."

Thus wrote Ovid, and such was the case with poor Bayzand.
In an evil hour, and by the cover side, without preparing
himself for the completion of it, he made an offer to the late
Mr. Fermor, of Tusmore Park, of £73,000 for his Worces-
tershire property, imagining that he could realize a large
sum by the purchase, and it ruined him ! So truly sporting,
however, was the bargain, that the odd £3000 depended on
the event of a filly winning or losing the Oaks!

Some of the horse dealing transactions, however, of our
departed brother sportsman, cannot but create a smile.
Perhaps it was his constant attendance at the Newmarket
meetings that gave him an insight into the doctrine of
chances, but his favourite system of selling his horses was
upon post obit bonds. I think I speak within compass when
I say they did not realize him five shillings in the pound,
but if he were to rise again, I am quite sure he would try
them again, so deeply was he infatuated by the premium
they held out. The following is one of many amusing
anecdotes I could relate on the subject : — He sold a horse
in London, to a brother sportsman, for a certain considera-
tion— a pretty good one, no doubt — payable on the decease
of the purchaser's uncle. The bond being prepared, sealed,
signed, and attested, was safely deposited in the breeches-
pocket of the seller, when, as he was in the act of buttoning

THE NUNEATON TANNER. 87

the said pocket, he gravely exclaimed — " But I say, my
good fellow, are you quite sure you have an uncle?" Now
whether the gentleman, now also " gone to his fathers," was
sure he had an uncle, is what I cannot pretend to decide,
but I am quite sure the seller told me he was not paid
for his horse ; and I am also sure I could mention a
dozen other similar cases. Nevertheless, I consider Bayzand
to have been a considerable gainer by his speculation by
horses, on the balance. At one time, indeed, by a sort of
Midas gift, every thing he touched turned to gold.

There was a kind of double phenomenon, some twenty
years back, in the Atherstone country, in the person of a
man and the capabilities of his mare, that made a great
noise in those days. This was no less than a tanner, in the
town of Nuneaton, Warwickshire, who, on an animal little
better than a pony, was a match for most men, if not for any
man, who ever took the field. In fact, by way of proving
this, he made a dead set at Assheton Smith, whenever he
went out with the Quorn hounds, and he could very rarely
shake him off. This becoming somewhat of a jocular
reproach amongst his friends, that gallant rider was deter-
mined to get rid of the tanner ; so, mounted one day on his
big grey horse, he sent him at a flight of stiff rails, as high
even as his back, saying — after the manner of Dick Knight,
upon Contract — " Now then, I'll stop this d — d fellow,"
Luckily for the tanner, Smith broke the top rail, and he
followed him. His name was Burton ; and as every man
who excels likes to become distingue, he always appeared in
a light-coloured green coat, which, in allusion to his almost
flying over a country, obtained for him the nick name of
The Paroquet, He was a gallant little fellow, however, and
his only fault was rather too much of the" quickening power,"
ambition, that " last infirmity of nohle minds," — ergo very
excusable in a tanner.

In the same country, the Atherstone, there was, as sup-
posed to be, another prodigy — namely, the best man in
England on a raw horse. This is saying a great deal to

88 HUNTING UEMINISCENCES.

those vvlio have seen Dick Christian, Joe Wright, or Dick
Bradley's Harry : but, from what I saw of him — and tliat
was a good deal — I think him entitled to the character of
the best gentleman in England on a raw horse. I need not
inform one half of my readers of whom I am speaking,
but the other half must be told it is Mr. Charles
Boultbee, brother to another gentleman of that name
— Mr. John Boultbee, of Baxterly, near Atherstone — a
clipping rider, of a great weight, and a good sportsman
in Lord Vernon's and Mr. Adderley's days, and whom I
also saw going well when Sir Bellingham Graham had their
country.

A considerable portion of Warwickshire contributes to
what is now called the Atherstone country.

The late Lord Vernon hunted it about twelve years, it
being then called the Gobshall country, as during the time
his Lordship's hounds were in it — which was for periods of
six weeks at a time during the season — he and his family
took up their quarters at Gobshall-house, now the seat of
Earl Howe, and then of Baroness Howe, his Lordship's
mother. Lord Vernon also hunted, at the same time, the
Sudbury country, so called from the name of his seat near
Ashbourne, Derbyshire, which country is noAV occupied by
Mr. Meynell Ingram. Here of course his Lordship had a
kennel.

The late Lord Vernon was a sportsman ; but his relation,
the Rev. George Talbot, was what is now termed a professor,
and took an active part in the kennel and the field, a task
for which he was qualified. Sam. Lawley, his Lordship's
huntsman, was likewise a trump card in his line, and so
great a favourite was he with his noble master, that he
mounted him on horses for which he refused three hundred
guineas a-piece, determined that every advantage should be
given him in the field — an example well worthy of imitation.
His first whipper-in was Harry Jackson, afterwards Lord
Middleton's huntsman ; an honest and good servant, but
too slack in his nature for the active and enterprizing duties

THE ATIIERSTONE COUNTRY LORD VERNON, 89

of a huntsman. Indeed Lord Middleton was so mucls
aware of this, that he has been heard to tell liiin in the field,
at a certain hour of the day, that he was thinking more of
his mutton-chops, than of the cover in which he should find
his second fox.

Lord Vernon's hounds were in very high repute, and,
taken altogether, the hunt was looked upon as one of the
most respectable at that time in England. There was some-
thing particularly pleasing in the manners and general
deportment of the worthy Baron, who bore every outward
and visible sign of the rank he was born to sustain. In
short he did the thing in a really nobleman-like style, and
stood as high as any man in the class of masters of fox-
hounds. The uniform of his hunt was a deep orange colour,
which looked very gay in the field, being of a brighter hue
than scarlet, although nearly approaching to it. There
were many good riders in his hunt — for instance, the
Honourable Sambrooke Anson, who will long be remem-
bered as a sportsman in the field, and an excellent companion
in the evening — also some welter weights, amongst whom
Mr. Theophilus Leve, Mr. John Boultbee, Mr. Vaughton,
and Mr, Edmund Peel shone conspicuously.

In Lord Vernon's day, this country was not nearly so
extensive as it afterwards became, when it got into other
hands. No portion of the Meriden woodlands, nor of the still
more noble ones on the Dunchurch side, belonged to it,
neither did it extend far into Leicestershire. In that county
on the Hinckley side, the covers of Bosworth and Burbage
Wood were the two principal fixtures, nor did it go further
in that direction. It is true, however, there were several
other favourite fixtures in the far-famed county of Leicester;
namely, Wedington Wood, on the great road between
Atherstone and Hinckley ; Sutton Ambion, near Bosworth ;
Nailson Wicks, near Bardon Hill, on the forest side ;
Orton Gorse, near Thorpe, on the Ashby de la Zouch side ;
the covers at Gobshall ; Lord Maynard's Gorse, at Desford ;
&:c. &c.

90 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

So much for what was called the best part of the open
country. The woodlands of the Atherstone country were
always splendid in the eye of a thorough sportsman.
Beginning at Bentley Park, close to the town of Atherstone,
we proceed to Oldbury — the seat of Mr. Okeover of coaching
celebrity — Harborough Hall Woods, commonly called
Astley Woods, the property of Mr. Newdigate ; Ansley
Woods, Mr. Chetwode's ; Arley Woods, Mr. Vaughton's ;
Dunton : Kingsbury Wood, the property of Mr. Willoughby ;
Baxterley, of Mr. John Boultbee ; Birch Coppice between
Atherstone and Fazeley, belonging to Sir John Chetwynd ;
Middleton Woods, Lord Middleton's; Sutton Park, belong-
ing to the corporation of Sutton ; Hints, Mr. Floyer's ;
Hoppas Hayes, on the road from Tamworth to Lichfield,
formerly the property of the late Lord Spencer Chichester
(whose father, the late Marquis of Donegal, once hunted
this country, before Lord Vernon's time), but since be-
longing to the Rev. Thomas Levett ; Swinfen Woods,
the property of Mr. Swinfen, so well known in the sporting-
world ; Freeford Wood, belonging to General Dyott, who
succeeded his brother, Richard Dyott, whose memory will
never die, so long as Staffordshire is Staffordshire, as the
great promoter of agriculture and a true friend to fox-hunting ;
the numerous covers at Drakelow, the property of Sir
Roger Gresley ; the great Seal Woods, between Burton and
Tamworth — capital scenting covers ; those at Thorpe, Mr.
Inge's ; and Amington Decoy, near Tamworth, on the pro-
perty of Mr. Repington.

Looking at this country as it was in Lord Vernon's time,
we may place it among the leading ones ; for although it
contains some fixtures, such as Hoppas Hayes, the Black
Swan (among the coal pits), Bentley Park, and others, not
exactly suited to the taste of modern sportsmen ; and
.although some part of it, on the Lichfield and Coles-hill
sides, is not very favourable to scent, there are nevertheless
advantages which counterbalance these objections. It is an
easy country to cross, and the Leicestershire side of it is

THE ATHERSTONE COUNTRY LORD VERXON. 91

decidedly good. Burbage Wood for example, is equal to
most fixtures iu Leicestershire — foxes generally breaking
away to Bosworth, Enderby, Tooley, and very often to the
Forest. In short, were I to fix the line a fox should take to
show me a run, it should be from Burbage Wood to Enderby,
in preference to any other line with which I am acquainted,
unless it be one or two in the cream of the Quorn
country. From Orton Gorse, Gobshall, and Sutton Ambion,
very fine runs likewise often took place ; and from Bosworth
to Linley Gorse, about six miles, was always, what is called
a beautiful burst, on a good scenting day. In short, all the
Ashby de la Zouch side is good, though it would be better if
the Charnwood Forest were a few miles farther from it.

A few years before his death, Lord Vernon relinquished
the field, and his country was taken possession of by the
Rev. George Talbot, of Bruerton, near Lichfield, with a
subscription of one thousand two hundred pounds per
annum. He hunted it several seasons, showing excellent
sport, and giving universal satisfaction, when the hand of
death very suddenly arresting his progress, it became vacant,
and was divided, Mr. Meynell purchased the hounds, and
took the Sudbury or Derbyshire side, which he hunts to
this day ; and the remainder, or Gobshall side, was occupied
by Mr. Adderley, of Ham's Hall, between Coleshill and
Lichfield — a very worthy country gentleman, but of more
retiring habits than are suited to the situation of a master
of fox-hounds, and he did not keep it more than three years.
He was succeeded in it by Mr. Otway, of Sanford Hall, near
Lutterworth, father of the present Mr. Otway Cave, late
M.P. for Leicester, also of sporting celebrity : and Mr.
Otway was followed by Sir Richard Puleston, who hunted
it occasionally with his other country, for two seasons more,
and then it became vacant. In 1812, however, the late
Colonel Cooke, well known as a good practical sportsman,
and an excellent kennel huntsman, and the author of " Ob-
servations on Fox-hunting, and the management of Hounds
in the Kennel, and the Field," hunted it twice a-weck for

92 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

two seasons, on a limited subscription of eight hundred
pounds per annum.

In 1814, Mr. Osbaldeston having vacated Nottingham-
shire (which had been given up by Lord Middleton, pre-
viously to his hunting Warwickshire the second time),
brought his hounds to Atherstone, and when in possession
of the country (now, for the first time, called the Atherstone
country), a great alteration took place in it. He estab-
lished a club, on a very liberal plan, the members dining
together twice in the season, and out of its funds the kennel
and stables at Witherley, within one mile of the town, were
erected, and which the hounds and horses of those who have
hunted the country, have since occupied. In consequence,
however, of the Atherstone country not having been
well and regularly hunted for some previous years, it would
not stand more than three days in the week, and Mr. Osbal-
deston having, with his usual zeal, determined on hunting
five, he re-united the two countries (the Sudbury and Gob-
shall), which had been previously separated to suit the
means and inclinations of its predecessors, and thus accom-
plished his fifth day. For this purpose Mr. Osbaldeston
resided four weeks out of six at Atherstone, and the
remaining two at the Flitch of Bacon, at Witchnor Bridge,
between Burton-on-Trent and Lichfield ; and although, as
we before observed, he had just relinquished the Nottingham
country, and was in possession of a large kennel of hounds
— including the late Lord Monson's, for which he gave a
thousand guineas, when in the Burton country — he purchased
those of Messrs. Hall and Arkwright, who had for a short
period hunted the Sudbury country, for five hundred pounds.
After the first year, however, in consequence of the good
preservation of the foxes, which was certain to be the result
of his taking possession of it, Mr. Osbaldeston confined him-
self to the Atherstone country, and hunted it five days
a- week, showing very excellent sport. In 1817, he relin-
quished it to take the Quorn country, and was succeeded by
Sir Bellinaham Graham.

THE ATHERSTONE COUNTRY — SIR BELLINGHAM GRAHAM. 93

The presence of the late Mrs. Osbaldeston, mother to the
worthy master of the hounds, added no inconsiderable lustre
to the period of her son's hunting the Atherstone country.
The splendid style in which she lived, her almost unbounded
hospitality, the numerous private and ageeable entertain-
ments she made for the resident gentry of the neighbour-
hood, and the encouragement she gave to the public balls,
contributed to enliven the country to a degree previously
unknown and unthought of, but which wonderfully increased
the popularity of the hunt, and secured the preservation of
the foxes. A woman's influence always prevails, when
directed towards a desirable object; and many of the new
gorse covers which sprang up in the country about this
time, owed their existence to this lady's kindheartedness.
May her example not be lost on posterity ; for in other
affairs besides fox-hunting, the absence of this kind feeling
towards individuals, not intimately connected with ourselves,
has produced great evils to society, by destroying links
which ought never to have been lost.

During Sir Bellingham Graham's time, another very
material alteration for the better took place in the Ather-
stone country. In consequence of a trifling misunder-
standing between Mr. Loraine Smith and Mr. Osbaldeston,
the covers of Whetstone Gorse, between Lutterworth and
Leicester, and those at Enderby (the seat of Mr. Smith),
which had always been drawn by the Quorn hounds, were
added to the Atherstone country, to which they have ever
since belonged. Sir Bellingham also, from the strength of
his establishment, was enabled to hunt five, and often six
days a-week, and gave very general satisfaction to the gen-
tlemen of the country, and a numerous list of visitors, having
afforded a brilliant succession of sport from the year 1817 to
1820, when he succeeded Lord Althorpe and Sir Charles
Knightley, in Northamptonshire.

Sir Bellingham Graham was at and before this time, his
own huntsman in the field. His first residence was close
to the town of Atherstone, and of course close to the kennel ;

94 IITINTING REMINISCENCES.

hut as he afterwards occupied Clift-housc, near Fazeley, the
property of Robert Willoug-hby, Esq. — a staunch, good fox-
hunter — he had a temporary kennel at that place. Finding
an inconvenience, however, in being so far from his hounds,
he removed to Linley Hall, the seat of Mr. Bracebridge,
within a mile of Atherstone, where he remained until he
relinquislied the country.

Of all the celebrated men who ever hunted the Quorn
country, none did the whole thing better than Sir Belling-
hani Graham did it, and in proof of its being expected that
he would do it well, he had the largest subscription to his
hounds of any one that ever received assistance towards
expenses, from the hands of their brother sportsmen. If
my memory serves me, it was a little over four thousand
pounds. It is to be lamented, however, that instead of
having thrown away his time, in hunting other inferior
countries. Sir Bellingham was for so short a period in
Leicestershire, for he only hunted it during the seasons of
1821 and 1822.

But let us look further back to Sir Bellingham Graham
as a master. His first appearance was in the year 1815,
when he succeeded Mr. Musters in the Badsworth country,
which he hunted two seasons. He then succeeded Mr.
Osbaldeston in the Atherstone country, and that was the
first in which I hunted with him. In 1820 he took posses-
sion of the Pytchley country, on Sir Charles Knightley
giving it up, and thence he went to Quorn. From Quorn
he took what was then called the Shiffnal, now the Al-
brighton country, and finished his career as a master in
Shropshire — in each of which three last-named countries I
had the pleasure to hunt with him. And it was a pleasure
to any real sportsman to hunt with Sir Bellingham Graham,
because he did the thing throughout in a thorough sports-
man-like style, as fox-hunting ought to be done. From the
moment he got upon his hunter, until he killed or lost his
fox, he was intent and earnest in his pursuit, and without
unnecessary harshness, but the result of his sportsman-like

SIR BELLINGHAM GRAHAM. 95

conduct was, that no man kept liis field in such order.
Indeed I have heard this compliment paid to him by many
of his Melton friends, who gave it as their opinion, that he
was in this respect, as well as in many besides, the man of
all others to manage a Leicestershire field, the " spring
captains" as they are called, especially. And this was not
effected, as Dryden says, by

" rage and storm, and blasphemously loud,

As Stentor bellowing to a Grecian crowd ;

but, as I have already said, by the natural influence which a
man acquires, when he has attained excellence in his calling
— be that calling what it may*.

I know not how or where Sir Bellingham Graham
procured the first pack of hounds he became master of, but
this much I know — namely that on his giving up Nor-
thamptonshire, he divided his kennel with Mr. Musters,
who succeeded him, each master drawing alternate couples.
On taking to the Quorn country, he purchased all but
twenty-five couples of Mr. Osbaldeston's pack, together with
eighteen of his horses. On the other hand, when Mr.
Osbaldeston returned to Quorn, on Sir Bellingham leaving
it, he (Sir B.) reserved the same number of hounds — viz.,
twenty-five couples, for which Mr. Osbaldeston gave him
eleven hundred pounds! This fact alone would establish
Sir Bellingham Graham as a first rate judge of hounds;
but, in addition, it may be mentioned, that from a draft of
about twenty couples from Mr. Osbaldeston's kennel, and a
pack he purchased at the same time, 1818, (for, after the
sale of the twenty-five couples to Mr. Osbaldeston, he was
left boundless, if such a word may be used,) of Mr. Newn-
ham, who had just resigned Worcestershire, containing a
good deal of Lord Lonsdale's blood, did he lay the founda-

« The only instance I know of Sir Bellingham Graham "blowing up" an indi-
vidual in the field, was by a pre-concerted plan between himself and the Hon. Capt.
Berkeley, of the Thunderer. There was an immense field on that day, and so sur-
rounded was the cover, that there appeared little chance of the fox being able to get
away. " Go and place yourself at that point, the most likely for the fox to break,"
said Sir Bellingham to the Captain of the Thunderer, " and I will give you a thim-
dcring good blowing up ;" which he did ; and the captain stood it as coolly as no
doubt lie did the balls which flew about his ship on the Syrian coast.

96 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

tion of that beautiful and efficient pack with wliich he
hunted Shropshire, the country in which he cried his last
who-whoop — with his own hounds, at least.

But let us turn to Sir Bellingham Graham in Shropshire,
where I passed six weeks under his roof. Here the same
liberal hand that had directed all his operations in Leicester-
shire, was as actively employed both in his kennel and stables.
In fact his hunting establishment was not reduced beyond the
extent of about fifteen couples of hounds, and half a score of
horses from that which he considered necessary for Leicester-
shire— his kennel containing nearly seventy couples of
working hounds, — and his stable, thirty-five very effective
horses!

Sir Bellingham Graham, like Mr. Musters, has been famous
for having educated, if I may so express myself, some of the
best hunting servants of the age. When in Shropshire
he was admirably whipped-in to by Will Staples, now
hunting one of the Shropshire packs with great eclat — son
of old Tom Staples, many years huntsman to the late Lord
Middleton, — and Jack Wrigglesworth, who had previously
whipped-in to the late Sir Mark Sykes, and is now hunting
another of the Shropshire packs. And as a judge of the
animal horse, for all purposes, Sir Bellingham is excelled by
no man, which is saying a great deal. None has a better
eye to a coach-horse, and when he hunted Leicestershire, he
was said to have had more good big horses in the Quorn
stables, than they ever before contained — even in Lord
Sefton's days.

There may have been, and there now may be better hunts-
men than Sir Bellingham Graham. Comparisons are odi-
ous, and moreover out of place here ; neither is it necessary, or
to be expected, that perfection is to be attained by any man
in any station ; but no sportsman who has seen him in the
field, can reasonably detract from the merits of the gentle-
manofwhom I am now speaking. His finehorsemanshipgave
him great advantages ; and in proof of his success in one of
the most trying countries in Great Britain, — all circum-

SIR BKLLINGHAM GHAHAM. 97

stances considered — may the fact be stated, of his having
killed every fox he found in the country alluded to — the
far-famed Quorn — for six consecutive weeks, with his old
pack, which hunted twice a week ! It can also be stated, on
equally good authority, that during the period of his hunting-
Leicestershire, he was never known to be away from his
hounds when wanted, although at that time riding plum
sixteen stone.

The real English gentleman — nntainted by foreign fop-
peries— is sure to be popular with the yeoman and farmers
of his neighbourhood, be his pursuits what they may. The
master of hounds so constituted cannot fail of being popular
and when Sir Bellingham Graham quitted the xltherstone
country, he left behind him a great regard for his good
name, and an universal regret al his departure. His gentle-
manlike deportment, and the pleasing character of his conver-
sation and manners, won the hearts of all who enjoyed an
intercourse with him as friends ; and as a gentleman and a
sportsman, he was esteemed by all. His hospitality was
also on the most liberal scale, and his hunting establish-
ment very splendid. He very materially contributed to
keep up that gaiety in the neighbourhood which had been
established in his predecessor's time, and it may be truly
said, that Atherstone has never witnessed such doings since.
The Earl of Stamford, then Lord Grey, resided, at the
jjeriod I have been alluding to, at his mansion close to the
town of Atherstone ; and his lordship, as well as Mr.
Dugdale, many years M.P. for Warwickshire — whose seat
is hard by — also contributed their share to promote the
sociality of the neighbourhood.

To the period of Lord Anson, now Earl of Lichfield,
taking possession of the Atherstone country in 1820, was
it reserved to make it — as some have called it — the third or
fourth best hunting country in England. In the first place,
in addition to Whetstone Gorse and Enderby, conceded to
it in Sir Bellingham Graham's time, Lord Middletou
bestowed u])on it some of the finest woodlands that hounds

98 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

were ever thrown into. These are situated on the Coventry
and Dunchurch side of the country, and consist of Francton
Woods, the property of the Rev. John Biddulph and others;
Coombe Abbey Woods, Lord Craven's ; the fine covers of
Lord Denbigh, at Newnham Paddocks; and the Brandon
Woods, the property of the late Lord Grey de Ruthyn, now
of the Marchioness of Hastings. From some of these covers
— Newnham in particular — the finest runs might be ex-
pected, as a Leicestershire country is open to the foxes
that are found in them ; and in such high repute are they
held, that the elite from Melton Mowbray are often to be
seen at their side, particularly in the spring of the year,
more favourable to woodland fox-hunting. Nor is this all;
Sir Theophilus Biddulph added to it his famous gorse at
Debdale, and several other covers on the southern side of
Warwickshire, which, taken as a whole, formed what was
called in Lord Lichfield's time, the D unchurch country ;
and a kennel was established at Dunchurch, where the
hounds remained six or eight weeks in the year. The fine
covers of Shugborough, two miles beyond Southam, on tlie
Daventry road, at one time drawn exclusively by Sir
Thomas Mostyn, at another by the Warwickshire, and at
another neutral, were likewise added to the Dunchurch
country, all of which enabled Lord Lichfield to hunt six
days in the week. In return for this great addition of
country. Lord Lichfield only gave up the Maxtocke Woods,
and the covers north of the Thame, to Mr. Chadwicke,
which were afterwards drawn by Mr. Shawe, who succeed-
ed that gentleman.

The management of this country was Lord Lichfield's
dehut as master of a pack of fox-hounds, which, as new
masters of hounds are often obliged to do, he picked up
wherever he could put his hand upon them. The first lot
he became possessed of was from Mr. Mytton, who then
hunted Shropshire; and subsequently from Sir Thomas
Mostyn, and Mr. Musters, he procured his first pack. His
Lordship's dehut as a master of hounds was likewise his

LORD LICHFIELD.

^9

dehut as a huntsman, and he matured into a good one. His
hand and nerve in the saddle also progressed with the
attainment of the science of the field; for, from rather an
indifferent performer, he quickly showed himself one of the
very boldest and best horsemen of his day, which gave him
a great advantage in his calling as huntsman to a pack of
fox-hounds. Riding between thirteen and fourteen stone,
he was obliged to pay high prices for his horse-flesh ; but
the sort of animal suited to his taste was that which should
please every man's taste who is six feet high, and resolved to
be with his hounds. It was, what is termed, a slapping up-
standing horse, at least sixteen hands high, showing a vast
deal of, if not full, blood, and with great length and strength.
Few sportsmen's stables were in higher repute than that of
Lord Lichfield, when he hunted the Atherstone country ;
and he was often tempted by large sums offered for the
horses he rode himself, being of course perfect at their trade.
A few years since the Duke of Buccleuch gave him one
thousand guineas for two of them.

As a master of fox-hounds too much cannot well be said
to the honour and praise of Lord Lichfield. As we have
before observed, he set about his task, as a tyro, with all the
vigour of an enthusiast. In his kennel he was assisted by
Woodington, — who came to him from Sir Bellingham
Graham, — esteemed nearly the best kennel huntsman in
England ; and in the field, he was ably whipped-in to by
Roberts, and Jesse, very good men in their places — the
former super-excellent. His Lordship resided during the
hunting season (with the exception of the periods of his
hounds hunting the Dunchurch country) at Atherstone
Hall*, the property of Henry Bracebridge, Esq., and
hunted the country nine seasons. An hereditary gout, how-
ever, extremely severe in its attacks, and such as would
have stopped nine men out of ten, long before it stopped
him, obliged him to give up his hounds. *

* In consequence of Mr. Bracebridge requiring possession of his house, Lord
Lichfield resided at Kirkby Mallory Hall the last year of his hunting.

h2

100 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

On the retirement of Lord Lichfield, his Lordship
having hunted it nine seasons, Sir John Gerard of Garswood
Hall, near Prescot, Lancashire, offered himself to the
Atherstone country, and was accepted, taking up his quarters
at Kirkby Mallory Hall,near Hinkley, afterwards the proper-
ty of the Earl of Wentworth, but since of Lady Byron, widow
of the noble bard. The wealthy and generous Baronet
purchased Lord Lichfield'shounds, and did not require the aid
of the subscription which had been given to Mr. Osbaldeston
and Sir Bellingham Graham, but encountered all the
expenses with his own means. He, however, only kept
possession of this fine country one year, when it passed into
the hands of Mr. Applewhaite.

It has been justly observed, that he who never makes an
effort, never risks a failure, and, " in great attempts 'tis
glorious to fail!" Sir John attempted to hunt his own hounds,
and in that respect did not give the satisfaction to the
country which a more experienced hand would have ensured.
Mr. Applewhaite succeeded, but his performances I leave
to the pens of those who have been in the country since his
accession, a pleasure which has not yet been my lot.

]0i

©i}{i/£i[pip[E[Rj m.

E RY few Charles
Boiiltbees are to be met
with, and no doubt but
many gentlemen have
acquired the name of
being good riders to
hounds who owe much
of that fame to their
horses. It is, indeed,
only here and there that
we find a man who can
go to hounds, in a quick
and straight run, on
^'^ ■' f i^-"— - horses not perfect in

their business. The late Richard Bradley, the famous War-
wickshire horse-dealer, however, was one who could do this,
and in a way that stamped him among the finest horsemen of
any age. It is true, he seldom made his appearance with hounds
on a horse that had not something of the reputation of being a
hunter, but from the number of such animals in his posses-
sion, and the doubtful nature of horse-selling credentials, he
frequently found himself deceived, so that he was attack-
ing some of the stiffest parts of Warwickshire, with a good
scent, and a rare pack of hounds, on a raw, awkward horse.
The man, however, is yet unborn who could say he saw
Bradley not try to get to the end of a run, and very rarely

102 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

was he not inagood place. But his fine riding was notthrown
away upon him. It sold him some scores of hunters at very
long prices, and was the occasion of very long faces when
the owner of a newly-purchased horse found out that, with-
out Bradley's finger, he had not purchased a hunter. Re-
monstrances, however, were vain — the dealer had an answer
for them all : — " I am very sorry, sir, you cannot ride him ;
but I only sold the horse. I cannot sell the rider." His
nonpareil riding-boy (if I may so call him), Harry, was yet
a greater artist than his master ; for it was admitted that
three lessons — that is, three good runs — under his tuition,
would complete the education of a hunter even for Lord
Jersey. Bradley is dead — a loss to the sporting world, for
he was an excellent judge — and Harry took to gin ; but this
much I must say of them — I much question if their equals
are to be found in any one house.

Speaking of making horses into hunters, I was struck as
well as pleased with an expression that fell from the Duke
of Buccleuch in my presence, the last time I was in Leices-
tershire. " I'll buy no more of these perfect old hunters,"
said his Grace, alluding to Jemmy Jumps and Alphabet,
which he had just purchased from Lord Lichfield's stud, at
some small change out of a thousand pounds. " I am young
enough to make my own hunters, and I shall do so." I
certainly saw his Grace the next day, in the field, upon a
clever, thorough-bred young one, but considered him scarcely
fit to carry so rich a Duke.

The Duke of Buccleuch commenced his mastership ca-
reer as master of the Lothian hounds, having the good for-
tune to procure with them their famous huntsman William
Williamson. From the immense wealth of their noble owner,
together with his love of hunting, it is only natural to ima-
gine that every thing that is wanting to make fox-hounds
efficient was to be found in the hunting establishment of the
Duke of Buccleuch; at the same time it may be asserted,
and to the benefit of others, that, by the superior manage-
ment of their excellent huntsman, no hounds perhaps in

THE DUKE OF BUCCLEUCH. 103

Great Britain were kept at a less charge than that at which
the Duke of Buccleuch's were kept. All they wanted, when
I hunted with them six years back, was a better country ;
but here is a compliment paid to his Grace as a master.
The Duke of Buccleuch could hire the best house in one of
the best of our countries, and, after the manner of Lord Ply-
mouth, have his twenty-five hunters for his own riding ; but
he would think it a direliction of his duty thus to act. He
feels himself imperatively called upon to spend the greater
part of his time, and consequently his money, in his own
country.

That the Duke of Buccleuch's hunting country (his Dal-
keith one especially) is not a good one, all who have seen it
must admit ; still a great set-off against such a drawback
from the pleasures of the chase is the workmanlike manner
in which his hounds are hunted by Williamson, and whipped
in by Hugh Brown. Take him for all in all, Williamson is
not equalled — certainly not excelled — by more than two or
three of our servant-huntsmen, and it is a great treat to
an admirer of hunting to see him in the field. Then his de-
meanour and language are of a superior order, and when he
puts pen to paper, his description of a run casts Xenophon
into tlie shade. I will quote a passage from one of his
epistles, because the sentiments expressed in it, are pre-
cisely my own, and have been put into print by me, many
years back,

'' It is astonishing," says he, in the concluding sentence of
a description of a fine run, " how one changes (i. e. in opi-
nion), but it is not because I am getting old, and in course
slow, I often wonder how my opinion about hounds going
fast, has changed. You well know that I never thought
they could go fast enough ; and now I am always thinking,
if ever they go wrong, it is because they do not take enough
of time to do it well. Not that I will ever advocate slow-
ness, but I have got into the custom of never taking out
more than sixteen couples, and, being in. constant work and
steady, nothing, I think, can excel the way in which they hang-
together, and the head they carry ; and I believe iu the end

104 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

they have performed their task sooner than wlien there
is so much hurry, and when a check so often ends in
confusion."

I concur in every sentiment here expressed. I have long
been of opinion, that hounds may be bred to go too fast, and
that most masters are over-hounded, if I may use sucha term
— and I see no reason why Ijshould not, since that of over-horsed
is allowed. With respect to the first point, extreme speed,
the reason given for its necessity is the increased speed
of hunting horses ; but surely this is a reflection on the cha-
racter of the modern sportsman. Did he ride an Eclipse, is
that a reason for his riding; over, instead of near to hounds ?
As regards the latter — excess of hounds — it cannot fail to be
detrimental to sport — construing the word sport, as it should
be construed, not as implying a burst of thirteen minutes, at
a racing pace, but a run of an hour, in which hunting and
hard running are displayed by turns, — in which many inter-
esting circumstances arise, — and in the course of which
time, a fox is hunted, and not raced to death. It is this
racing pace at which hounds now go, which accounts for the
paucity of runs, and the number of bursts. There are men
now alive who hunted in Leicestershire in Mr. Meynell's time
— that is to say, in the last thirty years of the last century,
and I have heard from the lips of several, either now alive,
or lately dead, that the runs over that country, were to
much greater extent than they have been for the last
twenty years. We all know by our experience, that a fox,
bullied, as it were, at starting, is not only often induced to
turn short back from the effect of sudden alarm, but, being
afraid to make his point to any distant cover or earth, gets
into the first drain or spout that will hide him.

The Duke of Buccleuch's country is abundantly stocked
with foxes, which is proved by the fact of at least fifty brace
being annually killed by his hounds in the Kelso and Dal-
keith countries. And in one respect, Williamson goes the
right way to keep up the stock. He draws the majority of
h scovers down wind, thus preventing the possibility of his
xes being caij ht napping, as too many are, when drawn

THE DUKE OF BUCCLEUCH. 105

for up wind. This is also liberal conduct in a huntsman,
inasmuch as he gives his fox plenty of notice to get away,
and consequently to bring his liounds to their noses sooner
than if they went off close at his brush.

The Duke of Buccleuch's country is not without its diffi-
culties. There is much stain of sheep, and what is worse,
lots of sheep dogs always on the look out for a fox, or any
thing that may come in their way ; and tlie frequent change
of soil is also baffling to hounds. With these difficulties,
however, Williamson contends with a master-hand, and I
may be allowed to quote one passage alluding to him from
my " Northern Tour." " His approach to his hounds,
when at fault, pleased me much, he trots up to them witli
an anxious, but scrutinizing eye, and after a rapid glance at
what they are doing, pulls up his horse to a stand, and with
his hand raised in the air, calls to his field to stand still."
He is not at all in a hurry, in fact I never saw him refuse
to give his hounds a chance, so long as a chance remained.

In the Duke's own stud, I saw nineteen hunters, several
of the best of which I had the honour to ride. No doubt
some of these (old Alphabet for example,) were laid in at a
high figure, whilst those ridden by Williamson and his
men, although well suited to the country, having been
selected with the cautious and scrutinizing eye of William-
son, were purchased at a low average, notwithstanding
which, they were well adapted to the weights they had to
carry — all light ones, and the country they had to cross.

There is every reason to believe that the Duke of Buc-
cleuch, should his valuable life be spared, will one day or
another be included in the list of those who have supported
fox-hunting upon principle. That his Grace is fond of
hunting, I am satisfied, but whether or not he sufficiently
enters into the spirit of all that appertains to it, thereby
adding to the numerous duties and cares his high station in
society imposes upon him, — merely for the sake of the
extra gratification of enjoying it with his own hounds, — is
more than I can take upon myself to determine. I should

106 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

rather incline to the opinion, that he considers fox-hunting,
as I myself consider it, — to be one of the lion supporters of
our crown, by fostering and promoting that manly spirit,
and, when called for, that daring courage, which dis-
tinguishes the sons of Britain from all other nations of the
world.

I remember two good ones of the name of Burton, and I
cannot do better than produce them now. Who has notheard
of Dick Burton ? He may be said to be indigenous to Lei-
cestershire, having whipped in to Assheton Smith, as well as
to Osbaldeston, having succeeded Tom Sebright, and then
returned to Smith, his old, original master. It is impossible
to improve upon the riding of this good servant, and previ-
ously to the desperate fall he had in Leicestershire, in which
his pelvis was shattered by his horse rolling over him near
Newtown Linford, it was delightful to see how, at his ease,
he encountered the rough fences of that renowned country.
This bad accident occurred about Christmas, 1824, for I
remember his going brilliantly one day in the Christmas week
from Owthorpe (Notts) in one of the best runs of the season,
when almost all in the field were beat. As a whipper-in he
gave numerous signal instances of quick eye to hounds and
country. On one occasion, from Cream Gorse — nearly the
only man with the hounds, owing to a short turn that threw
the leading men out and let him in — at the end of a
dashing burst of forty minutes, he viewed the fox for nearly
a mile before the pack, when he lay down in a field, and
some of the leading hounds absolutely ran over him ; but of
course his hour was come. Dick is honoured by a place in
a capital picture by Ferneley, of Melton, painted for Sir
H. Goodricke, representing hounds going uj)-windhest jmce.
He is among the chosen few, about half a dozen, I believe
who have just cleared a wide brook, which affords more
subjects for the pencil. In another picture, by the same
artist, painted for " the Squire," of the Death of the Fox,
Burton is to be seen in his proper place. Dick is worthy of
the pencil, for he is one of the neatest and best-appointed

SIR FRANCIS BURDETT. 107

fellows I ever saw in his situation, and one of the best
kennel-huntsmen that England ever saw. I think he looks
the horseman as much as any man I know.

Now comes Captain Burton — and after a well-graced
actor too. But he is a good horseman, and his knowledge
of Leicestershire, where he has resided long, is a great ad-
vantage to him with hounds. He is esteemed a very good
judge of a hunter.

Mr. Blount, of Crabbet, Sussex, an old Meltonian and a
Waterloo man, claims honourable mention here, having
often distinguished himself in a quick thing ; he appears
on the canvas in Sir Holyoake Goodricke's picture on his
favourite horse. Skylark, having just got well over a wide
brook.

There are few more fearless riders than Mr. Middleton
Biddulph, and not many who can ride much better to hounds.
He has been a frequent resident at Melton, where, with a
small stud, seldom exceeding eight, he has had quite his share
of fame, in the midst of such powerful competitors.

Of Sir Francis Burdett it is scarcely necessary to say more
than to repeat a question put by one of the hardest riders in
England to a large party at Melton — namely, " Has any
man seen Sir Francis Burdett refuse a fence which any
other man rode at or over?" Again: — " Have we not all
of us seen Sir Francis Burdett frequently ride at fences
which other hard-riding men have refused ?" But does the
character of a dauntless rider comprise all that is wanting
in Leicestershire ?" Certainly not, nor in any other country ;
but I have heard several of my Leicestershire friends say,
that it very seldom happened that Sir Francis was not in
his place, at all points of a run. And why should he not be ?
He was well mounted, and there are few things which he has
attempted to do that we have not found him do well. I
am sorry to hear that he has given up the chase, for I always
liked to see him with hounds.

From all I have heard and read of him, in addition to
what I have seen, I think I am justified in saying the world

108 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

never saw a much abler rider to hounds than Mr. John
Bower, who resided and hunted in Yorkshire, but who was
also well known and much looked up to in the Burton Hunt,
Lincolnshire, and has shone now and then in Leicestershire.
Ilis hand and seat gave one an idea of perfection at first
sight ; and expectation was more than realised when he set
to work to get to hounds ; and having got with them it
must be something quite out of the common way that could
separate him from them, let the pace be what it might. He
had also another good quality, not always accompanying
such high pretensions as his, in the field : he had no conceit,
and, I may add, no jealousy. I conclude, however, there
was a time when he was now and then a little too fast for
the day, as I remember reading in the " Operations of the
Raby Pack" the following good-natured rebuke, which I
conceived applied to him* ; but I may be wrong : — " A very
good run," says the noble historian, " but unfortunately lost
by Mr. J. B., an excellent sportsman, who never means to
do wrong, but from great keenness is sometimes too forward,
which, as an old sportsman, I claim a right to say to him."
This is a more effectual way of checking a young one than
all the public rating a master of hounds could give him ; and
I have often thought the best results would arise if every
master of hounds would follow the Duke of Cleveland's ex-
ample, and publish at the end of everj^ season not only the
sport of each day, but allude to any unsportsmanlike act
that may have been committed — distinguishing, however, as
his Grace has here done, between the now and then pardon-
able keenness of a young and promising sportsman, and a
flagrant, unsportsmanlike action. I am well convinced of tlie
good effects which would arise from this plan, as no one
would like being shown up in the " black book." Mr. R.
Bower, brother to this renowned rider, was likewise a good
sportsman and a straightforward rider to hounds — both being

* The initials may have applied to some other gentleman. B stands for Baird,
and doubtless other hard riders in the north ; so all I have to say is, I crave
pardon for my temerity in fixing un Mr. Bower. No man, however, need murmur
at such a rebuke.

MR. BREMER CAPTAIN BECHER. ] 00

sons of Major Bower, of Weltham, near Malton, Yorkshire,
of great grey-hound notoriety.

When I was in the Holderness country, in Yorkshire,
where I witnessed the performance of these two justly-cele-
brated sportsmen, I was just too late to see a noble feat of
horsemanship by a gentleman of the name of Brymer, then
a subaltern in the 5th Dragoon Guards. He rode at and
cleared one of those drains which abound in that country, in
chase, and it was said to measure eight yards in the clear ! !
I was shown the drain, which appeared quite to equal the
extent given to it, and also to be the loidest place I ever saw
leaped, except one brook which Mr. Mytton leaped in my
presence for a lark. Mr. Brymer's horse was purchased by
him, at a long price, from the stud of the Hon. Edward
Petre, when he gave up the Bosworth hounds, and had the
reputation of being the best water-jumper in Yorkshire.

A person who, like myself, has seen so many first-rate
artists in the field, must be very slow indeed if he cannot
discern something good or bad about a man who appears in
the character of a horseman at first sight. I take no credit,
then, for assuring myself that Mr. John Bower was an
artist the first time I saw him with hounds — I mean before
much business was done ; nor for asking Sir Henry Peyton
" who Captain Becher was ?" after witnessing his style of
putting his horse to his fence in a little skurry over Oxford-
shire, the first time I came across him. Captain Be-
cher is now become signal, and what was, at the time I am
speaking of, considered a great thing to do — namely, his fol-
lowing Sir Henry, on Lepidus, with a young horse, over
Stead Park wall, five feet four inches high, retires before
his late extraordinary performances as a steeple-chase rider.
It has before fallen to my lot to record one gallant act of
the Captain's, which was to persevere to the end of t' e
renowned Leicestershire steeple-chase, after the summerset
I saw him get at the third fence, and without the slightest
chance of reaping the reward of his daring. But in two or
three of those races as we should call ihcm, Avhich he has

ITO HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

since ridden — particularly on Colonel Charitie's Napoleon
against that out-and-outer " the Squire," upon the equally
celebrated nag, Grimaldi, when the six miles, over a stiff
country, were done in twenty-one minutes and a few seconds,
swimming the river Leam into the bargain — he may be said
to have out-stripped himself.

I " take them as they come," as the saying is — that is, as
they present themselves to my recollection, so, as their
name begins with a B, we will have peep at the Berkeley s.
Lord Segrave was never what is called a forward rider, but
made up by a good eye, and the pace, for time lost at
fences ; which time, considering how well he has generally
been mounted, I have been much at a loss to account for.
Indeed, somewhat of an anomaly has attended his lordship's
system of riding over a country, and this is — he will not
stop at a good brook, or hedge and ditch, but is shy of a
four-foot wall. Now, as far as my experience has led me to
appreciate the chances of falls, I have always considered
them to be at least ten to one in favour of brooks before
walls, which, built as they are in his country, are, in my
opinion, the safest leaps, proportioned to their height, that a
sportsman has to encounter in chase. A stranger, however,
must be much struck with the comparative rapidity with
w^hich Lord Segrave gets to his hounds over the Gloucester-
shire hills, considering that on an average he alights at, at
least, one wall in four. This is the result of several com-
bined causes. First, he is a good horseman, pulling up and
starting his horses again quickly; secondly, his horses are
admirably broken to the act of following their rider over
the fence, the instant he himself has got over it ; and
lastly. Lord Segrave has an excellent eye to his hounds, and
goes the best pace when he is up. I never saw him ride a
run in the Berkeley Vale, but I was out once in Warwick-
shire when he went very well from Alveston Pastures, over a
stiff country.

My first knowledge of Lord Segrave's country was when
part of it was hunted by the late Major Bland, a very

LORD SEGRAVE. ] 1 1

"worthy gentleman, but not, I think, a very eminent sports-
man. I say " I think," because in those young days in
which I hunted with him, my estimate of a sportsman was
a false one. The best man in the field in my eyes was he
who could ride hardest after his hounds, and leap the
highest gates, and I believe the worthy major did neither
the one nor the other. In short, all that I have a perfect
recollection of, in reference to hunting with his hounds, is
one good run, in which I first saw a very distinguished
character in that country, and now a member of Lord
Segrave's hunt, of whom I shall have something to say
anon.

Neither can I remember when I first hunted with Lord
Segrave's hounds, but as it was many years before Mr.
Corbet relinquished Warwickshire, when we every now and
then reached them from Stratford-upon-Avon, in their
Broadway country, it must have been in his lordship's
young days as well as in my own. But I can very well
recollect the last time I was out with this pack, as it was
nearly proving my last appearance with all packs, for I was
taken ill after the second day's hunting, in consequence of a
damp bed, and, as old Johnny Wynne of Ryton said of his
son, " turned rather a narrow headland" for my life. But
several times in my life I have had horses at Cheltenham in the
winter season for a week or so, when Lord Segrave's hounds
have been at their kennel there, and of course know most of
their covers. Indeed, one of these periods is well impressed on
my memory, by the fact of my selling a horse for three
hundred guineas, which a short time before had cost me one
hundred guineas, and merely because " the pace was too
good to inquire" whether three or four gates in our line
were made to open or not *.

During my visit to Sir Bellingham Graham, in 1828,
when he hunted Shropshire, the worthy baronet and
myself had an invitation from Lord Segrave to spend
a week at Berkeley Castle, where horses and every

* The race-horse Bolus, by Doctor. Lord William Somerset will remember this.

112 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

tiling that is good were to be provided for our use ;
but in consequence of Will Staples meeting with an
accident, Sir Bellingham could not absent himself from his
hounds, and we lost, no doubt, a most agreeable trip. Now T
lament this the more, because, independently of the pleasure
of hunting in a new and, I hear, a very pretty country, and
seeing a splendid hunting establishment, I should much
have liked to have seen the castle, in all its baronial pride,
and perhaps my fancy might have prompted me to have
said something about it. I might have been templed to
have drawn a comparison between past and present times —
between one lord of this noble domain who jested with the
sufferings of a monarch, and another who would lay down
his life for his ; I might have turned to that dark age when
Severn re-echoed " with affright" not the note of the fox-
hound, but the shriek of " an agonized king :" not the
heart-cheering horn, but the rebel's bloody war-whoop.
And I might have done even more than this. I might have
drawn from these reflections one striking fact — that fox-
hunting and refinement started together in England, and
who will deny but that it has been a neck-and-neck race.

But to our present purpose. It is scarcely necessary to
state, that Lord Segrave has two countries, Avhich his hounds
hunt alternate months, — commencing in his own, the
Berkeley, on the first of October, and removing to the
Cheltenham country on the first of November. His esta-
blishment and his turn out are quite en prince, and the superior
style of horse which his men ride, imparts a lustre over the
whole thing. Whenever I have been out with his hounds, his
lordship has always officiated as huntsman, but he had a
clever man in that capacity — Henry Ayris — who may be
said to have been cradled in these kennels, and I have
reason to believe he is a very superior horseman. His first
whipper-in was a son of Dick Foster, huntsman to Mr.
Villebois, bringing a high character with him from the
Badsworth hounds ; and Henry Skinner was the second
whip. In addition to these there were t«o men in scarlet, and

LORD SEGRAVE. 113

capped, riding his lordship's spare horses, thus e quailing the
materiel of any hunting establishment going. But ha\ing
spoken of his men, I must not overlook his head groom,
George Smith. He was born at Berkeley ; stood six feet
three inches without his shoes, and was altogether so fine a
sample of British flesh and blood, that he was selected to
lead the Champion's horse at the coronation of George the
Fourth. The stud under his care consisted of thirty-six
hunters besides hacks, and the kennels contained eighty
couples of hunting hounds.

Lord Segrave's two countries, united, extend without
interruption to seventy miles in length, namely, from the
city of Bristol to Meenhill in Warwickshire, which is the
outside cover in the Cheltenham hunt! The Berkeley is
almost wholly a grass country, very flat, and teeming with
scent, but liable to the objection of rather small enclosures,
and bounded on one side by the river Severn, which is a
drawback. When I say it is flat, however, I must except
the fine woodlands on the hills above Dursley and Wotton-
under-Edge, extending to Kingscote, but these are chiefly
used for cub and spring hunting. It abounds in foxes,
particularly in Lord Segrave's covers, and as a hint for
game-preservers, who think pheasants and foxes cannot
co-exist, I will mention a circumstance which happened a
few years back. The fixture for the day was Fisher's Withy -
bed, not more than a mile from the castle, and little more
than two acres of ground. Three brace and a half of foxes
were viewed away from the cover, and at least two hundred
brace of pheasants were seen on the wing. I remember my
informant telling me, that Mr. Thomas Assheton Smith was
to have been out on that day, being on a visit at Lord
Ducie's, but was prevented so doing, which Lord Segrave
lamented. " I wish Smith had been here to-day," said
Lord Segrave to his field, " that he might have assured
game- preservers, from what he w^ould have seen in this
cover, that they need not be so much in fear of foxes."

Lord Segrave only professes to hunt the Berkeley country

114 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

three days a week, but fi-equently gives a bye-day. The
best covers in it are, Biishey Grove, Red Wood, Hill's
Wood, Nuster Cliff Gorse, Parham Brake, Fishing-house
Withy-Bed, Newman's-Withy-bed, Haywood, Tockington
Park, Elmore, Clifford's Gorse, Tortworth Coppice, Tintock,
Friar's Wood, Michel Wood, and Butler's Gorse. Lord S.
has also made many capital gorse and black-thorn covers
on his own estate. In the Cheltenham country — including
what is called the Broadway country, in which there is a
kennel at Buckland — the favourite covers are Star Wood,
Ched worth, Withington Wood, Rendcomb Wood, Comb
End, Moor Wood, West Wood, Guiting-grange Gorse,
Dowdeswell Wood, Chatcombe Wood, Stanton Wood,
Dumbleton Wood, Hales Wood, and Queen Wood. Fox-
cote Gorses (Mr. Canning's), Weston Park, Bourton Wood,
Buckland Wood, Spring Hill, Meen Hill*, and several
good gorses — the last five fixtures hunted from the Buck-
land kennel.

These three countries — for such in fact they are — are
thus hunted. Lord Segrave, as I said before, oj^ens the
season in the Berkeley country, on the first of October, and
then hunts that, and the Cheltenham and Broadway countides
united, alternate months throughout the season. His
Broadway fixtures are thus reached. The hounds and
horses travel thither — the hounds to Buckland kennel, and
the horses to Broadway — on the Friday, the only non-
hunting day in the week, and return to Cheltenham on the
Sunday, the distance twenty miles. This is a severe tax on
the kennel and stable, and still more so on the servants,
who, it will appear, are, in open weather, every day in their
saddles. Their noble master, however, has long shared the
labour with them, barring the hack work between Chelten-
ham and Broadway, as himself and several of his hunt
remove to Broadway on the Friday, to be ready for Satur-
day's hunting, and as I have before stated, Lord Segrave

* Meen Hill is neutral with the Warwickshire.

LORD SEGRAVE. 115

has g-enerally hunted liis own hounds. Some jiersons may
ask — is not this making a toil of a pleasure ? The real
lover of fox-hunting answers — No. Of course his lordship
has spared no pains in procuring horse flesh to carry him-
self, but the greater part of his own horses have been those
which were purchased originally for the men, and have
turned up trumps. Indeed, one of his most favourite
hunters was called Trumps, and I am told he had two
other splendid ones in his stable — Manton and Work-
man, the former purchased at Mr. Maxse's sale. Blood
Royal, perhaps one of the finest horses ever seen, and who
carried him for so many successive years, died in his service
after having enjoyed two years total respite from labour.
To my eye, that horse was faultless — combining blood and
power to a vast degree, each so essential to Lord Segrave's
peculiar style of riding to his hounds, and also to his Chelt-
enham country, perhaps as severe as any one in England or
elsewhere, that is hunted by fox-hounds. Let a horse carry
Lord Segrave's weight with hounds, on a good scent from
the bottom of Dowdesw^ell Wood to Leckhampton Rocks —
no great distance — and I pronounce him able to do any
thing that a hunter may be called on to perform. Having
never seen the kennels at Berkeley Castle, I cannot give
any description of them, but those with the stables, situated
within a quarter of a mile of Cheltenham, are quite equal to
all the purposes required of them, and the former are very
healthy for hounds. His lordship resides at German Cot-
tage, in the town of Cheltenham, where the members of his
hunt are most hospitably entertained. Two hundred horse-
men are often to be counted in his field.

Lord Segrave is becoming an old master of fox-hounds,
having kept them first as Lord Dursley, in the late Earl
Berkeley's lifetime, and in all, twenty-six successive years ;
and it must be admitted that he has honoured fox-hunting,
perhaps above his fellows, by persevering as he has done in
hunting a very indifferent country, which the Cheltenham
country certainly is, for so long a period of time, and in the

i2

116 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

first style of liberality and splendour. In fact, his esta-
blishment has been quite equal to the Quorn, or any other
of the crack countries, and his sport, upon the whole, has
been allowed to have been good. The two last seasons
I hunted with them were the best his hounds ever had,
affording a long succession of fine runs during the greater
part of each. Indeed, on the authority of one of the first
sportsmen in bis hunt, I can relate one run as a sample,
and I believe it has not been surpassed, for I know the line
well, and it abounds in fox-hunting difficulties. The fox
was found in West Wood, between Cheltenham and Winch-
comb ; and, after taking quite an outside ring (approaching
the town of Winchcomb), he put his head straight for Lord
Bathurst's " Great Woods," as they are called, near Ciren-
cester, and was pulled down, in the open, within one field of
them, at a distance of twenty miles, as the crow flies, from
the cover in which he was found ! !* This run reminds us
of real fox-hunting. Of his lordship's hounds, it would be
presumptuous in me to speak, from the limited acquaintance
I have had with them. But to one point I can speak.
Many years ago, when we got a day now and then with
them from Warwickshire, we used to think that, looking at
them comparatively with other packs, they appeared some-
what too high in flesh for the hilly country we met them
in. But of late years this defect, if it did exist, has
been remedied, and no hounds need be in better con-
dition than when I last saw them, nor, I may add, more
handy.

Although I have characterized the Cheltenham country
as one not deserving of praise — nay, I fear I must pronounce
it a bad country — there are parts of it which can show sport
and exhibit hounds to advantage, the enclosures being large,
often extending to from eighty to one hundred and fifty
acres each, and the covers not too near each other. As in
all wall countries hounds can cari*y a head when there is a

* Lord Segrave, Mr. Craven Berkeley, and one or two more, were all who saw
the finish.

THE UliKKKLEY HUNT CLUB. 117

scent, well bred horses are required over the Cotswold
Hills, which form great part of the country we are speaking-
of; but the fences are not difficult, after horses and their
riders become accustomed to them. Ail this, however
depends upon the pace. A hunter, with a horseman on his
back, would not fall over one Gloucestershire wall in ten
thousand, " if let to go his own pace at them," as the late
Lord Forester used to say ; but when the wind is pumped
out of them by " the pace" I beg to decline insuring them.
But even in that case, a blown horse does not come rump
first over a wall, as he does over strong timber, wall and
horse generally coming to the ground together. In short,
for one fall I have seen in wall countries, I am sure I have
seen a score in others, in an equal number of runs ; and it
is surprising how few horses are cut or blemished by striking
them.

The Berkeley Hunt Club consists of about thirty mem-
bers, who dine together at Cheltenham twice or three times
in the season. Their field uniform is a scarlet coat with
black velvet collar, on which is embroidered a silver fox with
a gold brush, much after the fashion of the Raby Hunt
collar. The dress uniform is handsome and unique. It
consists of a black coat, lined throughout with scarlet silk ;
buff breeches, and buff satin waistcoat — the tout ensemble of
which has a very showy effect in a bull-room, particularly
if the wearer and the raiment are well matched. In 1826,
the Club invited Lord Segrave — then Colonel Berkeley — to
dinner, for the purpose of evincing their gratitude for the
sport he had afforded themselves and their friends. A
superb gold cup, value four hundred guineas, was the splendid
offering of the day, presented to him, on the cloth being
removed, by my much esteemed friend Mr. Browne, of Sla-
perton (a large landed proprietor within the hunt, and called
to the chair in the absence of the Marquis of Worcester), at
the conclusion of a neat, complimentary address. The cup
stands two feet six inches in height, and is capable of con-
taining a dozen bottles of wine. Its embellishments are
strictly in keeping. Amongst others are the four seasons ;

118 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

casts from favourite hounds, from a picture at Berkeley
Castle ; masks of horses' heads from the antique ; a vixen
fox and her cubs ; an inscription signifying the gift, and the
Berkeley Arms displayed. Lord Segrave's speech was
highly appropriate ; but the tongue is eloquent when the
heart dictates — and one part of it Avas so strictly in accordance
with my estimation of the value and benefits of fox-hunting,
that I shall take the liberty of transcribing it. " In ranking
fox-hunting high among our pleasures," said his lordship,
" I think I shall be borne out by the concurrent opinion of
many of the most brilliant and highly-educated members of
society ; and I will take upon myself to pronounce it to be
an amusement wholly without alloy. I have followed it for
twenty years ; and with truth I can aver, that it has cheered
my cheeriest hours, and invariably solaced some of my sad-
dest moments. It has been the bond of union, the source of
lasting friendship ; and whilst it enlivens the present day, it
brings in its train all the most agreeable recollections of
' Auld lang syne.' I can assure you, my friends," added Lord
Segrave, " that when the grim huntsman, who never misses
his game, shall be about to run me to my last earth, I shall
derive consolation in leaving behind me this mark of your
friendship and esteem." To all this I siiy,A7nen. May fox-
hunting flourish for ages to come ! Nay, more than this — •
may it remain the favourite jDastime of Englishmen till the
moon shall be in its last wane, and the sun shall cease to
shine on the world !

But, out of the field, the public conduct of Lord Segrave
in his character of an English sportsman that most pleased
me, was his speech at the Gloucester race ordinary, 1827,
in animadversion of an anathema pronounced by an evan-
gelical clergyman of the neighbourhood, and very widely
circulated by a sect calling itself " the serious part of the
community of the Church of England," against the sports
and pastimes of the people, and denouncing horse-racing in
particular. In the first place, I well remember that, on
reading this speech, I knew not which most to admire, the
neatness and force of the language, the judiciously and

SPORTING AND PIETY. 11!)

happily selected arguments, or the manly avowal of the
speaker; all which, coming from a man who, although a
supporter of the races in his neighbourhood, never had a
race horse in his life, or, as he stated to his audience, never
betted fifty pounds on a race, had of course a double effect.
Now the author of this anathema is totally unknown to me ;
but I must tell all those who think and act with him, that it
is a mistaken enthusiasm which strews fire and flame in the
paths of our innocent amusements. Christianitij forbids
them not. On the contrary, the doctrines by which we hope
for rewards are friendly to harmless recreations, and hostile
to that squalid superstition which would strij) society of its
pleasures, and defraud mirth of its smile. The thorn grows
with the rose, and vice will intrude among men ; but he is a
bold man who adds to the severity of God, and thinks we
stand more in need of his justice than his mercy. There is
a road to heaven without suffering by the way ; and I had
been led to hope that the vulgar association of groans and
tears with piety and devotion was now confined to the half-
enlightened understandings of itinerant preachers, and that
no well-educated clergyman would be found to insist upon
what human nature rejects. I again ask — shall " the hills
rejoice and the vallies laugh and sing," and man alone go
sorrowful on his journey ? Pshaw ! Man is the same now
that he was in the days of Solomon ; he must, and will be
amused if he can : nay, more, — rational amusements and
innocent recreations have ever been considered essential to
his very existence, and of these, the master of fox-hounds or
the owner of race-horses contributes his share, if not a sood
deal more.*

* I am quite aware of the efforts no^v making by some of these maxime pii gen-
tlemen to strip the world of its pleasures, by denoimcing innocent recreations, and
to substitute the gloom and severity of a presbyterian Scotchman, for the native
cheerfulness of an Englishman. I trust they w-ill not succeed ; and let those who
speculate on the change, read the comment of the Morning Chronicle, a few months
back, on the present state of the lower orders of the Scotch people, and the coarse
indulgences by which they indemnify themselves for harmless amusements of which
they are debarred by the austerity of a religion, which I, for one, hope they will
keep to themselves. Surely we have had enough of saints, and should by this
time be assured that there is no villany which cannot mask itself under the show
of piety.

120 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

There are several eminent riders in Lord Segrave's hunt
some of whom have been acknowledged as such in Leices-
tershire. Amongst the best are the Hon. Craven Berkeley,
Messrs. Joseph Watts (a welter), Walters, Wynniatt, Cregoe,
Bailey, Doyne, John Coddrington, his brother-in-law, Mr.
John Charlton, and Captain Jenner ; the latter, I should
think, the top sawyer of the light weights, from what I saw
and heard of him in Leicestershire, where he hunted four sea-
sons. The renowned Mr. Maxse is an old member of the club,
and always passes the October month at the castle ; and Mr.
Robert Canning now and then makes his appearance with
these hounds.

Having passed a good deal of time at Cheltenham at va-
rious periods of my life, it may be expected that I depart
not from my usual practise of describing the head quarters
of hounds. But what can I say of Cheltenham, that is not
known to all the pleasurable and half the sporting world ? I
might as well present a history of Cheapside to a London
citizen, or remind a first-class school-boy of the baths of Di-
oclesian. I shall merely observe, then, that when I first
knew Cheltenham it was little more than a good country
village, and it is now grown into a large town. But has it
not been denounced as a dangerous scene of gallantry and
dissipation, " castis inimica puellis," as the poet says of Baioe.
To be sure it has ; and where is the place, where water is
the specific, that has not borne a similar character. " Est
Venus in vinis," said Ovid, but water-drinkers, believe me,
succeed best with the ladies. I rather think, however, it
was always so. The chastity of Alexander is ascribed, by
his historian, to his excessive compotations ; and depend on
it, friend Reader, that the wife of Darius — for they say she
was pretty — would not have escaped so immaculate from
the clutches of a Cheltenham water-drinker as she did from
his. By way of reminding you that these water places have
ever been licentious, let me bring to your recollection the
lines addressed by the love sick Propertius to his beautiful
Cynthia, who was gone to pass the summer at the baths of

THE ENGLISH SPORTING YEOMEN 121

Baioe ; as they plainly show in what manner the Roman
ladies were given to amuse themselves at that delightful
place. I'll not bother you with the original latin, but you
shall have an elegant translation of the impassioned address
from the pen of one of our best modern classics, accompanied
— as a foil to it — by a paraphrase of my own :

" Fly, fly, my love, soft Baite's tainted coast.
Where many a pair connubial peace have lost :
Wliere many a maid shall guilty joys deplore ;
Ah fly, ray fair, detested Baite's shore !"

PARAPHRASE.

" Husband — look after your wife ;
Old one — take care of your daughter ;
If you don't, I'll venture my life,
They'll be ' led, like sheep, to the slaughter.' "

Notwithstanding all this, had I been assured of not meeting
a Dolabella there, I should like just to have taken a peep
at the world in those days, and to have passed one summer
at this gay place (for Horace says — " nullus in orhe locus
Baits prcelucet cmicenis' J, as it would have enabled me to tell
you how they managed their amours in those classic days ;
and if 1 were twenty years younger than I now am, well-
horsed and well-breeched, I should not object to a winter at
Cheltenham.

Few characters take my fancy more than the English
sporting yeomen ; but mind, reader, I mean the yeomen
after the old form and fashion, and not the green-jacketted
white top-booted, would-be-gentleman, whom we have
lately seen running at his landlord, with about as much
chance of catching him as the two hind wheels of his wag-
gon have of catching the two fore ones. Of the first named
genus, there have been long going in Lord Segrave's
country, two very pure and unadulterated samples — namely
the well-known Mr. Fretwell — better known as " Tommy
Fretwell ;" and the still better known " Jerry Hawkins, of
the Haw," for if I were to call him Mr. Hawkins it might
be doubtful of whom I am speaking. The former of these
worthy men has now wisely retired from the pursuits of
agriculture, and is living at his ease in the village of Prest-

122 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

bury, near Cheltenham ; but Jerry Hawkins still farms his
own estate of the Haw, which has descended to him from
his ancestors.

Of Tommy Fretwell as a sportsman, it would be needless
for me to speak, if your pages did not travel into very
remote countries, for Tommy and his old white mare have
at one time or another been seen by most modern sportsmen.
He was never conspicuous as a horseman, but greatly so for
his admitted knowledge of hunting, and his almost constant
attendance upon hounds with a short stable of horses. In
fact, he has been a real enthusiast in fox-hunting, and the
respectability of his character, and the esteem of his neigh-
bours and brother sportsmen at a distance, have been of
some value in the preservation of foxes in the several
countries in which he has hunted — namely, the Duke of
Beaufort's, Lord Segrave's, and the Warwickshire.

But Jerry Hawkins requires more space in your pages as
the record of sporting character, for I honestly believe the
sun never rose upon the man who is better entitled to the
appellation of sportsman than he is. Such of your readers
then as have never seen this renowned Jerry, or been within
fifty miles of Gloucester, where his portrait — an exact
likeness — on his old favourite horse, and in the act of
holloaing away a fox, was a few years back to be found on
ten ale jugs out of twenty, would like perhaps to have a
description of him, which, as his like will never be seen
again, I will endeavour to furnish. But it won't do on these
occasions to be too minute in our detail. Suffice it then to
say, that his person is somewhat beyond the medium height :
features hard, but very far from unjjleasing ; complexion
dark and swarthy, and by no means that of a water-drinker;
the lines of the face very strongly marked, and every muscle
about him bearing some resemblance to whip-cord. His
dress, a blue coat, generally double-breasted, striped waist-
coat, leather* breeches, very tight but not particularly clean ;

* AVc believe Jerry has retrograded in the fashion, having subsequently taken
to white cords, or rather " qui color albus erat."

JERRY HAWKINS. 123

boots, &c., to match. He was born on the same day with
the late Duke of York.

The anecdotes of Jerry, and his peculiarities, would fill a
good sized volume, but I must select a few ; and as
they chiefly relate to his passion for fox-hunting, they cannot
be unacceptable to my readers. What think you, then, of
his postcript to a letter he had once occasion to write to an
election committee, sitting at Gloucester, in the interest of Sir
William Guise? " I have reason to believe," said Jerry,
" as there was a fox through Badge worth Wood, Saturday
night or Sunday morning, early." On another occasion, he
stopped at a road-side ale-house to refresh his horse after a
run, in which were some yokels drinking and singing,
without any notice being taken of them by Jerry. At last
they thought they would pay him the compliment of striking
up one of the songs of the chase, the chorus to which was —

" There's nothing can compare
With the hunting of the hare."

Now it happens that Jerry had not only a thorough con-
tempt for hare-hunters, but, moreover, it is much doubted
whether he did not suspect that a man not devoted to fox-
hunting* would rob a church or cut your throat. However,
this matter was very easily settled. Having as thorough
contempt for rhyming as he has for hare-hunting, he gave
the bumkins a shilling to substitute the word fox for hare,
when he listened to their ditty with great glee. Again — he
happened to have a breeding earthf on his farm. Some
years back, he made his will and bequeathed this field to
Lord Segrave and his heirs for ever, lest, as he said it might

* Jerry was dining one day at Cheltenham, in company with Mr. Dawkins, a
great amateur actor, a gentleman well known " about town," when, by way of
something to say, Jerry asked him if he was fond of fox-hunting, to which Mr.
Dawkins answered, " that he had never been out in his lii'e." " Why, to tell you
the truth," said Jerry, looking him over, " / thought you hadn't seen much of the
icorld!"

t This reminds me of a certain northern sportsman, himself a master of fox-
hounds, who having a property in the centre of another hunt, made drains in all
directions for the foxes to run to, and in case he should not be able to spoil suffi-
cient sport in his life time, has directed in his will that they should be kept open
for twenty years after his death, on pain of forfeiture.

124 HUNTING REMINISCENCKS.

fall into the hands of" some d — d fellow, not a friend to foxes,
and the earths be destroyed. On his lordship hearing- of
the bequest, however, he made Jerry cancel the clause in
his will. Anticipating old age, or any other infirmity that
might disable him from taking the field, Jerry has built a
tower on one part of his property which commands a view
of the country, from which he says he can see the hounds if
he can't folloio them. Some time since, Jen-y had been
indisposed, and change of air was recommended by his
doctor. Jerry fixed upon Bei-keley Castle, little more than
twenty miles from his own house. Calling, however, on
Captain Jenner, in the village of Berkeley, on his road to
the castle, just as his dinner-bell rang, Jerry partook of his
pot luck ; and having got a skinful of wine, returned home
early the next morning, " quite recovered by change of air"
as he told his friends and the doctor.

When Lord Segrave came of age a grand ball was given
at the castle, which was honoured by the presence of his late
Majesty, then Duke of Clarence. Jerry Hawkins had an
invitation to it, and his wardrobe being over-hauled for the
occasion, he was found wanting only in a new pair of kersey-
mere breeches, which were deemed absolutely necessary for
the royal presence ; and for the first and last time of his life,
his hair was powdered. Now Jerry bethinking himself that
dress breeches, and dress breeches only, would be rather an
unprofitable article in his wardrobe, had them so shaped as
to answer the united purposes of the ball room and the
saddle. They were cut longer at the knee th,.n diess
breeches should be cut, and, having an eye to the future, an
extra button was placed at the back of the kg, for the boot.
This button was not lost on the royal duke, who, no doubt,
was made acquainted with the character of the man ; and
by way of a joke, he addressed him thus : — " Pray, Mr.
Hawkins, do you ever wear boots V " Please your Royal
Highness," replied Jerry, " / very seldom wear shoes."
Lord Alvanley could not have given a readier answer.
There was a good deal of the " nemo me impune" about it

JEltRY HAWKINS. 125

and inucli in the style of the old Squire Leche, of Cheshire,
of whose sayings and doings I fear I have at length exhausted
my stock.

The hardiness peculiar to the old English yeoman was
never more displayed than by one practice which Jerry
Hawkins indulged in, occasionally, for the greater part of his
life. I allude to his swimming the river Severn with his
horse, on his return from Gloucester market, at night, by
way of a shorter cut to the Haw, which is situated on the
banks of that fine river, on the Tewkesbury side of the
county. Now the question arises — how has it happened
that Jerry never went to the bottom some tempostuous night,
as it is M'ell known he generally brought home a top-heavy
load, and as often performed this fool-hardy feat in the dark
nights of winter as under the more favourable circumstances
of a midsummer night's moon ? Why, although we cannot
compare Jerry with Leander, inasmuch as he was not risk-
ing his life for his mistress, but merely going the nearest
way to his sheets, yet like him he had something to direct
him to the opposite shore. But it was not the torch planted
on the tower's top, which at last proved fatal to the bold
youth of Abydos, but the stable lanthorn, which was always
hung on a post at the " coming out place," when the night
was dark ; and Jerry was sure to find his road into the river,
leather breeches and all.

I must offer one more anecdote of Jerry, and then
take my leave of him for the present. Some thirty years
since, a celebrated Irish duellist, a dead shot, w^as quartered
at Gloucester, only then recovering from a Avound he had
received in somewhere about his tenth encounter on the
bloody field ; and so great was the dread of this modern
Marcellus, that few persons had a fancy to encounter him in
any way, still less at twelve paces. He soon, however,
contrived to make himself signal by calling out a pro-
fessional gentleman, with a large family dependant on
his exertions, but who wisely declined putting his life on a
level with one tliat appeared so valueless as iiis. " Very

126 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

well then," said tJie captain, " all I require is that when I
walk up one side of the street, the gentleman will walk up
the other." Now this reaching Jerry's ears, an invitation
to the Captain to dine at the Haw followed, and was
accepted, and two hard-headed neighbours were asked to
meet him. Dinner passed off well {Jerrys hospitality is
proverbial) ; the Captain pleased and civil. When the table
was cleared, however, our host withdrew, but returned in a
few minutes with a massive old silver tankard in his hand,
which contained two quarts. Now with what, think you,
was this tankard filled ? with Sherbet ? for it was in the
dog days. No. With Stier cider or Barland perry ? for
each of which Jerry is renowned. With neither, but with
red hot port wine? Anything else? Yes, it contained a gra-
duated stick, with notches cut in it at certain distances, after
the manner of a carpenter's rule. Then followed Jerry's
speech to his company ! " Captain," said he, " I've heard a
great deal about you, and, among other things, that you are
a terrible man to drink. Now, Captain, I wish to see which is
the best man of us four ; and we must all drink alike out of
this tankard, if each man lowers it one notch to each toast,
so here's fox-hunting, Captain ;" and, as the story goes,
Jerry lowered it two notches instead of one. Now then for
the sequel. The Captain found himself tackled by a tough
British yeoman, and, although he got very drunk, he be-
haved very well. But Jerry's speech at parting was a cli-
max ; it was like that of Ajax, short, but strong. " Now,
Captain," said he, " good night ; but let me tell you one
thing. There wall always be found an Englishman to do
what an Irishman can do, so I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll
ride a fox-chase with you. Captain ; I'll swim Sivern (Severn)
with you. Captain ; I'll drink with you, Captain ; I'll
walk with you. Captain; and dim* my soul. Captain,
if I don't fight you to-morrow, if that's what you want."
The answer of this son of Mars was that of a sensible man.
" My dear fellow," said he, " you are the best boy I have

* Jerry's soft manner of pronouncing a certain word.

JERRY HAWKINS. 127

seen since I crossed the Channel from Ireland. I'll do nei-
ther one nor the other with you ; but, give me your hand,
and long may ijou live to do all."

Although I can recollect Jerry Hawkins in his best days
— in those of his grey stallion — I have no reason to think
he was ever what is termed a hard rider ; but, no doubt,
from his knowledge of the country and of hunting, he could
generally give a good account of a run. Time and the
elements of course made their impression on him ; and,
no doubt, he became slow ; but the passion for hunting
held the same power over him still, and when I was in
his country, fourteen years ago, he was almost the only man at
the cover's side, on a tremendously wet day, who had not a
great coat. His favourite old hunter, who, with himself, was
so conspicuous on the Gloucestershire beer jugs*, was in his
twenty-fourth year — Lord Segrave having annually given
him a summer's run in his own park ; but, at the commence-
ment of that season, a new horse was presented to him by
the club, as a mark of their esteem of a good old sportsman
and a worthy man. As a lover of fox-hunting Jerry Haw-
kins may have his equal, but his superior in that respect is
yet to be born ; and I hope, as Otway, the poet, says —

" I yet may see the old man in a morning,
Lusty as health, come ruddy to the field,
And there pursue the chase."

For, despite of his offence against costume, to use a painter's
phrase, and his being the cause of my being once in my life
seen in a disgraceful state of intoxication upon a race
coursef, I honour Jerry not only as a sportsman, but as a
true sample of that highly respectable, naturally inde-
pendant, once wealthy body of men called yeomen, of

* I have reason to believe that the'original picture is at Berkeley Castle. The
likeness is admirable even on the jugs, but when Jerry first saw it he exclaimed
against the artist, saying, he had made his old horse appear frightened by hounds,
which he was sure he had not been for the last dozen years.

t A few of my brother sportsmen will recollect this circumstance. In those days
the races were after dinner, and the ordinaries well attended. Jerry Hawkins was
vice-president, and after the steward quitted the chair he placed himself in it, when
an hour's very sharp fire of red hot port was the result.

128 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

whom England has long been so proud ; perhaps, because
no other country but herself possesses them : " England's
peculiar and appropriate sons," as Scott so correctly terms
them. There is also a sort of ludicrous naivete about him,
which is not only most amusing, but also conveys the
impression that much goodness of heart, if not fine feeling,
is concealed within a rough exterior. It may be also
observed, that the decline of life is too generally accom-
panied by the gradual decay of those generous feelings
which adorn our nature and which alone render it worthy
of man. But this was not the case here. Jerry Hawkins was
the same kindly-hearted, hospitable, jolly fellow, he ever
was at any period of his life ; and I much regret that he
never ventured to take unto himself a wife, by whose bene-
ficent aid the breed might have been perpetuated, and then
there could not be a chance of the earths at the Haw being
drawn over without a drag, or, what would be worse, could
Jerry hear of it in the realms above, being stunk out*.

From a sportsman to a tailor is a great jump, but if the
tailor happen to be a sportsman the drop is much reduced.
A few years since — and for anything I know to the contrary
he may now be going — there was a most extraordinary
member of the shop-board in Cheltenham, by the name of
Hastings, whose passion for the chase led him to follow
hounds over a country in a manner and to a degree that
would stagger belief, were not his performances as no-
torious as the sun at noon day. He has been in the
habit of constantly starting on foot, from the kennel, with
Lord Segrave's hounds, quite regardless of distance to
cover ; but what is still more extraordinary, from his
fine wind and speed, as well as perfect knowledge
of the country, and the line foxes take, he has never been
known to be many minutes in making his appearance at the
conclusions of the best runs. He has been known to hunt
five days a week on foot with Lord Segrave, and meet the

* See Beckford's plan of destroying unnecessary earths.

THE CAPTAINS BERKELEY. 129

Duke of Beaufort's hounds on the sixth. Ou one occasion
he walked from Cheltenham to Berkeley (twenty-six miles),
and found the hounds gone to Haywood, ten miles further.
He was rather late, but saw a good run nevertheless! — Of
course he was much patronized by Lord Segrave, who I
have been told payed for his hunting gear — a fustian jacket
and trousers — but his lordship and all other sportsmen must
lament that a man with so intuitive a knowledge of hunting,
added to an enthusiastic love of the sport, should have ever
been put upon a tailor's shop-board. It appeared, however,
that he was still the tailor on horseback, having an almost
natural antipathy to the saddle, which perhaps prevented
his entering into the service of hounds ; but if it be all true
which is related of his exploits on foot, and it be also true
that it requires nine tailors to make a man, I can only say,
I should like to be the man that nine such tailors as
Hastings would inake. I understand Lord Segrave more
than once offered him a good situation as earth stopper, but
his answer always was, that he " could not stop earths o'
nights and hunt o' days too." In the summer months he
worked hard at his trade. What a strange animal is man :
and what a noble sport is fox-hunting!

The two Captains Berkeley — the first (Royal Navy)
known among his friends as Fred. Berkeley, and the
other as Augustus (a Dragoon) — may be said to be nemini
secundi over a rough, bruising country. As for the sailor,
he was for several years in Leicestershire certainly nemini
secundus; and by his desperate perforance with hounds
obtained the honourable appellation of " The Devil." Au-
gustus is a rare-plucked one, as his father was before
him, and I know few men whom I would back against him,
if well mounted, over a very coarse country.

The first time I saw Mr. Grantley Berkeley as a master
was with his stag-hounds, at Maidenhead Thicket, on the
3rd of December, 1826, when he hunted his hounds himself,
whipped into by his brother, the Honourable Mr. Moreton
Berkeley, and a servant ; the late Mr. Henry Wombwell,

K

130 HUNTING REMINISCENCES,

brother to the baronet of that name, having a short time
before resigned that post. I lamented his having done this,
inasmuch as there would have been something new to me
in seeing two amateur gentlemen whips on one day, and
especially so, had their orders from their huntsman to turn
hounds, ride to points, or what not, been given, as I believe
they now and then were, much after the same fashion of the
" Squire's" to Jack Stephens, when things went wrong.

Perhaps few men in England can be produced who have
shown a greater love for hounds and hunting than the
gentleman of whom I now write, and I think I can prove
what I assert. So early as his seventeenth year, he whipped-
in to his brother, Mr. Moreton Berkeley, who had a pack
of harriers, which by way of perfecting his education — in
one science at least — he took with him to Oxford, when he
became a member of Corpus College. Mr. Moreton Berke-
ley afterwards set up stag-hounds at Cranford, when his
brother Grantley whipped-in to him, thus reversing matters
as to station. I have reason to believe the latter gentleman
was only in his twenty-fourth year when he became a master
of what were called the Berkeley stag-hounds, to which, as
I have already said, his brother Moreton and Mr. H.
Wombwell whipped-in. He kept them from the year 1 824
to 1829, with a small subscription, and then took Bedford-
shire (the Oakley country) vacated by the Duke of Bedford
(then Marquis of Tavistock) from indisposition.

Mr. Grantley Berkeley appears to have had little trouble
in metamorphosing his stag-hounds into fox-hounds, as the
eighteen or twenty couples he took with him from Cranford
were all of Lord Segrave's blood ; and he had much credit
given him for having strengthened his kennel to the amount
of seventy-five couples and upwards, with the exception of a
draft of three or four couples of old ones, with unentered
hounds. He hunted the Oakley country five seasons,
during the four last of which, as I was assured, when on a
visit to it two years ago, he showed some of the finest sport
ever seen in that country in its best days. Indeed I was

MAP OF THE

^-3 IE 1 T S

OF THE

OAKLEY

H x:) r rr 1) 3,

/>Y777i th£ OaJe/^^r&Ttnelj.eirr'^r^ the
ufuier iifiirJi it firu; if iim»*'n.
tvhich are mea^ure^ ntin the Eifit.
«W **t LuHin^tpn..

ChiaLjr^xx^e t7;y>. . /tX^l-*

THE IIOX. GRANTLEY BERKELEY. 131

told, that more good runs were shown by Mr. Grantlev
Berkeley in the last two seasons (the last was the best) than
had previously been afforded in four. For example, what a
finish was this ! He found seventeen foxes in those laro-e
woodlands, Yardley Chase, &e. neutral between the Oakley
and the Grafton hunts, and killed thirteen!

I have much pleasure in mentioning this circumstance,
inasmuch as I wish to disabuse the minds of those of my
readers who would fain persuade themselves that there is no
science in stag-hunting, save the act of slotting a deer.
Here we have a huntsman in the person of Mr. Grantley
Berkeley, bred a stag-hunter, distinguishing himself, as no
doubt he did, as a fox-hunter, and that in not the best
of countries for the display of the huntsman's art.

When we look at the present generation of the Berkeley
Castle family, we must allow them to be of a thorougli
hunting sort. There is the first-born with his fox-hounds,
which he has kept in a princely style upwards of thirty
years. Who could beat the two next brothers, the Captain
of the Thunderer and the Honourable Augustus, over a
country. The one not to be stopped by a house on fire, as
John Ward used to say : the other with perhaps the best
hunting hand on his horse of any man of his day, and the
proof of it has been in his getting to hounds on any thing
with four leg's and well bred. There is the Honourable
Moreton, first a master then a whip. The Honourable
Grantley, first a whip then a master — lastly, master and
huntsman. Then Mr. Moreton Berkeley even followed his
brother into Bedfordshire, and performed the part of
amateur whip in that country, assisted by George Carter,
afterwards huntsman to the Duke of Grafton. And to sum
up all — the subject of these remarks was in part a master of
hounds for the space of eighteen seasons, eleven of which he
himself was sole master, and hunted them himself. Those
with which he hunted the Oakley country were sold by liim
to Mr. W^ilkins when he took Northamptonshire, but for
what sum I never heard.

k2

132 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

Mr. Grantley Berkeley was always capitally mounted on
horses well up to his weight — good 14st. in his saddle, and
purchased chiefly, if I do not mistake, from the Elmore
stables. His famous grey mare Giantess, I much admired,
as also Brutus, which he rode for several seasons, and
spoken of by Colonel Standen to me, as one of the best
hunters he ever saw in the field. If my memory do not
deceive me, he died after a tremendous run with a stag.
The leaping of this horse was extraordinary under so great
a weisrht. He carried his owner over the river Brent — I
should think, very rarely, if ever leaped by a horse — and
what is yet more surprising, over the deer fences on the
slopes in Windsor Park, just under the Castle, at the end of
a very sharp burst of thirty-five minutes ! He had another
very clever hunter also from Mr. Elmore's stables, called
Jack-o'-Lantern, and with this horse he got over an extra-
ordinary fence, though with a fall — the great sunken fence
at Dawley Wall.

Mr. Grantley Berkeley, although no longer a master of
fox-hounds, continues to do honour to the good cause by his
pen, having written in the New Sporting Magazine some
of the best practical directions for the management and well-
doing of hounds, in and out of kennel, that have appeared
since Mr. Beckford's days. Moreover, as I ventured to
tell him, the principles he advocates in the general treatment
of hounds, do honour to his feelings as a man, as well as to
his judgment as a sportsman. He appears to have studied
the nature and character of the dog with the best effect, and
to have given him credit for the various good qualities which
he possesses. And in one more respect has this gentleman
honoured the noble science. Were any one to whom he is a
stranger to see Mr. Grantley Berkeley, highly dressed as he
always is in the evening, he might take him for what is
called " a regular London man" — a member of Almack's of
course, and afraid to wet his feet. Such a stranger then
might be surprised to hear, that this highly dressed gentle-
man has not only vvhipped-in to, and hunted hounds for the

JOHNNY BUSHE. 133

best part of his life ; but that he constantly employs him-
self in the country in tlie laborious pursuits of shooting,
fishing, and watcliing poachers by night, and taking them
when opportunity offers ; and at other times, in the use of
the gloves, the foils, or single-stick — in fact, in every thing
that tends to harden the frame, and preserve it in condition
to resume the pleasures of the chase.

The mention of the Berkeleys reminds me of their friend
Johnny Bushe, as he was called. Mr. Bushe was a dashing
rider as well as a first-rate horseman, and equal to make his
way over any country. I liad the pleasure of seeing him
some years back on his road to Paris, and for the sake of
his horses, was sorry to find him much increased in weight.

There are two gentlemen by the name of Bailey who
deserve notice. One a Duke of Beaufort's man, and the
other, for two seasons, one of the elite at Melton, and who was
bold enough to match a horse in his stud against tlie famous
Clinker, for 200 guineas a side, p. p. In consequence of
Clinker's meeting with an accident, however, the match was
never run, but Mr. Bailey refused the forfeit, saying his
only objectwas the honour of beating the renowned Clinker. Mr.
Bailey took his leave of Leicestershire after the second
season, to the regret of his brother sportsmen, and was
afterwards a leading character in Mr. Power's hunt, in
his native country, Ireland. The other Mr. Bailey (or
Bay]ey)and myself have travelled many a good mile together
with hounds, and few riders in the Duke's hunt are nearer
to them than he is, when they go their best pace.

It is a long time since I saw Parson Bennett, as he was
called in Leicestershire, in the field, and I believe he has
long since given up hunting, residing in the neighbourhood
of Reading, which must be a sickener to a man who lived
so many years in Leicestershire as he did. I considered
him a horseman, well mounted and appointed, with a good
eye to his work. He was a good man at a brook.

Cheshire has always been fruitful in good horsemen.
Amongst them were Sir Richard Brook and his brother, the

134 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

Colonel, both leading men in the Cheshire Hunt. Mr.
Buck, a Devonshire gentleman — a crack man at home, and
considered good in many other countries. Ditto, Mr.
George Butler, one of the H. H. (Mr. Villebois'), but was
five seasons at Melton — a very good sportsman, and rode
well to hounds. I used to like to see him out in Hamp-
shire, as he did the thing like a workman, in a quiet,
unpretending manner. But among these aristocratic names,
I must not overlook two good men in humbler life ; namely.
Bill Barke, formerly landlord of the White Lion, Stratford-
on-Avon, where our Warwickshire Club was held ; and Jack
Bamford, as he is called, a respectable yeoman in the Ather-
stone country. Mr. Barke though among the welters, was
always a good man for his weight, but Mr. Bamford was
still better. In short, few men in his own country could ride
far before him, and he was always well-mounted. He
resided at Bromcote, near Tamworth, and was well known to
every sportsman within fifty miles of that place. But speak-
ing of Atherstone I must not forget Billy Breton and his
old Snap mare. In Lord Vernon and Mr. Adderley's time
he resided at Oldbury, the seat of Mr. Okeover, of coaching-
fame, and was rather a leading character in the country ;
but as a horseman he was only conspicuous on " the old Snap
mare," and he certainly shone upon her. Billy, however,
had an advantage over us all. He always rode his chase
again after dinner, when the old mare, or Bilbury (a good
little horse of his), went still better than in the morning ;
and a hint now and then was dropped that Sam Lawley and
himself killed the fox.

I think I once quoted some person's opinion, that no man
is fit to ride a good run over our strongly-fenced countries,
unless he be as sound as a game-cock when placed on the
sod to fight. This we must admit the truth of; but in the
course of my observations on horsemanship I shall bring
several exceptions to this rule and produce men who have
ridden, and who do ride, well to hounds, when deprived of
the use of a limb. Jones, Meynell's cork-legged whipper-in

BILL BBAN WILL BARROW. 135

was before my time, but I have been informed he was
always in his place, and I shall have to speak of one gentle-
man having- lost a leg whom I have seen going gallantly.
No less than three one-armed gentlemen (what a compliment
to fox-hunting !) have I seen going better than hundreds
who have two, and I think I knew one (now dead) who
would have tried to go without an arm at all. It is well
known among sportsmen that Sir Edward Baker, of Ran-
ston Hall, in Dorsetshire, has been all but deprived of the
use of one of his arms by an accident, and yet Sir Edward
is a first flight man in his own country, and maintains a
good place in Leicestershire, where he is always to be found
after Christmas. The last time I was in Dorsetshire, he
mounted me on a delightful young horse, which he pur-
chased (I think) of John Fryatt of Melton, and he appeared
just the sort to suit him, being very steady and very fast.

Bill, or " Squire Bean," as he used to be called in the
days of his prosperity, when a horse-dealer in London, kept
a few hounds for the purpose of running drag at Neasdon,
he is a capital hand across country, and an excellent steeple-
chase rider, but not having hunted much in the neighbour-
hood of London I have had but few opportunities of witness-
ing his performances.

The renowned Will. Barrow, many years huntsman to the
equally renowned Mr. Corbet, who so long hunted Warwick-
shire, claims a high rank in the annals of British horseman-
ship. But he had a right to higli pretensions. He was
educated by the late Mr. Childe, of Kinlet — himself great
in the art — and the pupil did credit to the preceptor. This
man in his saddle was a gentleman. All who remember his
style of riding to hounds will admit that the hand of man
could not perform its office more to the satisfaction of a
horse than Barrow's did to his ; and how straight did he put
his head ! His seat was perfect, and yet he had natural
difficulties to contend with, for he was a short-legged man.
But he sat well down on his fork, with his knees at the
proper angle, and there was an ease, aye, a gracefulness in

136 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

his position that is seldom witnessed in his superiors. As to
his bridle-hand, I repeat — and I dwell on the recollection of
it with pleasure — it was perfection. Neither had Ajax him-
self better nerve. In short, he would be with his hounds :
and, ill-tempered as he was, he appeared always pleased
then. When " his lasses," as he called the bitch pack, were
at work, with a high scent, and his fox likely to die, nothing
in the shape of a fence that there was a chance of a horse
getting either over, or through, would have turned him
from their line, and at cramped places he was capital. But
his horses, thanks to himself in great part, were as clever as
he himself was ; they would all leap standing when called
upon ; and to those who know how stiffly great part of War-
wickshire is fenced, it is enough to add in corroboration of
what I have asserted of his horses and himself, that he did not
get two falls in a season, hunting five days in the week.
His three chesnuts were splendid horses for that country,
equal to twice his weight ; his roaring grey horse, a flyer ;
and his black Joe Andrews gelding as stout as steel itself.
One of his chesnuts — perhaps the most brilliant of them, by
King Fergus — would have killed him if he had thrown him
to the ground ; but Will, took good care he did not, and I
always considered he was his favourite. I ought, however,
to mention, that his first master, Mr. Childe, said, " Barrow
was the only servant he ever had or knew, fit to trust
with his own horses' mouths (that is, the horses he himself
rode), having so gentle and good a hand on his bridle."
These are not my own words, but extracted from a letter to
me from an old friend of Barrow's late master, and a higher
compliment could not have been paid to him as a horseman.
I cannot recollect ever having seen Captain Baird in
Leicestershire, although I conclude I must have done so,
and I was just too late to meet him in Yorkshire. I find
my chance is now gone by, as I hear he has retired from the
field ; but in all countries in which I have heard mention
made of his name, the greatest credit has been given to him
for his riding. Mr. Lambton, with whose hounds he hunted

CAPTAIN BAIRD.

137

three seasons, spoke of him in the hif^hest terms, adding to
the general eulogium the compliment that he never knew
so hard a rider do so little mischief. In the famous Ow-
thorpe run with the Quorn (December, 1825), Captain
Baird greatly distinguished himself, although his horse
failed just at the finish. But it was " a terrible burst," of
an hour and fifteen minutes, seen, throughout, by only a
chosen few ! I have seen Mr. De Burgh ride very hard,
and, I believe, he has the character of always being in a
good place. Of Sir James Boswell I need not say much ;
he is well known at Melton as one of the elite, and when I
was last there had a very good stud.

138

©iKI/5\[P¥@[^ Wc

CANNOT do better
on entering the third
letter of the alpha-
bet than commence
with tlie late Duke
of Cleveland, as a
sportsman of great
notoriety, and a
horseman of almost
unequalled experi-
ence, having per-
formed the character of a huntsman to hounds — which hunted
for the most part of the time five days in the week — for
upwards of forty years. Were it possible then to enumerate
the fences he must have ridden over, the falls he must have
had, and the escapes and scrambles to boot, what a volume
would it form ! Unluckily, I did not see his Grace in
the field in the full vigour of his days,

" When, first in the burst, see dashing away.
Taking all in his stroke, on Ralpho the grey.
With j)ersuaders in flank, comes Darlington's peer.
With his chin sticking out, and his cap on one ear ;"*

* In the well-known print of " Lord Darlington and his Hounds," his Lordship's
cap is placed as here described. The song from which these lines are taken was
made on a famous run with the Duke of Cleveland's hounds, when he hunted the
Bailsworth country, and called, "The Hounds of Old Raby for me." It thus
neatly and classically commences : —

" "Whilst passing o'er Barnsdale I happened to spy
A fox stealing on, and the hounds in full cry ;
They are Darlington's sure, for his voice I well know.
Crying, 'Forward ! — hark forward!' from Shelbrook below."

THE LATE DUKE OF CLEVELAND. 139

but I saw him riding as fast and as straight as any man need
do to see hounds in their work, in an enclosed country like
his, and this at a period of life when few men can ride at all.
Moreover I saw him take a few fences of that awkward de-
scription, particularly one V stile, that would have stopped
a large majority of young men who attempt riding to
hounds.

The style of the Duke of Cleveland's riding was more
adapted to a close than a flying country ; but it was a very
safe one among the grips and blind ditches with which all
plough countries abound. He held his horses very fast by
their heads, and made them all the best creepers I ever
saw in any one man's stable. I saw him one day walk his
favourite grey horse, Panegyric, into a very rough fence, on
the other side of which was a deep and particularly blind
ditch, in a manner that exhibited great temper in the horse
as well as a good hand in the rider, and without which I
thought a fall could not have been avoided ; for, until the
fence was beaten down, neither horse nor man could see the
trap that was laid for them.* It is somewhat remarkable
that what is called a fine mouth in a horse, which nine
tenths of the riding men like, was to the Duke of Cleve-
land an objection. His Grace, however, always rode great
and well-bred horses, more than equal to his weight.

Few men have done more honour to fox-hunting than the
late Duke of Cleveland did, and through a long course of
years. His having gone through the laborious task of
hunting his hounds throughout so many seasons — nearer
forty than thirty I should say — at once proves that his
passion for the sport was really in-born : and to his duties
in the field he also added those of the kennel, always feeding
his hounds himself, and in a truly workmanlike manner.
Then another proof can be adduced of the duke's love of
fox-hunting, and likewise of his wish that others should
profit by his experience. Let the day's sport have been
what it might, a detail of it was written by his own hand ere

* Sir Bellingham Graham will recollect this— 1 mean the blind ditch.

140 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

he went to his bed ; and the " operations of the Raby pack"
were published in a volume at the end of every season.

The manners and deportment of the Duke of Cleveland
were such as are just suited to a master of hounds, and he
was so extremely popular with the farmers — as indeed with
all his field — that his country swarmed with foxes. Of his
zeal in the pursuit of them, I will only repeat the following-
anecdote from my Yorkshire Tour. Previously to my visit
to his Grace, I was staying with Sir Bellingham Graham,
at Norton Conyers, and at three o'clock in the evening of
a hard day, and in the last week of November too, and
when the greater part of the field had retired. Sir Belling-
ham thus addressed the Duke, at that time Lord Darling-
ton. " Well, my Lord, I think it is time to go home, and
your road is mine." " My road," said the Duke, " is through
that wood" pointing to Heslet Wood, two miles in a contrary
direction. To Heslet Wood we went, found a capital fox,
had a beautiful burst of twenty-four minutes, and then
hunted him into Snape Park, where the hounds were stopped
at the end of one hour and twenty minutes, the last hour
in the dark. " We want the lamps lit," said I to his Grace,
as he was cramming his horse at a fence, without knowing
on which side the ditch was, or seeing a white gate, which I
espied close to us. " I think we do," replied his Grace, but
he disdained quitting his line for the gate, and succeeded in
getting over the fence, with a long drop into a turnpike
road.

The Raby kennel was, until the two last seasons of their
being kept, always strong in hounds, divided into a large
and small pack. The former had the character of being a
little slack in their work, about the period of my hunting
with them, but I am ready to admit that I saw nothing to
induce me to think them so. Their large size would natu-
rally make them appear to disadvantage, in comparison
with the other pack, as far as the point in question is con-
cerned ; and if we may judge from the very small price the
Duke of Cleveland's hounds fetched, when he gave them

THE LATE DUKE OF CLEVELAND. 141

up, when it may be imagined, from the short state of the
kennel very large drafts must have been made, that there
was truth in the charge of slackness, increased perhaps in
after years, as the noble owner of them himself became
slacker. But old age will beat us all ; and if the Duke of
Cleveland became slack witli his hounds, it was not until
long after his medical advisers advised him to desist from
following them at all. I know from undoubted authority
(that of his Grace's intimate friend, Mr. Wharton), that only
two years back, he was seen with the brush of a good fox in
his hand, in the midst of his pack, at the end of a run of fif-
teen miles !

Take his Grace as a master of hounds, and an owner of
race horses, he must claim to be ranked amongst the most
celebrated sportsmen that England has ever seen ; and in
the latter department of sporting, which, however inferior to
fox-hunting, is better suited to declining years, he was as
keen as ever, to the last few months of his life.

We always expect to see the well-graced actor, advance
in excellence towards the closing scenes of the part he is
called upon to perform ; and such should be more especially
the case in real life. A report got abroad, finding its way
into more than one of our periodicals, and not, to my know-
ledge, contradicted, stating that on his Grace giving up his
hounds, he had all the gorse covers on his own property,
within the limits of the Raby hunt, destroyed. Had I been
the Duke of Cleveland I would not have done this. I would
rather have invited some good sportsman to take to the
country, and follow an example — with this one exception —
so very worthy of imitation, as his own indisputably was, in
everything relating to the duties and oj^erations of an Eng-
lish master of fox-hounds.

In private life, the Duke was conspicuous for many
qualities that do honour to our nature, and such as would
render it a contradiction to attribute the destruction of his
covers to a selfish motive. Independently of his Grace hav-
ing been one of the most agreeable companions in the social

142 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

hour, as indeed in all others, that I have ever come across
in life, he had tlie character of being a most kind master to
his servants, who have grown old in his service, and one
of the most liberal landlords in Great Britain.

The conspicuous men in the Raby country when I was in
it, were the noble owner of the pack, especially when on his
celebrated grey horse. Panegyric, Sir Bellingham Graham,
Messrs. Milbanke, John Monson, Claridge, Trotter, New-
ton, &c.

I venerate old age in the field, when it assumes the,
gaiety of youth, and the person of whom I am about to
speak exhibited even its rashness, when past the age of
man. I allude to " Old Corcoran," as he was called in
Surrey, who, although very far from being the accomplished
horseman that the Duke of Cleveland was, was a wonderful
man over a country, taking into consideration his form and
stature, by no means adapted to the saddle ; his very
advanced age, and the fact of his not having commenced
hunting before the period when most people leave it off.
But as Clarendon says of somebody whose appearance was
not prepossessing, there was in this unhandsome and
homely habitation (see his, Corcoran's, portrait) a mind and
soul lodged (not very lovely and beautiful, and cultivated
and polished by all the knowledge and wisdom that arts
and sciences could supply it with, as his lordship's panegyric
proceeds, but) ardently devoted to hounds, which he would
be in the same field with, if possible, in chase. It would not
be right that I should here repeat the many laughable anec-
dotes I have already produced which relate to the mishaps
and disasters of this extraordinary man — his death-like falls,
and his resurrections by the brandy-bottle; but I may
allude once more to those acts of horsemanship, wherein he
certainly displayed a very notable courage. It is told of
General Washington — who, be it known, kept fox-
hounds in America — that he only required 07ie natural,
good quality in the horse he was to ride, and he
himself would produce the rest. This was — " to go along."

MR. CORCORAN MR. COCKBILI.. 143

Now old Corcoran's song in chase was not " Hark
forward, hark forward, away !" but, '* Go along, horse"
which he always sang out, laying much stress on the last
word, when he came to a large fence. It was certainly
amusing, indeed I may say delightful, to behold this old
man charging a high timber-fence, which those before him
had turned away from, with " Go along, horse," on his
tongue — which tongue, by the way, was not unfrequently
silenced when he arrived on the other side, and alighted, on
.terra firma, on his head. He had one extraordinary horse,
however, called The Miller, on which he certainly got over
very queer places. This curious sample of old Irish breed
is now gone to his fathers, and " good luck go with him,"
say I.

There was a very good heavy weight* in Warwickshire,
in the character of a yeoman, who, I venture to say, was a
constant attendant on the Warwickshire hounds full thirty
years, but who is now, I understand, defunct. His name was
Cockbill. He was also a good sportsman, with an uncom-
monly good eye to hounds, and had generally three slapping
hunters in his stable, which, heavy as he was, he for the
most part made himself, as the term is. He was a very
strong horseman, but by no means with an iron hand ;
nevertheless I scarcely ever saw him without a martingal to
his bridle — a blemish, I admit. But it was a vain attempt
to endeavour to reason Cockbill out of the use of this now-
esteemed slow and low appendage to the hunting saddle-
room. " Don't talk to me," he would say, " of the danger
or inconvenience of a martingal. With it, I can make my
horses put their feet where I like ; without it, they often
put them where they like, and then I get a tumble, ayid I
fall heavy" I appeal, however, to all Warwickshire sports-
men to back my assertion, that, welter as he was, Cockbill
was always in his place, which place was a good one, and

* 1 cannot now say the exact weight of Mr. Corcoran, but I should think little
short of fifteen stone on his horse. His boots and leather breeches were no joke
by themselves. The maker of the latter told me that he sent him five pairs
weighing 201b8. in all !

144 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

sometimes not on the best of cattle. I will also go one step
further and say, that many a valuable, young, strong horse,
has lost his chance of becoming a hunter by not having had
this sturdy yeoman for his owner.

There are the big C's and the little C's, as we were once
shown in the hornbook, so with your permission, Mr. Reader,
we will get again among the big ones, and introduce to the
notice of your readers, perhaps two of the best welters that
ever were born of one woman, and that is saying much — too
much, perhaps, some may say, if w^e take a peep into Not-
tinghamshire. But more of this anon. I now allude to the
late Mr. Canning, of Foxcote, Warwickshire, and his
brother Robert. The birth, parentage, and education of these
worthy characters being so well-known to die world, it
might be needless to allude to them, were it not for the
purpose of stating that having been educated on the Con-
tinent they received no instructions in their youth, on the
art of riding to hounds — after the manner of our University
gentlemen, who so agreeably mingle the dulce with the utile,
with Lord Fitzwilliam, the Gransden, or "The Duke."
Their first start, then, being in manhood, without the benefit
of experience, we must attribute their prowess to that
natural faculty by which Shakespeare's lion knew the true
prince, and conclude that they became sportsmen, and rode
hounds hy instinct.

We will commence with the elder brother, who was the
heavier of the tw^o, but so fervent was his zeal for the chase
that he took all possible means to reduce himself; such as
walking some distance almost every non-hunting day in the
winter, and often from thirty to forty miles a day in the
summer, no matter how hot the weather*, and swathed with
rolls of flannel. Chiefly for the purpose of lowering his
weight he accompanied the last Lord Dormer but one, on a
tour through the Highlands, when, although he had a
carriage or a horse at command, I believe he availed himself

* On one excessivelj' hot day in July he walked thirty-five miles to my house
swathed in flannel. What a Hercules must he have been ! But few constitutions
will stand such liberties.

MR. ROBERT CANNING. 145

of neither, but walked the journey throughout ; for he tokl
me he walked upwards of sixteen hundred miles in all ! A
considerable loss of flesh (if my memory serves me, two
stone) was the result ; but his frame would not admit of his
entering the scales under fifteen stone, and, I lament to say,
loss of health was the consequence of this over-exertion ;
for there is a medium in every thing, and in nothing
more than in what is termed exercise after the heyday of
youth is past, if not indeed in its meridian.

But to his stud. It generally consisted of five hunters,
never exceeding six, and his success with them was extra-
ordinary. It is true his stables were the best I ever saw,
and his horses had not only every indulgence and comfort
in them, but very fair play in the field — for who ever saw
him take an unnecessary liberty with them or abuse them ?
On the contrary, who that knew and hunted with him has
not witnessed the indulgence he gave them, by walking by
their side many a long and dirty mile, on returning after a
severe run ? Indeed, I remember his carrying this amiable
feeling so far as to say, he should build a stable in a village
two miles from his house, that his hunter might not be put
to the exertion of ascending a long and steep hill at the end
of a fagging day ; and if Warwickshire had remained what
Warwickshire then was, he would no doubt have done so.
But in chase Mr. Canning was almost invariably in a good
place, and considering he laboured under the disadvantage
of short-sightedness, in addition to his immense weight, it
was delightful to see him generally so near hounds. His
style of horse was, with few exceptions, coarse : large
heads, large hips, large every thing ; but handsome is that
handsome does on these occasions, and he was very fortunate
in getting hold of some which greatly belied their appear-
ance, by the pace they could carry themselves along with
such a welter weight on their backs. But Mr. Canning
had a fine bridle-hand, and amidst the hundreds of days on
which I hunted with him I could name but very few on
which either himself or his horse was defeated. In the

146 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

Epwell run, perhaps one of the finest ever seen in liis
country — twenty miles on end — he greatly distinguished
himself on a horse much under his weight, and only five
years old, for which he was much lauded in the poem that
memorahle day gave birth to. This horse, The General,
became afterwards my property, I having purchased him
from Sir John Dashwood King at a hundred and sixty
guineas, and dropping into a brilliant run the first time I
rode him, I transferred him to the Earl of Warwick at sixty
guineas premium.

As our estimate of good and evil is said to lie chiefly in
comparison, so does that of the actions and accomplishments
of man. Great, then, as was the elder Mr. Canning as a
rider to hounds, he could not be compared with his younger
brother, who, I have reason to believe, taking every thing
into our consideration, and combining the sportsman with
the horseman, has scarcely, if ever, been excelled. Then
what is this " every thing" that is to be considered ? Why,
in the first place, Mr. Robert Canning stood six feet four
inches without his shoes. Secondly, his weight with his
saddle was never under seventeen stone. Thirdly, I never
saw him with a second horse in the field. Fourthly,
although he rode a very superior sort of horse to his brother,
and certainly had some splendid ones in his stud, he did
not pay that attention to their condition which his style of
riding demanded. But, lastly, where is the man who can
say that, whether over the Leicestei'shire-like grass-grounds
of Long Itchington, over the deep-ploughed vale ofWelles-
burne, up the heart-breaking hills of Epwell, or over far-
famed Leicestershire itself, when he visited it, Mr. Robert
Canning did not distinguish himself with hounds ? But,
indeed, how could it be otherwise, so long as his horse could
carry him ? His eye to a country is perfect ; and neither
hedge, ditch, gate, stile, brook, nor river — flooded* or not

* He has been more than once seen to leap a good brook when flooded — his
Jxprse rising at it out of the overfloio, the severest test of hand. What War-
Vr'ickshire sportsman can forget his. " Co.nn up .'" to his horse on these occasions ?

MR. ROBERT CANNING. 147

flooded — would stop him, and the places he used to bore
through were astounding.

Although professedly writing at jiresent on riding, yet
when speaking of so eminent a performer in the art, and
also in honour of horse-flesh, I may perhaps be permitted
to allude to two individual hunters in this gentleman's stud.
One was a chesnut-gelding called Favourite — par excellence,
of course — apparently at least two stone under his weight,
but who carried him brilliantly for several successive years ;
the other, a stallion called Knowsley, purchased of Mr.
Boycott, equally below his weight, deficient in his fetlocks,
and having altogether the appearance of a fourteen stone
man's horse at the utmost. But these were the horses, with
a few others, on which this crack rider chiefly distinguished
himself, and on Knowsley particularly so, in a splitter over
Leicestershire, which I need not further allude to here. My
object, however, is to state, that in conversing once with my
old friend on the merits of these phenomena, he let me into
a secret about horses to carry weight. " Narrow horses,"
said he, " like Favourite, provided they are like him, deep^
can carry me ; but it matters not how thick a horse may be,
if he have not depth of brisket, commonly called of girth."
Knowsley, I must observe, was a fine-constitutioned horse,
with admirable temper, and of course full of hard meat; and
I used to say, that, had I the choice of England, he should
be the hunter I would select. He was the sire of many good
horses, most of them taking after him in temper and great
capability of fencing. I myself gave 200 guineas for a four-
year-old colt got by him, which made a superior hunter ; in-
deed, he was in appearance nearly afac-simileof the old horse.

Independently of their horsemanship there was one
faculty these brothers displayed which I never saw equalled,
and this was — the power of describing a run, and, I was
going to say, every field into which the chase led — combined
with a knowledge of countries they had once ridden over,
quite unprecedented in my experience of sportsmen. When-

L 2

148 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

ever a good travelling fox led us into distant parts, quite out
of our knowledge, and far away from high roads, the Can-
nings were the pilots to whom we looked. " Let me see,"
one or the other of them would say ; " yonder is such a point,
and yonder is another : our line must be between them, so
come along." / never kneio them wrong.

There was a very good man some thirty years ago by the
name of Cooke,* in Gloucestersliire ; but one of the fastest
England ever saw is Mr. William Coke, nephew to Mr.
Coke of Holkham, better known in Leicestershire as Billy
Coke. The song says, " Coke on the pony, has scarce got
a crony ,"t in allusion to a small but extraordinary horse
which he rode some seasons, and on which no man could
beat him if he got any thing like a start. He had also
another clipper, called Advance, so dangerous in a crowd
with his heels, that when he rode him he always had a bit
of paper sewed to the hinder part of his coat with the word
" beware" written upon it — an excellent precaution too, and
one that should always be taken with horses addicted to the
vice of kicking. Think of a sportsman with a large stud at
Melton, as was Mr. Maxse's case, being laid up nearly half
the season by a kick from a horse of this description !
What recompense can be made for it ?

It amuses me when I recollect that Mr. Coke, in defiance
of all opinion, and almost to the extinction of good keeping
in those days, persevered in wearing leather breeches in the
field, when no Melton man would have taken a hundred
pounds to have been seen in them — the said leathers being con-
sidered the unerring mark of a slow one. Indeed, how well
do I remember Sir Bellingham Graham telling George
Fitzherbert at Shrewsbury, that he should have wished his
two friends (strangers in the country) to have acccompanied
him to his house to dinner ; " but," added the Baronet em-

* Mr. Henry Cooke, of Stroudwater.

t In Mr. Holyoake'B picture of " Hounds going up wind best pace," Mr. Coke
on the pony is conspicuous.

MR. CHILDE OF KINLET. 149

phatically, " I could not stand that slow-looking fellow in
the leathers," one of them being so clad. Now mark the
change in the space of four years, and how that change was
effected. Everyman in Cheshire has hunted in leathers for
the last hundred years, by reason of the only man who could
make them fit for a gentleman to wear having been born in
the good town of Tarporley, in that county Palatine. Lord
Wilton, a Cheshire man, appeared at Bi'ooksby Gate, the
first day of the Leicestershire season of 1829, in leathers ;
and from that day to this, every man not in leathers is consi-
dered dead-slow. So much for fashion ; but, as a poet sings,

" Our dress, still varying, nor to forms confin'd,
Shifts like the sands, the sport of every wind."

I can only allude to the late very celebrated Mr. Childe
of Kinlet, as a sportsman, as I should to some classic writer
who has left us a model for our pen, he having quitted Lei-
cestershire before my time. I should like to have had it in
my power to say I had seen the man who is said — and I be-
lieve said truly — to have first introduced the present dashing-
method of riding to hounds, to the destruction of the " look
before you leap" system so prudently pursued by our fore-
fathers, which method, although not essential to the charac-
ter of a sportsman, is indicative of that noble courage which
Englishmen never fail to exhibit on all other occasions.
That the old system will never return until the grass
shall grow in Melton streets is quite certain, but that
hounds suffer from the other extreme — the new style — is
equally a truism, and Mr. Meynell himself foretold the evil.
" I have done nothing but admire your horse to-day, Childe,"
said he to his dear friend after a quick thing ; " he has beaten
every hound in my pack, but one." As the story goes the re-
buke went for nothing, for Childe is reported to have answered,
he should ride his grey horse on the morrow w'ho could
go half as fast again as the one he was then on. Here is
no doubt an exaggeration, perhaps for the sake of the joke,
for Childe understood hunting, although on the day in ques-

150 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

tion he had certainly over-ridden the hounds, and brought
them once to check.

I remember two good men over a country of the name of
Campbell — one known as Mr. Hugh Campbell, and the
other, Mr. Campbell of Saddel. The first was many-
years a leading man in Warwickshire, in Lord Mid-
dleton's time, and the other spent several seasons at Melton,
where he was not only a bruising rider, such as few could
beat, but a delightful companion over the mahogany, one of
the best-tempered men on earth, and a poet. What more
would you have? To hear Tommy Strickland speak of him,
his equal must be rarely met with on earth, but when his
name is mentioned every man joins in the tunable din,
" Johnny Campbell is a good one" Sir Vincent Cotton has long
taken his leave of Leicestershire, but in the days of Creeper,
Cheat, and his famous mare Lark, few men rode harder
than he did, or was much better mounted.

The Croxalls, father, and son, were in repute in the
Atherstone country many years back. The old gentleman
held on to the very last, seldom missing a day ; and his
son, Ned Croxall as he was called, was a neat horseman,
and at one time reckoned rather a crack one. They were
both good friends to fox-hunting. There was also a very good
heavy weight in Gloucestershire who should not be over-
looked. I mean Mr. Sackville CresAvell. He was more au
fait at the walls of his native hills than most men I have
seen in the field, getting over them in a manner almost
peculiarly his own. He absolutely made his horse demolish
them under his feet, when time admitted of it.

The Codringtons, Messrs. John and Robert, were good
men over a country, and fond of every thing in the shape of
hunting. From all I have seen and heard of them they
would go as long as their horses could, and turn from nothing
practicable, and what more need be said? I call Mr.
John Codrington a very superior horseman. The Squire,
the master of the hounds, was among the " slow and sure"

MR. HARVKY COMBE. 151

onei3 — too heavy to be quick in his country, but generally
tliereabouts, as the term is. He was a rare good sportsman,
and an excellent judge of hounds. Mr. Harvey Combe was
a hard and good rider, speaking from experience of his
performance when I was with his hounds in the ^'ale of
White Horse (no easy country to get across), and also from
what I have heard of him from others.

There was a capital workman in the shape of a servant in
Dorsetshire by the name of Channing, late huntsman to Mr.
Yeatman, and afterwards to Lord Portman. There was a deal
of the ex re natu ixhoni that man. He was quite self-taught,
having turned out a horseman at once, and from all I saw of
him I know no person whom I should prefer to make a young
horse into a hunter for me. He had good temper, fine hand,
and plenty of nerve. He was riding a delightful snaffle-bridle
horse of his own making, which he purchased for £20, but
very cheap at £130 added to it. So much for a provincial.
But hold hard ! Cannot I find another among the out-siders
in the C's? Yes; Carter, Sir Tatton Sykes's huntsman, who,
on his Whitelock mare, and the other thorough-bred ones —
and of course in Sir Tatton's service he rode nothino- else —

o

went brilliantly to his hounds. Carter's appearance on his
horse I considered quite the thing — nearly equal to Dick
Burton. Jack Chappie, whipper-in to the Badsworth, a
great artist, and Sir Bellingham Graham, who was his first
master, said he was the best servant-rider he ever had.

Talking of provincials, who can find a better — there may
be a faster — horseman than Mr. John Crew, who once had
the Shropshire hounds ? He was at one time allowed to be
the best man in that country, but I have not lately met him
in the field. Of Mr. Claggett I have not seen much,
having hunted but little on his beat. He has always been
allowed to be a splendid horseman, often riding away from
a whole field, as he did once to my knowledge with Mr.
JoUitfe's hounds, in a terrible bujst of forty minutes frum
Horse Hills.

152 HUNTING REMINISCENCES,

I never saw the Marquis of Clanricarde with hounds but
twice, and then we did nothing ; but I have read of his signali-
zing himself one day some years back with the Puckeridge
pack, when much praise was bestowed upon him, not only for
riding well, but for not riding at ticklish points of a very
tremendous run, which was the death of three horses and a
good Rooding's fox. His lordship had a change, and went
to the end with a chosen few of the right sort. His per-
formance on Moonraker is well known and duly appreciated.

There was a very good yeoman in Leicestershire, by the
name of Clarke, who distinguished himself a few years back
(in January, 1828, I believe), in a splendid run of eighteen
miles from point to point, with the Quorn hounds, but
embracing a vast extent of surrounding country, and per-
formed in the almost incredible short space of two hours
and a quarter ; only twelve horsemen being up at the finish,
among whom was Mr. Clarke. But speaking of yeomen,
what can I say of Dick Christian after all that has been
said, read, heard, and seen of him already? His per-
formance on Mr. Maxse's King of the Valley, in the Grand
Leicestershire steeple-chase, has been so long before the
public, both in letter-press and on canvas, that I shall not
allude to that further than by saying, that it was the
climax of every thing connected with what we may call
hunting horsemanship. In fact, raw and inexperienced as
his horse was, he would have won the race had he chanced
to have met with a practicable part of the Billesden Brook,
where — and, reader, never forget it — the space he cleared
was ten yards and one foot, but he fell ! Measure it in
your drawing-room if it be large enough, otherwise on your
grass-plot, and then frame to yourself the picture of Dick,
on the King of the Valley, flying through the air over such
a space, and that just at the finish of the race! But there
are those who say that although he did not win the match,
being again beaten by a fall at the last, his riding Clinker
against Mr. Osbaldeston on Clasher — five miles in sixteen

DICK CHRISTIAN. — MR. LETCHMKRE CHARLTON. 153

minutes — was a still more masterly performance than the
other, from the very killing pace at which the horses went,
and the rapidity with which the large fences were ridden
over. I did not see this race; so shall only remind my
readers of the answer Dick made me one day to my question,
whether he had not had some bad falls in riding raw horses
over the Harborough country ? " Nothing particular" said
he; " though to be sure / did once break my leg."

Taking a peep into the rurals, let me see how many
more I can produce whose names belong to schedule C. I
remember Mr. Letchmere Charlton, one of the hardest
riders in England, and a very good one too. He had a
season or two in Leicestershire, where he was generally in a
good place. He made the race horse Shacabac into a
hunter in that country, and he was afterwards ridden by
Mr. Assheton Smith several seasons, proving first-rate, Mr.
Francis Charlton has confined himself to the midland
countries, but he has always been considered very good in
Warwickshire and Oxfordshire, and in his own county,
"Worcester. In fact, he was a superior horseman, as regards
hand and seat, and had good taste in horse-flesh. IMr.
Compton, of the Manor-house, New Forest, had a house at
Quorn, in Mr. Assheton Smith's time, and left a good name
behind him as a sportsman and a gentleman. His offering-
Mr. Edge fifty pounds for the ride of one of his horses with
one fox only, from some favourite cover in Leicestershire, is
one proof; and his accompanying " the Squire" (Osbal-
deston) on foot to Ascot races from Eton, between school
lifurs, just to see one race, is another of that zeal which is a
chief ingredient in a sportsman. Indeed, without it he
seldom rises above par.

Mr. Otway Cave went Avell over Leicestershire, and so
did Colonel, now Sir George Cornwall (very few better),
who was for several seasons a visitor at Belvoir. Perhaps he
had been tutored by his uncle, the bishop, one of the neatest
horsemen that ever sat in a saddle — at least, so said the

154

HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

late Lord Forester, and who will dispute his jiidgincnt?
Lord Chesterfield is an oiit-and-outer when he likes his horse.
When on Advance, or Pad, and two or three others, I believe
it must have been a good man that could beat him. But
who has been better horsed than Lord Chesterfield ? Lord
Clonmel has also been always well horsed for his country,
Warwickshire ; and although never appearing to wish to be
a first-flight man in a run, where is there a dearer lover of
the sport, or any man who has tried harder to be with
liounds than he has?

Now then for the D's, in which no doubt we shall find
many " a d — d good rider," according to an obsolete phrase.
With whom then shall I begin ? A man may be a good
horseman without being a hard rider, as the term is, as was
the case with Bayzand and some others whom I may intro-
duce. Among the former is my old friend Sir John Dash-
wood (King), from whose book I have taken many a leaf.
No doubt most of my readers know that Sir John was
never a fox-hunter, but for thirty years the master of a pack
of harriers, perhaps first in repute of any which England
has produced. I always considered Sir John a first rate
horseman — his seat and hand being quite perfect for the
hunting field. His eldest son, Mr. George Dashwood, a
fac simile, with the enviable addition of capital nerve.
Indeed it was Lord Jersey's opinion, that, when he liad his
black Sultan horse, and Achilles, (each of which I sold him,)
he was not to be beaten ; and by way of a clincher to that
opinion, his lordship offered him four hundred guineas for the
former. I have often wondered why this fine performer so
soon quitted that sphere in which he shone so brilliantly.
Henry Dashwoodwas very good ; and asfor John, the younger
brother (John Bull as we called him), he would have ridden
through a house on fire, if there had been no other way of
getting to hounds. But, poor fellow ! he pitched on his
head over stiff timber, and, neglecting the lancet, paralysis
followed.

MR. DAVEY. 155

Talking of elegant horsemen leads me to Mr. Davey,
whom I Avas near calling the Adonis of horsemen. It is
quite certain, however, that Davey was a perfect master of
the art of horsemanship, and, had he been obliged to have
worked for his bread, would have made a second Ducrow;
for there are few positions into .which he has not thrown
himself, on the saddle. On a hunter he has always sig-
nalized himself, and on what is called " a horse likely to
make a hunter," few men — not even hunter-making Harryf
— have gone half so well as he has gone. Indeed, I heard
a very good judge of these matters say, that Davey's hand
was so fine that he should be afraid of riding a horse that
he had ridden two seasons. " If," said he, " I did not give
him ' the office,' at all kinds offences, as he had done before,
he might give me an awful fall," which I have more than
once known to be the case arising from similar circumstances.
It is well known that Mr. Davey's celebrated horse, Sky-
lark, had but half an eye, but what could beat him with his
hand ? But the word " well," leads me on to another part of
this gentleman's history. Going the pace one day over
Oxfordshire, he found himself not only embracing mother
earth, but likely to be received into her very inmost Avomb,
having ridden over an old tvell, the mouth of which broke
in with him. The horse was engulphed, and of course
never saw day-light again, and his rider had the greatest
difficulty in not accompanying him ad imos, as one of his
legs was fast between the horse and the wall of the well.
This comes near to a miracle ; but I may have still more
miraculous events to relate, and no one shall exclaim, " Cre-
dat Judseus ! — non ego ;" for I shall bring proof. The last
time I saw Davey in the field was in his favourite country,
Northamptonshire, when Musters had it. There was a
great crowd, and I did not observe him till far on in the run.
" Were you with us at starting?" said I. " Was InotT'
said he, " did you not see some one go first over the brook,

* " Biudslcy's boy."

156 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

on a young, hot, thorough-bred devil, shaking his head
ready to shake it off?" I did, and it was Davey. The
brook was just under Moulton's Gorse, and a teazer.

I saw a very good man, in every sense of the term, in Dur-
ham, the Hon. Captain, afterwards Admiral Dundas, whom
poor old John Burrell, in the native simplicity of his heart,
asked after " all his friends in Yorkshire?'' but to have enu-
merated them all would have occupied some time, the said
admiral being a very popular character. When I say the
admiral was all hut blown up in a ninety-gun ship, and the
last man to quit her when on fire, it is needless to say he
could not be daunted by a Durham ditch, and most gallantly
did I see him cross that country — a,nd particularly the
famous long Newton day, which proved fatal, alas ! to his
horse. He rode thorough-bred ones, and struck me as one
who, like his brother admiral, Hoste,* would have distin-
guished himself in Leicestershire.

Going farther north, let us say a word about Captain
Douglas, fixed upon to decide, not in reality who was the
best rider, himself or Captain Ross, but a more difficult
point still — which was the best horse of the year of our Lord,
1826 ; as all England appears to have been ransacked to
produce the non-pareil. I allude to the match between
Radical and Clinker, run over Leicestershire for a very
large sum of money, and won by Captain Ross, on Clinker,
against Captain Douglas, on Radical. The origin of the
match, however, was an opinion given by his countryman,
Lord Kennedy, that Captain Douglas, as a rider to hounds,
was superior to Captain Ross. Now I remember once
being much pleased with an observation of an ancient
(Cicero, I believe,) upon some man who had made a noise in
the world, namely, that " he had crept into honours by the
mistakes of mankind." But I must here observe, that no
man acquires the name and character of a good rider to
hounds unless he have given repeated proofs of the fact.

* " The late Sir William Iloate, a good man over any country."

MR. DOWBIGGEN THE DRAKES. 157

There is no making the world believe that a man can leap
hedges and ditches, five-barred gates, and wide brooks,
going at the rate of twenty miles in the hour at the same
time. He must be seen to do so, and that very often, before
credit will be given to him for having done it. That
Captain Douglas was a superior horseman there can be no
doubt, having been long acknowledged as such in the
Forfarshire hunt ; but I must repeat an opinion I have often
given before, that, — although I admit a few exceptions to
the rule which I may afterwards produce — a man, to dis-
tinguish himself in Leicestershire, must have been expe-
rienced in riding over it or over those counties which are
approximate to it, such as Rutlandshire, Northamptonshire,
and the best part of Warwickshire, or he will find himself
seven pounds a worse man on his horse than another who
may be but his equal, but who has been experienced in riding
over those crack countries. I must add that I never heard
this opinion confuted by those who are competent to judge
of it, therefore I the more pertinaciously adliere to it ; and I
would recommend every man Vvho backs his horse over ■
Leicestershire, to have a Leicestershire jockey on his back.

There is another Scotchman whom I have seen ride very
hard to hounds I mean Mr. Dowbiggin, whose two
favourite hunters were burned in their stable, in Leicester-
shire, a few years ago, and who also met with an extraor-
dinary accident by which another good hunter was lost.
One of her hinder leg's became entans-led in a loose thorn-
bush, which she unfortunately trailed after her, and kicking
at it to ^ei rid of it, she forced the point of a stub into her
bowels, which caused her death in the course of a few hours.
I have seen Mr. Dowbiggin exhibit rare nerve at fences,
but his forte is creeping over awkward places, at which he
appeared to me to excel.

The Drakes were all very accomplished horsemen in the
field. The elder brother, the master of the hounds, was always
in a good place and well mounted ; and most particularly

'V

158 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

distinguished himself, it appears, in tlie famous Sliug--
borough day, when, as a correspondent writes to me, he was
" master, huntsman, and whip," during great part of the
run, and over a terribly severe country, as I well know. As
for Mr. John Drake, his style of riding was quite first-rate,
with this enviable distinction ; he went faster over a country,
loWumt appearing to be in a hurry ^ than any other man I can
at this moment name. In short, he always reminded me of
the climax in the old huntsman's description of a run — " the

hounds," said he, " went like h — 11 and d n, and the old

mare carried me like oil." I have seen ihe late Captain
Drake go very well, and I remember his excellent perform-
ance some years since, on one of Deakins's horses, in a most
severe hour and fifty minutes from Lord Chesterfield's (then)
new cover, killing in Leighton Buzzard field.

In the song of " The hounds of old Raby for me," which
I picked up on my Yorkshire tour, is the following stanza : —

" On Ebony mounted, behold my Lord Barnard
To live near the pack now obliged is to strain hard :
But mounting friend Barnay on something that's quick,
I warrant, my lads, he would show you a trick."

By this it appears his lordship was on a slow one, and, as
Dick Foster says, " / hate a slow one." It is also an ac-
knowledgement that Lord Darlington (now Duke of Cleve-
land) was in good repute in Yorkshire. During the many
years his lordship resided at Melton, he was always considered
a good sportsman, well mounted, and in a fair place, but
never aspiring to be what is called a first-flight man. Lord
Denbigh has always been well mounted, is a true friend to
fox-hunting, but now contents himself with what he can get
from his seat in Warwickshire, having long since given up
going into Leicestershire.

All the Delmes rode well : as the song says,

" So severe was the pace, that Lord Gardner they tell me,
Was all the way, neck and neck, racing with Delme."*

I was indebted to Mr. George Delme — as he was previ-

* Song on the Oakleigh Hunt.

^^.^ ^h^rm^ ^^^^^^^ ©^ Tji/£

'^Ofnioi-i'ujqh.

MR. DAVIS. 159

ously in his stable — for educating my favourite grey horse,
Araesbury ; and most perfectly did he tutor him, for there
was nothing he was not up to over a country. Shall I ever
forget his making the top of a staff-and-bound fence the
fulcrum for a second spring, to clear a second ditch which
neither he nor I saw ? No ; nor the " the Squire's" look
back, thinking I Avas floored. This reminds me of a good
Worcestershire yeoman, named Darke, from whom I bought
a horse called Turnpike ; so called because, for a small
wager, Mr. Darke leaped him over the turnpike gate on
the London road out of Worcester, the uppermost bar of
which was made of iron. I sold this horse to Mr. Mytton,
and I have his letter, containing these memorable words —
" Turnpike is the only hunter I have ever yet had ! " This was
saying too much, for though a good horse, he was short
in his shoulders, a great fault.

I have never had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Dansey, who
hunted Nottinghamshire, in the field, since he was a very
young man ; so can only say he was well-bred to ride, and
early entered to the art. Almost the only Kentish sports-
man I knew was Mr. Dyke, whom I have seen going very
well to hounds, on a capital bay mare he rode some few
years back. But as genius is not the growth of any parti-
cular soil, I dare say there are many good men in that
county. In my own neighbourhood we had to regret the
loss of a vei*y promising performer, I mean the late Lord
Dorchester, who was called for just as he had entered upon
his manhood. He was a powerful horseman, and w^ould face
any thing.

I have been much pleased with the riding of Mr. Davis,
huntsman to the king. He is one of the closest sitters to
his saddle, over a country, that I ever came across — an in-
calculable advantage to his horse, for those " wash-ball
seats," as Sir Bellingham Graham calls them, are destruction
to him. His hand and eye are excellent, and, I may add,
he is as game as a pebble. In consequence of a kick from
a horse he was violently afflicted with tic doloureux for up-

160 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

wards of two years, l)ut even tliat could not stop his going
with his hounds. I do not think the Plica Polonica* would
stop him, so long as life remained in him. But I am happy
to say he is recovered, and, I believe, is seldom under the
influence of pain. Mr. Doyne, now residing in Dublin, and
Mr. Drummond, of the New Forest, were famous per-
formers, and known as such in Leicestershire.

Lord Delamere, when Mr. Cholmondley, of Vale Royal,
Cheshire, was a star in Leicestershire some five and thirty
years ago. His Lordship went, moreover, well over
Cheshire, where he was looked up to as a sportsman who
has done honour to the name. That he was for many,
many, seasons a first-flight man in Leicestershire is generally
known and acknowledged, apparent, indeed, from the place
allotted to him in the Coplow song ; and in a ludicrous poem,
never, I believe, published, the following description is given
of him at the finish of a long run, when almost every horse
was tired :

" See, Chom'ley from Cheshire comes striding along,

His spurs in the sides how they're digging ;

But his horse's cock'd tail shows all won't avail,

And, by Jove, there is no need of figging."

But pardon a short digression. When I exhibit Lord
Delamere as a pattern for elegant horsemanship, and all the
qualifications of a British sportsman, allow me to make use
of him as one more exemplar. If English noblemen, and
gentlemen of large possessions, were to follow his steps, not
over a country only, but in passing as much time as their
various avocations will allow them in the county from whence
their means are derived ; in mixing in the sports and pas-
times of the people, and in diffusing amongst them a greater
share of those good things which Providence has allotted to
them here, the aristocracy of England would be in better
odour than it now is. I have reason to believe, that Lord
Delamere will be remembered in Cheshire for another cen-
tury to come, not only as a sportsman, but as having com-

* The most painful disease to which human nature is subject ; kno\vn only in
extreme northern latitudes.

MR, EMP^ON HON. JOHN ELLIOT. 161

bined the elegant deportment of the man of fashion with
the unaffected simplicity and useful acquirements of the
country gentleman — a character that has been held in reve-
rence in all ages of the world, as productive of good to
nearly all classes of society. In fact, we might almost say
that, from its presence —

" The good and bad an equal boon receive."

One of the best men that ever went over Leicestershire
opens the ball in schedule E. This is no other than Mr.
Empson, or — as he was called in that country — the Flying
Parson. He was also, I believe, the first man who appeared
there with a clipped horse, but such a horse as seldom ap-
peared there before, or has been seen there since ! He
called him Shaven. He possessed every good quality of a
hunter, speed, stoutness, and temper, with knowledge of all
kinds of fencing, and that quite in perfection. Mr. Empson
had another capital hunter, called Morven, on which he
shone in several crack runs ; and which is introduced, with his
rider, into Ferneley's famous picture of " hounds going up
wind, best pace." I never saw a quicker man over a country
than Mr. Empson, as, indeed, his " nom de chasse" implies.

I have heard so much of the Hon. John Elliot in letters
from India, that I very much lament not having seen
him before he quitted England, but which I should have
done had I visited Nim North, as I at one time in-
tended. I should have liked to have seen him sailing away
upon Negro, as his friend and countryman describes. I have
reason to believe he was an awkward customer in any country ;
and from all I heard of him, he might sing what another of
his countrymen sang:

" What dar meddle wi' me,
And wha dar meddle wi' me ?
For my name it is (big)* Jock Elliot,
And wha dar meddle wi' me ?"

There are two conspicuous riders in their respective
countries, of the name of Evans Evans. One commonly
known as "Captain," a Duke of Beaufort's man ; and the
other, the proprietor of an hotel at Wolverhampton.

* The original says " little."

M

162 . HUNTING REMINISCEXCES.

The Captain distinguished himself one season in Leicester-'
shire, on a large grey horse he had at that time, but on the
rest of his stud he was found too slow for " that there shire,"
as Tom Wingfield used to call it. Captain Evans, however,
always had a good place with hounds in his own country,
and was the owner of the grey gelding, Grhnaldi, which has
lately cut so good a figure in steeple-chases. Mr. Evans
of Wolverhampton, was one of the best men over Stafford-
shire, and, in consequence, sold some good horses at good
prices. There were two brothers by the name of Eyton (of
Leeswood) who rode well, in Sir Richard Puleston's country.
The letter E, I am sorry to observe, produces another
short list. But it makes up in weight what it wants in
numbers, for it produces two of the heaviest men, with per-
haps one exception, that ever rode fast after hounds ; I
mean the Messrs. Edge, of jS^ottinghamshire, brothers. I
dare say several of my readers will remember my having
previously spoken of Mr. Thomas Edge, who resided with
Mr. Assheton Smith, at Quorn, when he hunted Leicester-
shire, particularly distinguishing himself with hounds. In
short, his character at Melton was this — " No man can heat
Tom Edge for twenty minutes' — the said Tom Edge beiug
twenty stone in his saddle ! ! Those were the days of his
famous horses. Banker, Gayman, and Remus ; and, talk of
prodigies, what was the Roman Remus, hanging on the
teats of the she wolf, to this British Remus carrying Tom
Edge alongside the leading hounds of Tom Smith's pack, and
beating, in the burst, four fifths of the light weights on their
three hundred guinea horses ! Why, an old woman's story
at best, and after all not a whit more marvellous. Of the
fame of Gayman, it is enough to say that he is the horse
Mr Compton ofiered fifty pounds to have one ride upon ;
but it is still more extraordinary to relate of him, that his
owner rode him every Monday that hounds hunted in Lei-
cestershire, for nine successive seasons ! Lord Middleton
offered him twenty-two hundred guineas for Banker and
Remus, which like a sportsman he refused, and I saw one

THE LATE LORD FORESTER. 163

of them — I now cannot exactly recollect which, but think
it was Banker — the last time I was in Leicestershire, quite
fresh at the cover side, in his seventeenth year. Mr. John
Edge was even heavier than his brother, and there was
very little to choose between them, as to pace. When I
reflect upon what I have written I am lost in admiration,
but as the motto to my arms is, " Nil admirari ;" which
Horace says is the only plan to carry us quietly through
life, I can only once more exclaim — what a noble animal is
the ho7'se! And if I were disposed to be astonished, can I
wonder that a heathen should pay homage to him, or that he
should be made the subject oi the finest jwetry in the Bible*
I now come to the champion of the hunting field, in his
day, the late Lord Forester, who was in Jiis prime when I
first saw him in Leicestershire. It requires, however, the
pen of one who saw still more of him than I did to
do justice to the merits of this first-rate horseman and
unrivalled judge of a hunter. Perhaps no man enjoyed,
for so long a period of years, the reputation that his
lordship did ; but, what is not invariably the case, he was
entitled to that reputation, for a finer rider over a country
never followed a hound. His superiority, indeed, was ex-
hibited in one striking point. He rode heavy — fourteen
stone, at least — but horses could go quite at the top of the
thing, as the term is, with him, and to the end, which could
not do so with, by two stone, lighter men, and good men
too. This fact, indeed, was acknowledged by his intimate
friend, and competitor for riding fame. Lord Delamere,
who spoke from actual experience of it. That excellent
sportsman and fine horseman has been heard to admit, that
" a horse under Forester was as good as he was under him-
self, with the advantage of nearly two stone in his favour."
Lord Forester's seat on his saddle was extremely powerful,
and at the same time very elegant ; but he had the quin-
tessence of a fine hand, and that did the business. It was
quite delightful to see how he handed his horses over their

* See the " Guardian," No. S6.

M 2

164 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

fences, without letting them over-jump themselves, — than
which nothing brings them sooner to a standstill, under
weight. His observance of pace, and its effects, likewise
had no doubt been his guide, before others had paid the
same deference to them as he did, and here was a signal
advantage. " 'Tis the pace that hills," said he, and Solomon
has no truer proverb — applicable as well to the rider as to
his horse. " JVil violentum est perpetuum."

All those who knew this celebrated sportsman also knew
the natural gaiety of his disposition, and how fond he was
of what is termed a joke, and particularly when he himself
had the best of it. It may be expected then that the
chances and disasters of a fox-chase frequently afforded him
a theme. On one occasion, it is told of him, that, having
the lead in a quick thing, and no one close on his heels, he
came to a park paling which no horse could leap. His
quick eye, however, espied a small bridle gate, in which the
park-keeper had left his key ; so popping through it
quickly, his lordship turned the key after him, put it into
his pocket, and " bade the field good bye." On another,
when in the same enviable situation — i. e. having the lead
— he leaped into a deep pit brimfull of water. As he was in
the act of swimming out of it, he observed a man on foot
warning those who were following him of their danger.
•' Hold your tongue," roared his lordship, " we shall have it
full in a minute." But did Lord Forester, like Mr. Childe,
never press upon hounds ? Now and then, I have reason
to believe ; which called forth the following rebuke of Mr.
Meynell. " We had a pretty find to-day," said he, " first
came the fox, then Cecil Forester, and then my hounds.*

It may be naturally asked by those who did not know
him, or rather by those who were not born when he was

* There is an old saying that, " when a man's character is established, he may
wear an old coat." Thus the high repute of Lord Forester allowed him now and
then to be seen in situations which others could not be seen in, ready for the start ;
I mean when hounds were at check, as well as in chase. In short, he would be
always " creeping on," as he used to say, knowing the ill effects of having to make
up lost ground, with his weight.

LORD FORESTER. 165

going, whether all this good judgment and fine riding did
not turn to good account in Lord Forester's stables ? In-
deed, reader, it did. Not only could such of his stud as
were really good ones command his own prices, but those
which were indifferent (and who has all good ones?) found
buyers. " I bought him of Forester," was always consi-
dered worth a hundred, especially in the provincials ; and a
word in commendation from him, would generally sell
another man's hunter for something more than he was
worth. But a good name should carry weight, if the horse
cannot do so. I did once remember several of his horses,
but time has worn away the recollection of them. His
splendid hunter, Bernardo, however, I cannot forget, nor
liis leaping the immense space often yards and some inches
with him, over a brook ; which space was measured by
some of the party visiting at Belvoir Castle at the time, in
consequence of the feat being discussed in the evening of
the day on which it was performed. One other person took
the brook, to whom credit will be given in due time. I
shall conclude this trifling notice of so eminent a si^ortsman
by transcribing a few lines I recollect to have written to the
editor of the Old Magazine, on the melancholy event of his
death. " Were I to say Lord Forester was pre-eminent as
a sportsman, I might perhaps somewhat exceed the bounds
of strict veracity ; but I hesitate not in asserting, that, in
his knowledge of the points, action, and capabilities of the
English hunter, and in his skill in the art of riding to
hounds, he has never been surpassed in any day."

It is said, on no mean authority, that a man who succeeds
to his father's reputation, must be greater than him to be
considered great. The present Lord Forester, however,
would be sorry I should grant to him such a distinction,
and I shall let him rest upon his own merits. Suffice it to
say of his lordship, that when at Oxford he greatly distin-
guished himself as a rider, for his early years, in Sir
Thomas Mostyn's, the Duke of Beaufort's and the Duke of

166 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

Grafton's hunts ; and where, may I ask, has he not been eaii-
spicuous ? Is there a quick thing in Leicestershire in which
Lord Forester is not in his place, and that place front rank I
Have not there been a few things lately with his own hounds,
which even, in these flying times, himself and a very few only
saw I am wrongly informed if such has not been the case.
But I think I once said, I never saw a young sportsman more
fond of hounds than this kind-hearted nobleman ; and if,
as the poet says,

" A willing heart adds feather to the heel,
And makes the clown a winged Mercury,"

how must it add to the speed of such a well-bred one as he
is, with his father's fame fresh upon him. God speed him
then, say T ; and I trust he will be at the head of the
Belvoir hounds all his life, and that life a long one.

I have not yet done with the sporting name of Forester,
Major or Frank Forester, par excellence, brother to the
late Lord and son-in-law to the Duke of Cleveland, will be
remembered in Leicestershire for a hundred years to come,
not only as an excellent rider to hounds, but, in the strictest
acceptation of the word, a sportsman. As a horseman,
however, it is that I have to speak of him here, and it is
enough to say, that, with a younger brother's stud, seldom
exceeding six, few men saw more of hounds, during many
years' residence at Melton, than he did, or could give a better
account of a run than himself. But what a rare, what, in these
days, an uncommon token of a sportsman did he exhibit in
invariably riding his own horse to cover, let the distance be
what it might. Think of a Melton man being lighted out
of his stable-yard, some dark morning in December, to ride
his horse sixteen miles to the place of meeting, through the
dirty cross lanes, or still more dubious field-roads of Lei-
cestershire ; perhaps trying to decipher a guide post by the
glimmering of a blood-red star, or the faint light of a
waning moon. Such, however, was Frank Forester's
almost daily task in the winter ; but why did he impose this

MAJOR FORESTER. i()7

task upon himself? Why, because he was then certain that
his horse would be taken properly to cover, and fit to go
through a good run, should he get one. Nor was this all.
The horseman had much to do with it. He was averse to
having his hunters' mouths pulled about and abused by
boys, letting alone the hazards they are subject to in their
hands. As a rider to hounds then, I shall say no more ot
Major Forester, than that, as Melton is the place in which
that quality in man is appreciated, and — availing myself of
a vulgar, but rather expressive phrase — " no mistake" it will
be found to place him high on the list of those who have
gone best ; and he appears in an enviable situation in
Ferneley's capital picture of the famous Coplow to Ranks-
horough run, painted for Mr. Osbaldeston — over that part
of the country which, I ventured to state in my description
of it, is worthy of forming a panorama of fox-hunting. The
Major took his final leave of Melton about fourteen years
back ; and as it so happened that I witnessed his departure, I
can bear record to the fact, that it was very generally regretted
by his brother sportsmen and friends, avIio doubtless felt,
that, " take him for all in all, they might not look upon
his like again." I have not seen Captain Forester, of the
12th Lancers (brother to Lord Forester), in the field, but I
learn from those who have that there is " no mistake"
there.

Speaking of Melton, leads me to consider what other good
man from that quarter, known to me, claims notice in sche-
dule F, and at present I can only muster two. The Hon.
Henry Fielding, brother of Lord Denbigh, was a neat
rider, and generally well horsed. John Fryatt, once land-
lord of the George Hotel, a very good man over a country,
and better versed than most men in horse-flesh. He was
once groom to the celebrated Mr. Brummell, and I well
remember the tip-top style in which his horses were turned
out. But why did I omit Mr. Brummell in the B's? His
good nature will excuse me if I place him among the Beaus,

168 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

for, although far from the worst, he did not aeplre to eques-
trian fime. In the song I have alluded to, he stands thus ;

" Beau Brummell, God bless U9, how ventures he here.
Delighting our eyes and our noses ?
He splashes through ditches, in kerseymere breeches,
All streaming with attar of roses."*

I have not hunted much with the Duke of Grafton's
hounds, only getting a day occasionally at Whistley Wood,
or some of the covers on the Brackley side the country,
when staying in the neighbourhood of Bicester. What I
saw of the late lamented Lord Charles Fitzroy, however,
convinced me that he was not only a beautiful horseman, but,
to my eye, one of the most judicious riders to hounds of his
days, which all who knew him lamented were so unex-
pectedly cut short. He appeared to me also to ride exactly
the sort of hunter suited to his country. Indeed, I never
saw him, that I did not envy his horses. Such timber
jumpers ! Lord James Fitzroy was also a good one, and a
writer in the Old Magazine (Fox-hunter Rough and Ready)
thus speaks of him — " I must make honourable mention,"
says he, "of a stranger in this land (Devonshire), but no
stranger to fox-hunting, he having hunted with the very
best hounds, in the very best countries. He did us the
honour to attend almost every meeting, and we had the
pleasure to see that he delighted in the sport. He did not
despise our hounds, he did not abuse our country ; but, like
a true and gallant sportsman, and a fearless rider as he is,
was never away from the chase, and was well with the
hounds, even in this, according to* * * *, worst of all coun-
tries. He did enjoy the runs, and was not stopped by pre-
judice, or by banks, by fashion, or by stiles. That stranger
is Lord James Fitzroy of the \^th Hussars. God bless him !"
Now I call this an excellent description of one sportsman,

* I have perfect recollection of seeing Mr. Brummell turn out of the Duke of
Rutland's carriage one day, at the cover side, in his kerseymeres ; but when I saw
him mount a coal-black horse, in bemitiful condition, I thought the totit ensemble

excellent the polish was good. I am sorry to say, Mr. Brummell had left Calais

previous to my arrival in France ; he was much respected there, and was generally
addressed by the tradesmen as " My Lord." So much for the polish !

BOB FORFEIT. 169

by anotlier — iiKleed, quaere — could Cicero have shown up a
brother-pleader better ?

Although I have occasionally seen Mr. Foljambe in Lei-
cestershire, and frequently in the New Forest, I cannot
speak of his riding, but I believe he is one of the bruising
sort. In fact, a man so fond of hounds as he appeared to
me to be, must always be with them if possible. Mr. Fel-
lowes, the late master of the Warwickshire, was a horseman,
and so was Mr. Ford of the Cheshire ; and in a difficult coun-
try too, for men who ride fast. But there was one good one
whose name comes in this list to whom I should like to have
given the Promethean touch of youth. I mean the ve-
nerable Mr. Fulwar Fowle, whom I saw going so well
in the Craven country, when I visited Mr. Warde ;
George the Third said of Mr. Fowle, that he was one of the
best riders to hounds in his dominions ; but George the
Third did not go to Melton. However, when I say that
Mr. Fowle had one of his legs broken, and almost all his
teeth knocked out, by a fall, and drank a bumper to fox-
hunting, on the evening of the same day, we must allow him
to be deserving of a royal compliment.

Speaking of Mr. Warde reminds me of old Bob Forfeit,
his huntsman, whom I have seen go very well over North-
amptonshire, when he hunted it. The last time he met my
eye was in the stables of his old master, at his seat in Kent,
with whom he has long lived as groom, and he was the
cause of some merriment ; but mirth generally accompanied
the doings and sayings of Mr. Warde. The hunters had
been taken up from grass three days before, fat as bacon
hogs, but, according to their owner's account to me, " sum-
mered a la Nimrod," as the term is w ith some. " In rare
order to begin the season with, Bob," said I to him the
next morning, in the stable, before breakfast, having my
hand on the ribs of one of them ; " full of old oats, I under-
stand." " No, nor new ones neither," replied Bob, " unless
they found them in the park." Dick Foster, another of the
old school, and a capital horseman, must not be overlooked.

170 HUMTING REMINISCENCES.

When I first knew him he was whipping-in to Lord Foley,
who then hunted Worcestershire, and was considered a very
fine horseman in those days, particularly distinguishing him-
self by going through an extremely severe run upon a four
year old,* when almost every horse in the field was beaten.
He had very good hands and a very close seat, and those that
think these qualifications are not in daily request with such
as ride over Mr. Villebois's part of Hampshire, are very
greatly in error. It is true there are no wide brooks, no
black -thorn hedges, that knock men and horses backwards,
as there are in the " swell" countries ; but the horseman's art
is much wanted in handing his horse over the wattled fences,
with the deep falls that are on the farther side of them, occa-
sioned by their being so frequently placed on a bank. There
is likewise much timber, and plenty of hedge and ditch
leaping, which Foster performs with a master-hand, and he
is the best man to get quickly through a rough cover I ever
met with, unless it be Mr. Smith, formerly of the Craven
hounds.

* Afterwards Sir Edward Mostyn's Infant, seventeen hands high !

171

©iMi^fpTgiKj m.

0^

RAM MARIANS tell
us tliere are two G's
4 in the alphabet, the
.■' hard one and the soft
5^ one, so, with your leave,
< we will begin with one
'\ of the hard ones — Sir

s-

' Bellingham Graham,
' Bart., who may be
classed amongst the
^ first and fastest horse-
^ menEnglandeverpro-
duced ; and when we
consider his weight —
never under sixteen stone — nothing more would be wanted
to establish his riding fame. How then can I do better than
echo the words of the Melton men, when speaking of Sir
Bellingham as master of the Quorn hounds, such authority
being not likely to be disputed. " During the two seasons,"
said they, " which Sir Bellingham Graham hunted Leices-
tershire, there was not a single instance of his not being
well with his hounds — the more remarkable, as the country
was not only new to him, but in the first of his years, it was
most unusually deep, owing to much rain, and his sport pro-
digious." On two or three occasions, however, he appears
to have performed wonders. On a low-backed horse, called
Cock Robin, he slipped away from a large field, by leaping
into, and out of, a high sheep-pen, and wliich, strange to

172 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

say, the horse performed without being turned round for the
second leap. In a celebrated burst from Glenn Gorse to
Stanton Wood, he took the lead and kept it, although two
or three of the best light weights in England — Colonel
George Anson, and Mr. William Coke amongst them — were
close on his heels at starting. In Shropshire also he once
or twice did the same thing, particularly in a run over
the worst country in England for a heavy weight, being full
of boggy drains ; and on a previously untried roan horse,
which he afterwards sold to Mr. Maxse. But it has been
that Yorkshire eye of the worthy baronet, to the good and
bad points of a horse that has — added to other essentials —
enabled him thus to shine. Who that can remember his
stud when he had the Quorn hounds, in which, as the old
frequenters of Melton observed, there were more great good
horses than it had ever before contained, will not agree with
me in saying, that if an arbiter were to be chosen to decide upon
disputed properties in the horse, the owner of that stud was
not entitled to the post ? The Baron, Jerry, Paul, Bees'-
wax, Treacle, Cock Robin, cum multis aliis, which I cannot
name (but amongst which were two sold to a stranger, and
never heard of afterwards, for a thousand guineas), would
back me in this opinion, if all they performed under his
great weight was brought to light.

They may " laugh at scars, who never felt a wound," but
one of the many proofs that hunting is inherent in our
nature, is the hazard that awaits the pursuit of it Even the
fine horsemanship of Sir Bellingham, has not borne him
harmless through the perils and dangers of the chase, and
in one instance he nearly lost his life. Of what very hard
rider, however, may not the same be said ? Perhaps of none ;
but, as Shakespeare says, " wounds as well as words some-
times ' smack of honour,' " I shall briefly notice one fall he
had with the Quorn hounds, merely for the sake of giving
the sequel to it. An ox-fence presented itself just as he was
killing his fox. His horse alighted on a post, and was
turned over on his (Sir B's) chest. He was insensible for
more than twenty-four liours?; was bled three times the first

THE LATE SIR HARRY OOODRICKE. 173

day, and confined to his bed five days ! But {eheu ! as the
Q. R, has it) what did he do on the seventh? Why, he
was driven out in his carriage, muffled up in shawls, great
coat, &c., to take the air, and " see them find," But he took
something else ; for he took the command of the hounds,
hunted them through part of a long run, till nature said
" enough," and he was near finding death, for he was in a
dreadful state of exhaustion, and was with difficulty conveyed
home. In Shropshire, likewise, he got an awful fall, and
from the two combined, his sufferings were long and severe.
Very little need be said of another Yorkshire baronet,
now, alas ! no more — I mean the late Sir Harry Goodricke
— as a horseman. Were I to look into the records of the
chase, I could find several instances of his distinguishing
himself — and, once or twice I believe I may say, " beyond
his fellows," — at the end of long and severe runs, which we
must admit to be the strongest testimony to the character
of a good rider to hounds. Let me see — we must go back
more than eighteen years for one fact. December the 15th,
1824, "the Squire's" hounds met at Widmerpool, when
Walton Thorns produced the best fox of the year, who
stood before them one hour and fifty-five minutes, with a
good scent. In the first half hour, great distress was exhi-
bited,— horses standing still in all directions. The "Squire,"
Holyoake, and Goodricke had the best of it most of the
time, but the baronet had the turn at the last. A few days
afterwards, the same hounds met in the same country
(Owthorpe), when at the end of an almost unheard of con-
tinued burst of an hour and a quarter, Sir Harry killed the
fox by himself, a fresh horse having met him at Six Hills.
In the same month of 1826, he signalized himself in Lord
Lonsdale's great day from Laund W^ood, in the severest part
of the Harborough country. I am told Sir Harry rode
still harder and, of course, better, with his own hounds, and
he could shine on horses on which other good men could do
nothing. His notion of what is called a hunter was like-
wise correct. " It depends," said he, " on what place his
rider takes in a run, whether he is worth a shilling or not."

174 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

His showing them the way into Longford Brook on one.
occasion, when so much overflowed, should not be forgotten,
though it is well known that he " swam like a cork," as
Dick Knight said, when he was leaping over the gentleman
in the brook.

In a private letter I wrote to the then Editor of the New
Sporting Magazine (1833), I thus expressed myself on the
decease of Sir Harry Goodricke — " Poor Goodricke ! What
a thundering blow to fox-hunting!" This expression got
into print, but had I known that such would have been the
case, I should have qualified it by saying, " what a thun-
dering blow to Leicestershire" inasmuch as, great as is the
loss of any spirited and devoted master of fox-hounds, still
it is to be hoped, that, lowering as may be the present prospect,
the cause of fox-hunting hangs not on so slender a thread as
that of one man's existence, — but that it will continue for at
least a century to come, even were half a score Sir Harry
Goodrickes to be swept away. To Leicestershire, Sir Harry's
loss was all but irretrievable, as has been shown by the short
periods in which it has been in the hands of his successors,
and the uncertain prospect of its continuing to support the
character it has hitherto sustained, of the first fox-hunting
country under the sun. Had Sir Harry not been so pre-
maturely cut off", there is every reason to believe, from
his untiring zeal, and sportsmanlike devotion to hunting,
that he would have continued a master of hounds in Lei-
cestershire for a long series of years, and redeemed the
country from the reflection cast upon it, of having — despite
its excellencies and advantages — been so often in one man's
hands to-day, and in another's to-morrow : in fact, chang-
ing masters almost with the seasons.

On the retirement of Lord Southampton, Sir Harry
Goodricke took possession of the Quorn hounds, without
any subscription whatever — undertaking to pay cover-rents,
damages, and all other expenses ; and not approving of the
situation of the other kennels, as too much on the outside of
the country, he built a large one with very extensive stables
Ht Thrussington, a small village a little to the left of the

THE LATE SIR HARRY GOODRICKE. 175

road leading from Leicester to Melton Mowbray, on the
bank of the river.

Sir Harrry Goodricke did not attempt to hunt his own
hounds, but continued Mountford, Lord Southampton's
huntsman, who came to his lordship from the Oakley, with
some hounds, in that situation, in the room of Dick Burton,
who went to his old master, Mr. Assheton Smith, in Hants.
In consequence, however, of Mountford's illness, during
parts of the two seasons in which Sir Harry hunted Lei-
cestershire, Will Derry, his first whip, officiated in that
capacity, occasionally assisted by Sir Harry. Sir Harry —
as he had a good right to do, himself paying the piper —
dropped the title of the Quorn hounds, and called them his
own. I say he had a good right to do this ; and still I
would not have done it, there being something classical in
the word " Quorn," associated as it was with the classic names
of Meynell, Sefton, Smith, Osbaldeston, and Graham, who
had all had the Quorn hounds in their tnrn, not forgetting
the well-known couplet of Loraine, another classic name : —

" Now Contract, says Dick,

By the Lord, but we'll show these d d Quornites the trick."

The style and manner in which Sir Harry Goodricke
hunted Leicestershire, was above all praise, and such as w^e
naturally should have looked for from a man so thoroughly
a sportsman as he was. He had upwards of a hundred
couples of hounds in his kennel, and fifty hunters in his
stables, an establishment at once grand, sportsmanlike, and
Englishmanlike, yet we must admit, incurring an expendi-
ture that no one individual ought to be suffered to sustain
for the amusement of others, as well as himself. I have
heard it said, and doubt not the truth of the assertion, that
six thousand pounds a year did not cover his charges at the
year's end. Let us suppose, then, he had kept his hounds
as long as John Warde kept his. The immense sum of
three hundred and forty-two thousand pounds w^ould have
been lost to himself and his heirs.

Sir Harry Goodricke was every inch a thorough sports-

176 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

man, and was such from his boyhood, a little anecdote cor-
roborative of which I can produce. When at Eton school,
he had on some occasion or other — the Montem, perhaps —
to pass in procession before the King, in the presence of the
head master. Guess the surprise then of the said head
master, when Goodricke made his appearance in a red coat,
down to his heels, and large enough for a grown-up man.
The fact was, it was necessary that he should have a fancy
coat of some sort, and he had the one in which he appeared
made large enough to fit an old whipper-in of his father's.
The notice of the King was attracted by his grotesque ap-
pearance, and he inquired his name — saying, when informed
of him, that he knew his breed to be a sporting one. The
fact is, that independently of his father, the name of few
men was better known in England than that of the cele-
brated parson Goodricke, the breeder of some of the best
race-horses of his day.

I will not take upon myself to assert that Sir Harry
Goodricke could have hunted a pack of fox-hounds with
success, because I am unable to say whether he studied the
science of hunting sufficiently to enable him to do so, but
from his manner of ridino; to them it was evident he
watched their working with attention, and unlike too many
very hard riders, he was not given to press upon them.
Still there is something more than the mere being able to
turn well with hounds, and to know when they are on a
scent or not, to qualify a man for a huntsman. He must
have a certain intuitive knowledge of the general line foxes
take, adapting his experience of it to his country, and he
must possess other qualities than those which guide him in
riding near to hounds. But I liked to see Sir Harry
Goodricke over a country. His style of riding was exceed-
ingly fine, embellished, I may say, by his very manly person,
and the apparent coolness with which he encountered every
obstacle that presented itself.

Trifles " light as air" occasionally speak volumes, and the
zeal of this lamented sportsman may be estimated by the

MR. GTI.ATorn — MR. GREEN. 177

following incident, which I witnessed. We were returning to
Melton one extremely cold and blustering evening, when
nearly at the town's end we met Sir Harry, with a hound
in a string, which had followed some one to Melton, he
being on his road with him to Thrussington — imposing upon
himself the most unpleasant task of riding upwards of ten
miles instead of getting quickly home, and changing his
wet clothes.

There was a time when I thought Sir Harry Goodricke
not popular with the Leicestershire farmers, on account, it
was said, of his having occasionally spoken lightly of their
horses; but this was not the case afterwards. When he
hunted the country, no man could stand better with them,
and I repeat, that his death was a heavy blow to fox-hunt-
ing— to that in Leicestershire, especially.

Mr. Gilmour is also a trump at this game, and accounted
one of the best men now over Leicestershire ; and he is
likewise entitled to the appellation of a sportsman, riding to
enjoy hounds. He is capitally mounted for his weight, no
change, I should think, out of fourteen stone. Mr. Gilmour
started the Leicestershire steeple racing, having matched
one of his stud (Plunder) against Captain Ross's Harlequin,
and shortly after against his (Captain R.'s) Polecat, winning
both matches, but only riding the first. The parties meet-
ing on the day after the last match, at a dinner given by
Mr. White, at Melton, the articles were drawn up for the
great steeple-chase, won by Mr. Wormold's Magic, named
by Sir Harry Goodricke. I hear a very good account of
Lord Gardner in Leicestershire, but, with the exception of
Mr. Elliott, I have mentioned no person, as a rider, whom
I have not seen in the field.

Mr. Green of Rolleston Hall, Leicestershire, I have seen,
and no man would wish to see a better performer over a
country. He rides much in the style of John Bower, and
John Drake, very quiet, but very quick, reminding one of
the " suaviter in modo" but " fortiter in re," for no man goes
more determinedly to work.

178 HUNTING REiVMNISCENCES.

There are two Gilberts next on my list. First, Mr.
Gilbert, well known at Melton, as a good man at every thing
and whom I once saw sadly damaged by a fall, with the
Quorn hounds ; and who was one of a very few who saw the
end of one of the most severe runs Osbaldeston had in the
Quorn country. The distance from point to point was
eighteen miles, but the hounds ran hard for two hours and
seventeen minutes, so that much more ground must have
been traversed. The other is General Gilbert, eminently
distinguished in India (Bengal) as a gentleman-jockey over
the course, and one of the best riders over the country. The
Colonel returned to England about sixteen years back, and
has hunted regularly in Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Leices-
tershire, &c., appearing little the worse for more than thirty
years of Asiatic life. In short, despite of attacks of the
liver, spleen, and jungle fever — some of which he has no
doubt had a taste of — he is as sound as a roach, and can ride
well to hounds. Perhaps I may be allowed a short digres-
sion, pardonable in speaking of so eminent a sportsman as
General Gilbert was acknowledged to be in India. Soon after
his arrival from India, he attended the Curragh of Kildare
races. Twelve horses were named for a gentleman-jockey
stakes, but only eleven such jockies could be found. On
its being known that the General was on the course, he was
applied to by the stewards, when, mounting on the instant,
he rode the winner.

Speaking of Warwickshire reminds me of Mr. Charles
Gould, son of the late Colonel of the Notts Militia, and
nephew to the late Lord Dormer. He was an excellent horse-
man, with plenty of nerve, and showed much judgment
in selecting young horses, and perfecting their education as
hunters — no bad test of hand. Mr. Gaskyl, formerly a
leading man with the old Berkeley, but of later years quar-
tered at Northampton, with good nerve and hand, was just the
man for the Northamptonshire black-thorns, and even those
of Crick,* cracked before him. Mr. Walter Giifard, at the

* Tlie most strongly fenced country in England.

MR. GURNEY OF NORWICH. 179

head of the Albrighton pack, was a capital hand over an
awkward country. He was one of the best creepers I ever
met with. Indeed I have marvelled to see the places he
poked through on his old grey horse, when he hunted
his father's harriers in Staffordshire ; and I have more
than once seen him go the pace over Warwickshire, on
some of Mr. Robert Canning's horses. In short, he
has always been considered a beautiful horseman. Of a
similar class are the two Captains Greenwood, whom I used
to see in Hampshire — particularly accomplished horsemen,
and I think I have already expressed my opinion that they
would distinguish themselves any where. I saw another
good man in the same part of Hampshire (the Hambledon
country). I mean Captain Georges, whose famous grey
mare — those grey mares are generally good — carried him
to the end of that awful run Mr. Smith had, some years
back, when his hounds, and the eight persons who could
live with them, remained at Colonel George Wyndham's for
the night. In the same country I likewise saw the Hon.
William Gage, a very good performer, and who was one of
the above-mentioned eight; and Mr. Charles Graeme, of the
old school, but a reputed good one through life : and I went
to Winchester races once on purpose to see him ride a
match in, I think, his seventieth year ! but one of the horses
being amiss, it did not come off, as the term is. Of Lord
Gage I have seen too little to speak, but his lordship was an
excellent friend to fox-hunting, and one to whom the East
Sussex hunt stood greatly indebted.

Nothing displays the powers and capabilities of the horse
more than his being able to carry a very heavy, and a very
fast riding man, throughout a long run, over a soft
country, strongly enclosed. But when we consider the
whelming effect of such a man as Mr. Gurney of Nor-
wich, the mind almost refuses its belief at the recital of
the extraordinary feats performed by him as a horseman —
for he rode upwards of twenty stone — and in truth I may
say the same of Messrs. Edge, But there are limits to

n2

180 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

all animal powers. The hare lies down, broken-hearted, be-
fore the hounds ; the greyhound stops, exhausted, behind
the hare ; and even the race-horse, with a feather-weight
on his back, sometimes shuts up \vhen he is pinched.
Would it not then be unreasonable to expect, that anything
unwinged, any " beast of the earth," could carry such a
weight as Mr. Gurney's, at the pace he always went, longer
than twenty minutes or half an hour? Undoubtedly it
would ; and that was generally the maximum with him, on
high scenting days. But how brilliantly he went, and how
splendidly he was mounted ! Indeed, as a friend and
admirer of his astonishing performances said of him, a few
years back, " No money is grudged for hunters likely to
carry Mr. Gurney, and he never hunts a horse until he
arrives at his full powers — namely, eight years old. Sober
Robin and his master were prodigies in any country. He
had a remarkably clever lad, who rode his second horse ;
he was always forth-coming at the instant required, and
Mr. Gurney was very quick in exchanging. He was one of
those decided men at his fences that I delight to see. If he
came into a field, and steered for a certain point, as his exit
from it, it must have been something very queer, or unfore-
seen, that made him change his mind."

I believe the foregoing to be a very faithful description
of this " great artist," as Tom Strickland would have said.
As for Sober Robin, he was still more of di prodigy than his
owner, and whoever doubts it, has only to see a gate near
Northampton over which he once carried Mr. Gurney.
One might really imagine him to have been of the blood of
Medusa — the winged sort — for it is scarcely possible to
attribute so great an effort to natural, animal powers. The
gate, also, as high as Robin's back, should have been " in
bold relief" on the marble, and after the ancient fashion an
inscription — something like this : —

Full twenty minutes I had gone " the pace"
And leap'd this gate, with twenty stone, in chase.

I believe Robin was the horse for which Sir Francis

STEPHEN GOODALL GOOSEY. 181

Burdett offered Mr. Gurney a thousand guineas, but I am
not quite certain of the fact, and I have nothing here to
refresh my memory on these points.

Challenging a comparison with Mr. Gurney as to weight
in the scales, but not as to pace over a country, was Stephen
Goodall, once huntsman to Lord Sefton, and afterwards to
the late Sir Thomas Mostyn. Stephen was a bundle of
garbage, and troubled with a short cough, nevertheless, in
proof of his horsemanship, I am bound to say, he was, ex-
cepting in the last few years of his hunting them, not very
far from his hounds, even in rather a sharp scurry. It is
true Sir Thomas horsed him well, giving it out that
whether wanting him at the time or not, he would always
purchase a horse likely to suit Stephen, and money did not
stop him. But Stephen was difficult to be suited ; he would
not ride anything more than about fifteen hands higli — for
he could not mount one that was higher — and it was no
easy matter to find as much power, combined with good
breeding, as was necessary to carry his weight, in a horse of
that height. I saw Goodall for part of two seasons in
Leicestershire, and several in Oxfordshire, but never re-
member his having a fall.

The name of Goodall, reminds me of Goosey, once hunts-
man to the Duke of Rutland, and afterwards to Lord Forester.
As a horseman, he claims a first place, being just what a
man should be to assist hounds in a flying country, like his.
He had an eye like a hawk — -very quick to his points, and
was a more than commonly sportsmanlike-looking person on
his horse. I understand he distinguished himself by his
ridino: in the fine runs his hounds had for some successive
days in the month of February, 1833. But, have I not given
him the precedence of his superiors, or is it that all these
good qualities have ennobled Mr. Goosey (not a very aris-
tocratic name, to be sure) in my eyes? xA.t all events I
must not omit Lord Robert Grosvenor, who is a good
horseman, and very fond of hounds, nor Mr. Gregson, one of
the keenest sportsmen and best riders in the Lambton hunt.

182 HUNTING REMIJflSCENCES.

But where is the crack man in his day of all the light
weights in G ? Have I kept him, as a child does a bit of
sweetmeat in his pudding — for the last mouthful ? I mean
the Hon. George Germaine — decidedly the champion of
England in the saddle, taking him over a country, and over
the course. It is true, he was not allowed to be so good
over the course as his brother, the Duke of Dorset — an
extraordinary man also on the road — but, combining the
qualifications for the race-course and the field, George
Germaine had not his equal. But Nature formed him to
ride ; he was not only cast in the jockey mould, but he had
an iron grasp, and a nerveless arm that pulled him through
all difficulties in a run, how severe soever the country. As
I now enjoy hunting only in the calm retrospect of the past,
and as Csesar recorded his own conquests, may I be allowed
to mention an enviable situation I was once placed in, with
this said Hon. George Germaine ? We had run our fox,
best pace, for about twenty-five minutes with Lord Sefton's
hounds, when a sort of mill-dam presented itself I think
I see the place now ; the rat-holes in the bank, and the still
water, looking deep. He led the way ; a gentleman's
servant followed him ; and I followed the gentleman's
servant. Where the rest of the field crossed it, 1 know not;
but this I know — George Germaine, the groom, and myself,
only were present when the fox died, which was in less than
ten minutes afterwards. " Your horse has carried you
well," said Mr. G. " He has," said I ; " considering I only
purchased him out of a dealer's string, this day se'night, at
Rugby fair." Well — of course the mill-dam was a hun-
dred or two in my pocket. It was very near being much
more. Many questions were asked about the grey : one or
two persons said, in my hearing, that he would carry Lord
Sefton ; but Lord Sefton would not have said so, for four-
teen stone was his maximum. However, there were plenty
of customers ; but mark the result — and especially all ye
young ones, of whom I myself was one, at this period ! As
we were trotting away, along a bridle road, to a fresh cover,

THE LATE SIR STEPHEN GLYNNE. 183

I put the grey at a fence, instead of letting him go through
the gate, when he fell headlong, in the presence of nearly
the whole field, and all the fat was in the fire, " You are
rightly served," said John Lockley, who had been recom-
mending a rich man to purchase him; "your horse was
chilled and stiff, and had more sense than you had, for he
wanted to go through the gate." However, he was after-
wards well known in Warwickshire as Contract, by Windle-
stone, a brilliant hunter, and the winner of hunter's stakes,
matches, &:c., to a considerable amount.

The late Sir Stephen Glynne's career was short, having
been cut off in " manhood's prime," leaving an excellent
name behind him, as the right sort of country gentleman.
I remember seeing him greatly distinguish himself in a
crack day with the late Lord Vernon's hounds from
Bosworth, when many of the Quorn men were out. In
fact, it was a trial of strength and speed between orange and
red, the former being the colour of Lord Vernon's hunt,
and the latter that of the Quornites. There being at this
period some quick men in Lord Vernon's country, the
contest was very severe, and it was hard to say who had the
best of the burst, which was awfully sharp to Tooley. I
have, however, a perfect recollection of Sir Stephen Glynne
going particularly well on a white-faced chesnut, and
gaining much credit by the day. Sir Henry Peyton (who,
with the late Lord Foley and Sir Stephen, joined house-
keeping at that time near Quorn) also went brilliantly on
his famous horse Watchmaker. A neighbour of Sir
Stephen's, Mr. Glegg, of the Cheshire, ranked high in that
hunt ; and as long as his horse could go, no man could beat
Mr, Guildford, the butcher, of Somerby, in Leicestershire^
who rode Spartacus in the steeple-chase, but was beat by a
bad fall.

The letter H — seldom indeed mute, — gives me a long list
of capital performers in the field. With whom then shall
I begin ? With a Lord ? Yes, and a good one too — Lord

184 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

Howth who, in the county of Leicester, was generally placed
quite at the top of the list, and that is saying enough.
Indeed no man could ride bolder than Lord Howth did, all
the time he was in Leicestershire, and in one particular in-
stance he did what, perhaps, was never done before. He cleared
so wide a place over the Belvoir (the Smite) brook that no
man could follow him, and he had the fox in his hand
nearly a quarter of an hour before any of the field came up !
He performed this feat on his famous horse Slug, the winner
of ten out of twelve steeple-chases in Paddy's land. I
believe I have already stated that this horse was afterwards
in my possession, the late Lord Mountsandford having given
240 guineas for him, to his lordship, on his quitting Melton;
and I took him in part payment for a horse of mine that
Lord M. considered more equal to his weight. It being the
end of the season I had not many rides on Slug, but his
manner of throwing himself over wide places was extra-
ordinary, by a sort of second spring; but where was the
fulcrum ? Lord Howth had also another famous hunter at
Melton, named, I think, Bergame. I saw him one day lark
him over some tremendous fences, a practice he was not a
little given to.

Now what can I say of Frank Holyoake (now Sir H. Good-
ricke) ? I mean what that is not known to every sportsman in
England ? namely, that he was for some seasons undoubtedly
the fastest rider after hounds in any county in England.
Nay, might I not add, that for once hounds that have been
too fast for Holyoake, lie has been half a score times too
fast for hounds? But gently! my pen; don't be hard upon
him ; he is a gallant fellow on a horse, and if he has pressed
them now and then, and deserved a few reproofs from their
huntsman, his greater merits must blot them out. Poor
man, he is much to be pitied. He would ride nothing but
thorough-bred ones ; he has no more nerve than a gate post;
and, as Dick Foster says, he hates a slow one. But,
joking apart, if he had paid a little more attention to

SIR HOLYOAKE GOODRICKE. 185

hounds in chase, he would have claimed a place amongst
the hardest and best riders to hounds England ever saw.
But was it not delightful to see him go his pace? By
heaven it was ; it was half as fast again as nineteen in
twenty of the generality of men who follow hounds go, and
he appeared to sweep over the green grounds of Leicester-
shire like a swallow after its prey. This being admitted, it
cannot be wondered at that he banished all half-bred horses
from his stable, finding that, although there might be excep-
tions, it would be difficult to find any thing but pure blood,
with wind and speed equal to his pace. He certainly
had a beautiful stud ; but what is extraordinary, his famous
grey horse, Baronet, that he considered his best, and so often
shone upon, was a very bad brook jumper !* On my asking
him one day how he got him over all the brooks? his
answer was " some how." He was one of the most perfect
fencers I ever saw, and Lord Lichfield gave 220 guineas for
him when very much worsted. The old and young Sheriff",
Cross-bow, Clinker, and Smasher, afterwards the late
Sir. H. Goodricke's, were amongst the crack horses in his
stud. Recollect, reader, my hero, in his saddle, gives no
change out of thirteen stone ! His younger brother, Mr,
Thomas Holyoake, whom I have seen go in Staffordshire,
would have been just such a clipper had he possessed the
nags, for he was one of the few that were up ^at the end of
the desperate Owthorpe day with the Quorn hounds, some
years back, on one of his brother's horses.

Speaking of flyers over Leicestershire, I cannot tell to my
recollection ever having seen the Hon. Martin Hawke, in
Leicestershire ; I think he left it about the year before I
hunted in it, but, from all I have heard of him, I should
imagine his style of riding to hounds much resemb ed that
of Sir Holyoake Goodricke.

* A very correct idea would have been conveyed to the uninitiated in these mat-
ters, if prints had been struck off from Ferneley's picture of " Hounds going best
pace, up wind," Mr. Holyoake taking the lead, on Baronet.

186 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

" And next him on Morgan, all rattle and talk.

Cramming over the fences, comes wild Martin Hawke ;
But his neck he must break, surely, sooner or late,
As he'd rather ride over, than open, a gate."*

No bad character of a young one, which Mr. Hawke was in
those days ; but I have something more to say of him. The
poets complain — and he himself is a poet — that there is one
word in the English language to which they never could
find a rhyme. That word is " silver." Now, unfortunately,
Hawke answers to many, and amongst others to walk. Thus
is our hero belied, for the sake of the rhyme, in the Coplovv
poem, and reduced to a walk ; although I have heard his
horse (a little thorough-bred one, called Tom Tit, and
purchased afterwards by Mr. Sliafto, of Whitworth, Dur-
ham) carried him throughout this terrible day, and to Melton
afterwards (twenty-one miles), in company with Messrs.
Germaine and Musters. The critics say there should be no
rhyme without reason. I never saw Loi'd Hawke in the
field but one day, and we had then nothing to do, so I
cannot speak to his lordship's riding.

Let us now turn to — excuse the pun — another of the
flying species, another of the hawks. John Hawkes, late
of Snitterfield, Warwickshire, but now of some place in
Worcestershire, unknown to me, and a conspicuous character
in Meynell's hunt — conspicuous not only as a rider, but as a
sportsman. Indeed, what was considered a rare occurrence
in those days, he committed to paper the result of his
observations in the field, in a small pamphlet, called " The
Meynellian Science, or Fox-hunting upon System," which
contains many judicious remarks. All those, however, who
knew the man, will discern a peculiar manner of expressing
himself, which he had recourse to through life ; and it is
apparent that a determined predilection for Mr. Meynell
and his hounds, and for Mr. Meynell and his hounds alone,

* From " The hounds of old Raby for me/'

MR. HAWKES. 187

led him a little wide of the line in the extraordinary share
of talent which he attributed to them in the field. But in
alluding to him as a horseman, I must take leave to observe
that it is more easy to excel in any gymnastic art wl>en
nature lends her aid, and Mr. Hawkes was turned out by
her plastic hand in the very mould for a horseman ; and I
must own I have looked at him with admiration, on the
Little Printer, or Feather-legs — both thorough bred — when
putting them along with their best legs foremost. Of his
race-riding I shall not speak here, it being well known and
duly appreciated by every one who remembers his first-rate
performances over the course ; but as a workman over a
country, and as looking the character of a workman over a
country, I have rarely seen him excelled. He had his
peculiarities. He considered himself entitled to ride in a
hunting cap, which well became him ; and although his
leather breeches and boots showed they had " seen a little
service" — I really believe he had them patched and darned
for effect — yet the cut and fitting of every thing about him
was excellent. He looked the real sportsman. It is some
years since I have seen him, and I fear he is becoming an
old man, having long since given up hunting. But is he
not old before his time? — that is to say, does he not fancy
himself old? for, from his very abstemious mode of life,
John Hawkes ought to have been an evergreen ; and his
fidus Achates, John Lockley, was a young man long after he
was his age.

The bee has its honey and the bee has its sting. Hunting
in Leicestershire is the cream of the thing, but the mis-
fortune attending it is that every thing after it is skim milk.
So thought Mr. Hawkes. To use his own words — " A
sportsman, who like himself had hunted several seasons in
Leicestershire, and enjoyed the confidence of Mr. Meynell,
was spoiled for any other country." Nevertheless he carried
this too far, for he afterwards lived and hunted many years
in Warwickshire, a country that used to rank third after

188 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

Leicestershire for hounds. In this country he saw nuuiy
fine runs, but still he asserted that " Warwickshire could not
show a run, — there is not room in it," said he. Indeed! but
he must know better, and I am happy to say I saw this
harmless conceit very fairly taken out of him. We found
our fox one day — and let those who know the country follow
me — at Walton Wood, Sir John Mordaunt's, and passing
over the fine lordship of Light Thorn, Long Itchington,
and Ufton, killed him at Watergall House, about a mile
and a half from Southam. And who saw him killed ! Mr.
Hawkes, on Feather-legs, for he rode him that day ? Not he,
indeed ; he, as well as a very large field, with the exception
of three, was beaten out of sight, for the last four miles.
" Now then, Mr. Hawkes," said Mr. Robert Canning to him,
in my hearing, when he came up, raising his voice to its
highest pitch, can Warwickshire show a run ?" A finer
than this could not be seen, for we had but two momentary
checks, and after the first mile all over grass. Such a day
as this always produces anecdotes that amuse. There was
a very hard riding gentleman out, and unfortunate y for him,
but still more so for his horse — on a new purchase. " A
superior horse," said he to me, at the first check, and cer-
tainly he went quite in front. Five miles farther — checked
again, in the middle of a large cow-pasture. " Superior
horse, by G — d," said my friend, patting him on the neck,
and appearing delighted ; " Don't be in a hurry," I
observed, " it is not over yet ;" in fact, I- spoke from appear-
ances : I had just heard him rap the top bar of a stile in
rather an alarming manner, and there were other symptoms
■ — the bobbing tail, rolling eye, &c. — not often fallacious.
However, to the pith of the story of " the superior horse."

On my asking what was become of Mr. , as we were

counting noses at the finish, a good sportsman, now no
more, observed, that he had seen him, about six miles back,
leading the " superior horse" in a green lane. Now I
don't believe this was a bad hunter, at a fair pace over a

AVARWICKSHIRE. 189

country ; but this gentleman had one of tlie best mares in
Eng-Iand at tliat time (by No Pretender), and he measured
the powers of his new purchase by her's. But whoever had
a bad No Pretender horse.

As a hunting country, Warwickshire ranks third, Witli
some, this point has been disputed ; but that it once was the
third-best hunting Country in England, no sportsman, who
knows it, can deny. Look first at its dimensions : — It com-
menced at Hooknorton, just on the confines of Oxfordshire,
and ended at the town of Birmingham. So much for its
length, at least forty miles. In breadth, say from Wool-
ford Wood to Ladbroke, within two miles of Southam, not
less than twenty-five. It comprises a very large tract of
grass-land, little inferior to that of Leicestershire, and bor-
dering on almost the finest part of Northamptonshire. It
is a practicable country to ride over, although a well-trained
hunter is essential ; it is not subject to be flooded ; and
though the rivers Avon and Stour run through part of it,
foxes very seldom cross them. The Stour is jumpable in
some places, and fordable in many ; and the brooks not
generally wide — the Ladbroke and Walton perhaps the
widest.

Mr. Warde once hunted Warwickshire previously to his
taking Northamptonshire, and was succeeded by John
Corbet, Esq. of Sundorne Castle, Shropshire, who hunted it
upwards of twenty years. It was during his (Mr. Corbet's)
time that Warwickshire flourished. The country was then
entire, possessing, independently of what is called the open
pai't of it, decidedly the second-best Woodlands in the world,
for hounds and sportsmen.

There might perhaps be better sportsmen than Mr.
Corbet, but he was eminently gifted for the situation of
Master of fox-hounds. He was a very highly-finished
gentleman of the old school — preferable, some say, to the
new one ; polite to every one, but never losing sight of his
station ; his popularity had no bounds. The gentlemen of

190 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

the country honoured him ; the yeomanry ahnost adored
him. A vulpecide was not known within ten miles of his
hunt.

Mr. Corbet resided near Stratford-on-Avon, during the
hunting months, his kennel and stables being in the town.
The situation was far from desirable, being almost on the
outside of the country, and consequently occasioning addi-
tional travelling to the hounds in going to, and returning
from, the covers. He had likewise another kennel at
Meriden, six miles from Coventry, on the London road,
which he occupied when he hunted his Woodlands. His
establishment consisted of twenty horses for himself and his
men, which were generally purchased from his tenants in
Shropshire, as yearlings, and he had hounds sufficient to
hunt four days in the week, and sometimes five. His fix-
tures were always made for three weeks in advance, and
they were made with excellent judgment as to the capability
of the country, and the convenience of the sportsmen who
resided in it. He was one of the first to separate the sexes
of hounds in the field, and his pack of bitches were in the
highest repute. They seldom missed their fox, for their
pace with a scent was a killing one. His huntsman was the
noted Will Barrow, one of the cleverest horsemen England
ever saw, although, as a huntsman, he has been excelled.
His view-holloa was musical and cheering to a degree never
surpassed, neither will it ever be forgotten in Warwickshire.
Lamentable then is it to relate, that after hunting a pack of
fox-hounds for upwards of twenty years, and never many
hundred yards from their sterns, in chase, this gallant horse-
man and trusty servant, broke his neck in the service of the
present Mr. Corbet, whilst hunting his pack of harriers,
having been handsomely provided for by his late worthy
master in his will.

Mr. Corbet did not shine as a rider to hounds. He was
afraid of fences, and therefore never rode straight; but he
was remarkable for his knowledge of the country, and the

MU. CORBBT OF SUNDORNE. 191

points liis foxes made ; and as he rode good horses and
feared not to push them to tlieir speed, he frequently made
his appearance to the surprisr; of those with the hounds —
being seldom absent long after the finish. He was " game
to the back bone ;'' and delighted in showing sport to his
field. In short, he was every thing that a master of fox-
hounds should be, barring the lack of more nerve in the
saddle. Like the view-holloa of his huntsman, his good-
humoured laugh was delightful ; nor, under any circum-
stances, was the well-bred gentleman laid aside.

Before we state what Warwickshire now is, it is necessary
to say what Warwickshire once was. In Mr. Corbet's time
there was a club of gentlemen at Stratford-on-Avon,
remarkable for conviviality and concord. During the many
years it existed, a quarrel was unheard of amongst its
members ; and every other Thursday it was cheered by the
presence of Mr Corbet. The Hunt was also then in pos-
session of its Woodlands, since divided among others ;
neither must the gay doings at Meriden be passed over,
during the residence of the hounds in that kennel, for the
purpose of hunting those Woodlands. This took place
twice a year, and brilliant sport was the result. Many who
read this will remember the Long Meadow, Princethorpe,
the Tile Hill, the Combe, and the Braunston foxes, and the
fine wild sporting countries they so often led them over !
Nor can the music of Will Barrow, with his cap in his
hand, which rang through those noble woods, whilst his
pack were bristling to their game, be ever forgotten by those
who were so fortunate as to hear it. All now called the
Dunchurch country then belonged to the Warwickshire
hunt, including, among many others, the Woods of Lords
Craven and Denbigh, and that fine furze-cover called
Debdale, the property of that staunch old sportsman, Sir
Theophilus Biddulph, of Birdingbury, the whole of which
was given up to Lord Anson, on Lord Middleton succeeding
to Mr. Corbet.

Modern Warwickshire, however, as we may term it, is

192 HUNTING UEMINISCENCES.

not destitute of Woodlands, so essential to all hunting
countries. Independently of Weston Park, Snitterfield
Bushes, the immense woods of the Marquis of Hertford, and
Anstj Wood, the property of that firm friend to fox-hunting,
Sir Edward Smythe of Shropshire ; Spernal Park, and
Alveston Pastures are always well-stocked with foxes, and
afford excellent cub-hunting. The Marquis of Hertford was
no fox-hunter, but his good taste induced him not to be
inimical to the sport, and his woods at Ragley, the most
extensive in the county, are good nurseries for foxes.
Neither should the kindness of his neighbour. Sir George
Throckmorton, be forgotten in these days of selfish conside-
ration for game preserving.

We hear and read of runs of twenty miles from point to
point, — but they are runs of rare occurrence. In Mr.
Corbet's time a fox broke from Woolford Wood, and taking
a line never before taken by Warwickshire foxes, was killed
near the town of Cheltenham, a distance of full twenty-five
miles. Of a very large field of well -mounted sportsmen
only seven were in at the death ; and so brilliant was the per-
formance of the pack considered in those days, that the
head of the victim is to this hour preserved in a glass-case,
and ornaments the room at Stratford-on-Avon, which the
Warwickshire club occupied, accompanied by a description
of the run.

The prime part of Warwickshire lies eastward of the
Avon, bordering on the county of Northampton.

Foxes found in Long Itchington, Kineton, Chesterton,
Ufton, Lighthorn, Ladbroke or Watergall parishes, have as
fine a country before them as any man would wish to ride
over, being for the most part grass, and the enclosures suffi-
ciently extensive. Woolford Wood, Preston Bushes, Idle-
cot, Alveston Pastures, Farmborough, and indeed all the
gorse covers in their neighbourhood, are capable of showing
splendid runs — foxes sometimes taking up the hills into Ox-
fordshire ; often to Edgehill or Epwell, and now and then
into the Duke of Beaufort's country. In Lord Middleton's

MR. CORBET. 193

time a remarkable instance of this occurred. A fox in the
Warwickshire Vale ascended the Oxfordshire hills at an
almost unprecedented pace, and was run to earth at Ditchley
Park, not more than twelve miles from Oxford. Of a field
of more than a hundred and fifty horsemen, only two (Lord
Molyneux and Mr, John Lucey) were able to get to the end
of the run, and several good horses fell a sacrifice to the
distance and pace.

It was, I believe, admitted among the sportsmen of his
day, that there was no better judge of hounds and the breed-
ing of them than Mr. Corbet ; Colonel Cook, in his " Ob-
servations on Fox-hunting," thus speaks of him. " I cannot
say I admired Mr. Corbet's hounds in kennel ; it was nothing
but Trojan, Trojan, Trojan." Now we all know there have
been miracles among men, and I really believe from all I
have heard of him that Trojan was a miracle among hounds,
showing such a superiority as one animal very rarely shows
over another of the same species. That Mr. Corbet may
have bred too much from his justly esteemed favourite and
his sons, is but a natural supposition ; but that the descend-
ants of Trojan in the field, were, for the most part, true line-
hunting hounds, and good to the end of the day, my own
experience confirms. Colonel Cook, indeed, although he
prefers the style of Sir Richard Puleston's hounds to Mr.
Corbet's, confesses that the sport afforded by the latter was
excellent. The Colonel also adds, which I think I before
asserted, that during his (Mr. Corbet's) reign in Warwick-
shire, such a thing as a blank day was totally unknown.

To praise a man for conduct really deserving of praise, is
but a tribute due to him. I must not, however, dwell on
the merits of this renowned sportsman, or, as Cicero ex-
pressed himself when alluding to the virtues of Pompey, I
shall find it more difficult to know when to stop than how to
begin. I shall only repeat, that he left behind him a title
to the gratitude of the sporting world, and an example most
worthy of imitation by all masters of hounds. In short, we
may exclaim with the poet —

" Semper honos, nomenque tuum, laudesque manebunt."

O

194 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

The enclosures of Warwickshire are, for the most part, of
a fair size — particularly in the grazing districts, which I
should estimate at one third of the whole extent of country.
Taking it as a whole, I consider the soil very favourable to
scent, as the staple is generally good. A great portion of
the ploughed lands, however, are very tender after hard
frosts succeeded by rains ; and Warwickshire may be
termed a deep country to ride over, and one which requires
strong and well-bred horses. A great many such ai-e an-
nuallv bred in the county, and it always has been the pride
of Warwickshire yeomen to have a good hunter or two in
their stables, a species of stock that has, on the whole, paid
them well for rearing.

The fences of Warwickshire are of course of various de-
scriptions, but, with the exception of the Meriden Wood-
lands, now partly dissevered from the country, they are
seldom placed on banks. Quickset hedges, with a ditch
only on one side, are the general obstacles to be encountered ;
and in the grazing districts, from the richness of the soil,
they equal in strength the often described " bullfinches" of
Leicestershire and Northamptonshire. What are called
bullock-fences are likewise not uncommon in Warwickshire,
— that is to say — a good stiff rail accompanying the hedge
and ditch. Timber fences perpetually occur, either in the
shape of stiles, or rails affixed in weak parts of the quickset
fences, to which a ditch is always added, as a further security
against trespass. Brooks likewise abound, as they do in all
rich vales, but the greater part of them come under the de-
nomination of hrooklings, and few of either are sufficient to
stop a well-mounted sportsman, willing to get to hounds.

In the year 1812 Mr. Corbet's health rather gave way,
and though, as before observed, " game to the bone," the
fatigue of a constant attendance on his hounds, was consi-
dered too severe for a constitution already impaired by time.
At the earnest entreaties of his family then, he consented to
break up his hunting establishment at that period, and was
succeeded by Lord Middleton of Wollaton Hall, near Not-
tingham, who gave him twelve hundred guineas for his

LORD MIDDLETON. 195

hounds, consisting of more than seventy couples. His Lord-
ship accompanied his cheque for the money by a note expres-
sive of his obligation for the offer Mr. Coi'bet made him
of his pack, giving him to understand that he considered
the transaction more in the light of a gift than a purchase.

On the balance, as the betting men say, Warwickshire
was a loser by this change, although I am ready to admit
some alterations for the better were accomplished. In one
very essential respect, however, Lord Middleton was the
very reverse of his predecessor. He was somewhat haughty
in his demeanour, and consequently unpopular with the
farmers, who had been accustomed to the mild and gentle-
man-like carriage of Mr. Corbet. In short, it can scarcely
be doubted that Lord Middleton ruined Warwickshire as a
hunting country, for he destroyed the club at Stratford, he
divided the country with others, and gave up the second-
best woodlands in England. On the other hand it may be
admitted, that he did the thing in good style, (but what
cannot such a purse as his was do ?) and in spite of a miserable
tool as a huntsman, his hounds afforded sport. Perhaps a sea-
son or two during his reign may be produced as showing a bril-
liant succession of runs, unequalled by any hounds of the time.

Lord Middleton made one grand mistake, but here he
followed the example of his predecessor. He purchased a
house in the suburbs of Stratford-on-Avon, where he built a
large range of stables and kennels without considering that
the site of them was on the very outside of his country. No-
thing, however, could exceed the convenience of these pre-
mises as related to hounds and horses, nor the comfortable
arrangement of the house. Perhaps the dining-room was,
for its size, one of the most complete rooms in England, and
its furniture of the richest description. But alas, what a
change ! It is now the school-room of what is called a young
lady's seminary. The paddocks in which the hounds were
exercised in the winter, and his lordship's hunters soiled in
the summer, are now covered with cottages, presenting a
dismal appearance to those who remembered this place in
its glory. " Sic transit gloria mundi."

o 2

196 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

Lord Middleton hunted Warwickshire nine or ten years,
and it is but just to say he was a sportsman. Perhaps in his
judgment of the dog, in its varieties, he has been very rarely
excelled, particulary as related to spaniels, of which his breed
has been supposed to be unequalled in England. Indeed,
as compared with any others which had come under my ob-
servation, there is a superiority about them for blood and
bone, which I did not believe to have existed. For grey-
hounds, his lordship has been also celebrated ; and to sum
up all, setting temper aside, few men had more requisites
for keeping fox-hounds than Lord Middleton. He after-
wards went into Nottinghamshire, on Mr. Musters resigning
that country ; and with his accustomed magnificence, was
very soon in possession of one hundred couples of hounds
— having giving Mr. Osbaldeston a thousand guineas for ten
couples of his ; but his Lordship's health, however, not per-
mitting him to partake largely of his favourite diversion,
which, out of respect to him, as a sportsman, every brother
sportsman must regret, he soon afterwards resigned and
was succeeded by Mr. Dansey, some time master of the Here-
fordshire hounds.

The cause of Lord Middleton giving up Warwickshire,
was a fall from his favourite horse, Billy Button, and he
was succeeded in 1822 by Evelin John Shirley, Esq. of
Ealington Hall, near Shipston-on Stour, who, to his credit
be it spoken, took the hounds until some other owner for them
could be found, he himself, although a regular attendant in
the field, having no inclination for command. His highly
accomplished manners, however, added to the great worth
of his character, rendered it a highly popular measure in
Warwickshire, and, assisted by the celebrated Jack Wood
as his huntsman, the reputation of the pack rather increased
than suffered in his hands. He mounted his men in capital
style, as the sale of his horses at Tattersall's proved ; and
during his time, the attendance on the hounds was even
larger than in that of his predecessor.

To remedy the inconvenience I have spoken of, respecting
the ill-judged situation of the Stratford-on-Avon kennel,

MR. SHIRLEY — MR. FELLOWES. 197

Lord Middleton had a temporary one in the beautiful village
of Kenilworth, lying between Warwick and Coventry ; in
Mr. Shirley's time, a new one was erected at Butler's
Marston between Wellesburne and Kineton, a situation
which commanded all the covers in the country, excepting
some distant woodlands, when the hounds slept at Kenil-
worth.

In 1824, Mr. Shirley was succeeded by Mr. Hay of
Dunse Castle, Scotland, who, making Wood his kennel
huntsman, hunted the hounds himself. Mr. Hay did the
thing with great spirit, for a more zealous sportsman never
yet drew breath. His stud was excellent, and he rode
admirably to his hounds, but his reputation as a huntsman
might have been greater, at least so said the judges. How-
ever, on the whole, he gave abundant satisfaction, and his
relinquishment of the country was regretted.

Warwickshire w^as now doomed to undergo another
change. In 1827, Mr. Fellowes followed Mr. Hay in the
management of these hounds, having long been resident in
Warwickshire, where he had proved himself a sportsman,
in the fullest acce])tation of that word. He continued
Wood as his huntsman, but being wanting a little in that
spirit which is so essential to all masters of fox-hounds, and
particularly in Warwickshire, there was somewhat of flat-
ness in the concern during his reign, and in 183l) he
resigned. Mr. Russell, nephew to the Duke of Bedford,
then became master of the hounds. He was a good judge of
hunting, and particularly gentleman-like in his demeanour ;
though some say that his men might have been better
mounted, or at all events on horses better adapted to the
country; Wood's retirement, which then took place, was se-
verely felt in the country.

It is well known that neither Mr. Corbet nor Lord Mid-
dleton received any subscription to the hounds that hunted
Warwickshire. It commenced when Mr. Shirley became
master of them, and amounted to nearly two thousand
pounds per annum, paid punctually to a day.

198 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

In Mr. Corbet's time, the commencement of the season
was ushered in after a manner not unworthy of notice, and
still more worthy of imitation. By the first Monday in
November, the gentlemen composing the club assembled
at Stratford-on-Avon ; and on that day, the late Lord
Willoughby de Broke of Compton Varney, gave a dinner
to the master of the hounds, and a numerous party of sports-
men then resident in the neighbourhood, in commemoration
of the opening of the season. This highly respected noble-
man of the old school is dead ; but the present lord,
although no fox-hunter, is an excellent friend to fox-hunting.
His lordship, however, was not wdthout a little music in his
kennel, having been master of a clever pack of harriers now
given up. The late Earl of Aylesford of Packington Hall,
near Meriden, w^as also a staunch ally of Mr. Corbet, The
present Earl is a good preserver of foxes, and although his
taste does not often lead him into the field, he now and
then takes a look at hounds, and has the character of being
a bold and determined horseman.

The Earl of Clonmel was, for many years, one of the
firmest supporters of the Warwickshire hunt. During Mr.
Corbet's time he resided at Alvesley near Coventry, from
which place, although great was the distance he generally
had to ride, he was scarcely ever absent from a cover likely
to show sport. His lordship during Lord Middleton's
occupation of the country, resided at Weston House, near
Shipston-on-Stour, once the property of the much honoured
Colonel Sheldon, where his hospitality towards his brother
sportsmen was proverbial.

The Earl of Warwick must not be omitted. Before he
married, and previous to his father's decease — then Lord
Broke — he was a regular attendant on the Warwickshire
aounds, and rode in the first rank, but marriage spoiled
him for a sportsman. His Lordship has since been rather
slow, nevertheless he continues a staunch friend to the sport.

Mr. West of Alscot Park, near Stratford-on-Avon, of
racing celebrity, had a strong claim on the gratitude of this

THE EARL OF WARWICK. 199

hunt. His estate was long a nursery for foxes, as well
as game; and from Preston Bushes, how many good runs
have been seen! The cover is excellently situated, no other
being very near it, and in a fine country for scent. To
Mr. Holbech of Farnborough, also, were the gentlemen of
Warwickshire not a little indebted, as well as to Mr,
Tomes of Southam — the owner of the celebrated Itchington
Heath cover — Sir John Mordaunt, &c. The late Sir John
Mordaunt was conspicuous as a rider as well as a sportsman,
and his son, the present baronet, treads closely in his steps.
His property lies in the very centre of the hunt. " Grave
as a judge," was once a proverb in England, but time and
" the march" have nearly destroyed its value, the wisdom
being no longer in the wig. The Serjeant Goulburn of the
present day, brother to the Ex-minister of that name, was a
conspicuous character in Warwickshire in Mr. Corbet's
time. He is a better lawyer than he was a sportsman, but
he was a valuable acquisition to the Stratford-on-Avon hunt.
They were the days of his youth ; and nothing loth, he
yielded to the allurements which England holds out to that
delight-giving period. Like the great Lord Erskine, he
had been a soldier and a sailor. He had race-horses and
hunters, and so had others. But he had — what but few
possess — the talent to amuse heyond his fellows. In short, he
was the charm of society wheresoever he entered into it ;
for, although by nature a satirist, he sought but to amuse,
and if pain was given, the remedy was at hand by the same
means by which the wound was inflicted. A poem, written
by him, called Epwell Hunt, descriptive of a run he saw
with Mr. Corbet's hounds — somewhat in the style of the
famous Billesdon Coplow song — was an admirable perform-
ance as a real picture of the passing scene, and if I am not
much mistaken, will outlive the best of his judicial orations.
The town of Stratford-on-Avon, the head quarters of the
Warwickshire hunt, has little to recommend it, save a hand-
some church and bridge, and excellent accommodations for
sportsmen, at the inns. The house in which Shakespeai'e

200 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

was born is still standing, and reminds us of a pleasing fea-
ture in ancient history. Alexander the Great destroyed the
town of Thebes ; but such was his respect for the immortal
Pindar, that he ordered the house in which he had lived to
be preserved from the general wreck, and all that remained
of his family from the dreadful effects of his vengeance.

Warwickshire has always been in good repute as a sport-
ing country, and remarkable for producing what may be
termed a breed of sportsmen, not confined to hunting, but
possessing a taste for every variety of field sports. To this
circumstance may be attributed the very excellent under-
standing that has existed between the gentlemen and the yeo-
manry, and it also accounts for that strict preservation of
foxes for which it has so long been conspicuous. The yeo-
manry of Warwickshire, however, are for the most part an
enlightened race of men, and therefore superior to the self-
ish consideration that induces some persons to destroy an
animal that may afibrd amusement to hundreds residing in
the same county with themselves, because the possibility
exists of a lamb or a chicken being their loss. But, from
the pen of a sportsman, too much praise cannot be bestowed
on English yeomen in general, to whom hunting is so mainly
indebted ; and indeed justice has been done them by an emi-
nent poet and sportsman, who thus honourably character-
ises them :

" England's peculiar and appropriate sons
Known in no other land. Each boasts his hearth
And field as free as the best lord his barony,
Owing subjection to no human vassalage,
Save to their king and law. Hence are they resolute,
Leading the van on every day of battle.
As men who know the blessings they defend,
Hence are they frank and generous in peace,
As men who who have their portion in its plenty.
No other kingdom shoics such worth and happifiess
Veil'd in such low estate."

For bold and good riders has Warwickshire also been
pre-eminent. In the time of Mr. Corbet and Lord Mid-
dleton, those nonpareils, the Messrs. Canning, were in their
prime.

WARWICKSHIRE. 201

Warwickshire could also boast of producing one other
native horseman, such as has been rarely excelled in the art
of riding to hounds. This gentleman's name was Wyatt, and
— another son of Hercules — six feet three inches would not
take the measure of him from top to toe. He was for many
years after the Cannings began to decline, quite the leading
man in Warwickshire, and those who have witnessed his
performance can never forget the brilliant and straight-
forward style in which he rode to his hounds.

Before I quit Warwickshire, I will look round and see
who comes into my list from that quarter. There is Mr.
Holloway — the well known Ben Holloway — to begin with,
and who can better lead the way ? I think I have known
this good horseman upwards of thirty years, and the last
time I saw him with hounds he appeared in his old place,
" close to their tails," as Matty Wilkinson says. I make
him a Warwickshire man here, but he has chiefly hunted
in Oxfordshire, although he lived some years in the former
county. He is a good judge of hunters, rides light, and
with good hands. Mr. Holland has also much dis-
tinguished himself over Warwickshire in the last ten years.
All those who saw, as I did, that fine run with Mr. Hay,
from Light-thorn-rough to the Edge-hills, can speak to his
excellent performance on that day. But he is a hard and
good rider. I call Mr. Hay a capital horseman. In fact,
no man need ride better than he did, in every one's opinion,
when his hounds hunted Warwickshire — very straight-
forward and very quick. Mr. Handford, a nephew of Mr.
Lockley's, although a Worcestershire man, has often shown
in Warwickshire, but go where he would he always shone.
He was six feet high, and nearly sixteen stone, but who could
beat him over rough countries, on his Black horse, or on
Ready ? Indeed, although I cannot remember time and
place, he saw them all out once with the Black, with Lord
Segrave's hounds — His lordship tempted him with an offer
of four hundred guineas for his horse ; but he stood firm,
and I honour him for the act ; for it was a great price in the

202 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

provincials. Now what shall I say of the late Parson
Hancox, so many years in Warwickshire, and one of the
best horsemen there ? Why he did not see one run in ten.
Yet who handled a horse better ? Who put him to his
fences in a more workmanlike style ? I answer, no one ;
and yet, owing to having a bad eye to hounds, and persist-
ing in taking what he called a line of his own, his general
fate was to be beaten. Speaking of him as a horseman,
however, he was decidedly a good one.

But I have not done with Warwickshire yet. ^sop's
cock found a gem on a dunghill — though he had much
rather have found a corn. Of the lowest cast of human
kind, was Bradley's Harry — " hunter-making Harry" — and
as I shall never light upon his fellow again, I must in-
dulge myself with a few words about him. I believe T have
already stated, that about three days with hounds com-
pleted the education of a hunter, whilst under the tuition
and guidance of this master of arts. But what great
amusement was he the author of, independently of the
delight which his gallant performance afforded us — going
well upon a raw one, and no doubt very often on a bad one.
Conceive a gentleman " wanting to huy a horse,'' as the
phrase is, keeping an eye upon Harry — not nine stone, with
his saddle — riding apparently at his ease, and topping every
thing that came in his way, and every now and then
" going in and out clever," at the doubles. The horse is
bought, but mark the change ! Six stone more weight
(perhaps) with an awkward hand and a wash-ball seat, con-
vert this clever, newly wrought hunter, and certain fencer,
into a rushing, uncertain, and dangerous devil, and an appeal
to the liberality of Mr. Bradley was next day the result : —
" What shall I give you to take him back ?" The answer
to this (tovjours la memej 1 have already given ; but I
have chuckled when I have overheard something like the
following conversation between a customer and Harry :

Customer. — Well, Harry, that horse has carried you
well to-day.

Bradley's harry. 203

Harry. — A capital hunter, sir : the best I think, I ever rid.

Customer. — He seems to leap very well.

Harry. — He never makes no mistake, sir.

Customer. — Does he pull ?

Harry. — Lord ! no, sir ; a child might ride him.

Customer. — Does he rush at his fences ?

Harry. — He wants driving, sir.

Customer. — Do you think he would carry me 1

Harry. — (Casting his gallows eye over his person).
He'll just carry your weight. You'd beat every man in
Warwickshire on him.

Here was generally the clincher — the horse was sold.
But speaking seriously, it admits of a question, whether, all
things considered, this lad was not the best natural horseman
over a country the world ever produced. Picture to yourself
for a moment the office of this boy, rough rider — over so
strong a country as Warwicksliire, in which every descrip-
tion of fence is met with — to a dealer who sold more hunters
than any man at that time in England, and a great propor-
tion of them after having been almost initiated by Harry.
But such was the firm seat, good hand, and undaunted
nerve of this youth, that he seldom got falls, and I never
knew him kill more than one horse in the field, who broke
his back at a fence. Of course he was often in scrapes, but
his coolness gave his horses time to get out of them. I re-
member once — both our horses beat — coming up with him
to some rails, and no other place for choice. " Now,
Harry," said I; '•you or I?" Harry went, and alighted
across the rails. Sitting very coolly however he thus
addressed his horse. " D — n your sleepy eyes, what are you
about ?" When the top rail breaking, his horse struggled
out. But I know not which was the best, Harry or his
master, take them for every thing. Bradley himself was as
quick as lightning, and if he liked his horse, and thought
any one else liked him too, it must have been something
terrific to have turned him from his point, and he was the
best seller in his trade, where eloquence is always wanting.

204 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

In fact he was once thus addressed by an ex-member of the
Commons. " I sat in Parliament some time," said he, " for
which I paid £10,000, but I never heard any one talk so
much to his purpose as you do."

The New Forest is not the place to look for specimens of
bruising riders, as they are called, but horsemanship is
wanted in all countries, and particularly when a man rides
twenty stone. I was much pleased with Mr. Harbin's per-
formance over that rough surface, and when I was told he
turned that weight in the scale, was astonished at seeing
him standing up in his stirrups, a Za Chi fhey; having his
horse fast by the head in a plain snaffle bridle, and going a
slapping pace. It is, however, still more extraordinary that
he should have ridden a confirmed glandered horse for four
seasons, and that he should have afterwards recoved a sound
state of health. But, after all, what is there in a twenty
stone man galloping over an open country when compared
with one deprived of an arm, riding well up to hounds in a
country stiffly enclosed? I allude to the late Captain
Harvey of the Royal Artillery, a regular welter, icith only
one arm, having left the other at Waterloo. It is impossi-
ble for any person to go better on the cattle he rode, than
this gallant Irishman did, and I am quite sure the sun
never shone on the man who would have ridden over a
fence that he would not have attempted. In fact he fairly
planted Lord Derby's huntsman, Jonathan, on his famous
horse. Prosper. He rode four times at it, but Prosper
would not have it. His activity in opening gates (that he
did not ride over) and removing other obstructions to his
progress, with the one hand he had left — assisted now and
then by his teeth — was almost past belief; and the gaiety
with which he rode over a country, under such appalling
disadvantages, was, to me, quite delightful. But to what
a sad end did this gallant Irishman and noble fellow come !
Inflammation after bleeding, attacked the remaining limb; he
was told nothing but amputation of it would save his life,
"I will die then," said he; "for what can I do without

THE LATE CAPTAIN HARVEY. 205

either arm ?" I can only say, as there was not a Ceres to
have replaced his limhs, there should have been a bard to
have sung his fame. These things, however, are forgot-
ten : —

" Stern sons of war ! sad Wilfred sighed,
Behold the boast of Roman pride!
"What now of all your toils are known ?
A grassy trench, a broken stone."

But is it not extraordinary that there should be three one-
arm sportsmen, and all hard riders, in schedule H. Of Sir
Thomas Harris I have seen nothing in the field ; but he sits
his horse like a workman. Captain Healy, I noticed in my
Yorkshire Tour, quoting the Harrowviau words of young
Graham (Sir Bellingham's second son), " How devilishly
that one-armed fellow rides." He was brother to one of the
best men in Yorkshire, Major Healy, whose reputation as a
rider is too well-known for much to be said about it. Nim
North called him the Lasher, at least such, he says, was the
name by which he was distinguished in Mr. Lambton's
hunt. But we have often heard of the Major, on Hard-
bargain. In the same county was Mr. James Hall,of Scar-
boro, five miles from Beverley, one of the best of the
Holderness men, and who has, I believe, shown himself now
and then in Leicestershire. Mr. Harland, likewise in Mr.
Lambton's hunt, was one of the best performers, and was
neatly mounted and appointed when I was in the north
Nim North indeed speaks of him as being " always in his
place." He was likely to be so, for he paid attention to the
condition of his horses in the summer. But we must not
pass over Lord Hopetoun, whom I saw going well in Hol-
derness. He was a great weight, and a bruising rider.

All the Hills, in Shropshire, ride well, and I know not
which to begin with I am old enough to remember Mr.
John Hill, Lord Hill's eldest brother, who once hunted
Shropshire, a capital man over a country — as I believe
his father, old Sir John, as they called him, was before him.
I never saw him (Sir John) in the field, but I got a little
fortune by two colts out of one of his cast off hunters, who

206 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

produced a thousand pounds' worth of horse flesh in a very
few years. Some of the old Snap blood no doubt, though
her pedigree was unknown. Tom Hills, huntsman to the
Surrey, pleased me much. He was a powerful horseman,
with excellent judgment and rare pluck. I shall not soon
forget (indeed I am proud to remember) an hour we had
together with his hounds over the Godstone Vale — a sticky
and stiff one, as I ever rode over ; nor the answer that I
hear he once made to a cockney (Nodding Homer I believe)
who asked him whether he was not afraid to ride the small
thorough-bred horse he was then on ? " Oh, no," replied
Tom ? " he dares not fall with me, for he knows I should
crush him into the earth, if he did." Will Head, a brother
huntsman, to the Cheshire (a pupil of Sir Bellingham's,
having whipped-in to him), was also a very neat rider, and in
a tussle for victory between three rival packs, and of course
as many rival huntsmen, a few years back over Cheshire,
Will got the brush. But he ought to have been the cock of
his own walk, and the race was over Cheshire. It is a rare
country to teach a man the use of the left hand — so much
off-and-on work, with those narrow cops, and deep ditches.
In short, old Chute's butler, with his spade, would be useful
there, if any where.

I am now breaking the H's to a hend, as the Shropshire
people say. Mr. Frederick Hey sham — a Hampshire man
— would go in any country, being a firm and good horseman,
with pluck equal to any thing. I believe I once said of
him that he had no objection to a newly white-painted gate,
at any time of the day, and that is saying enough on the
score of nerve. Sir William Hoste is dead and gone, but
who that ever saw him ride — and he was well known in
Leicestershire — might not have allowed that "/as est ah
Hoste doceri." Of Tom Heycock, the Leicestershire grazier,
I need say nothing, the shop windows having shown him up.
He was a Lord Lonsdale's man, always conspicuous, and once
or twice has been noticed in letters from Melton, as being
" among the few who had the best of it, during the fastest
parts of the run." But am I about to forget Joe Harrison,

JOE HARRISON. 207

that brilliant fellow over a country, when he whipped-in to
Lord Sefton, Lord Foley, and I believe Mr. Assheton
Smith ? Oh no, for he was a clipper ; as hard as flint, and
a finished horseman, as well. He looked the whipper-
in to a T, but no dandy. He never talked to me of " the
interesting parts" of a run (curse your refinements) as a
modern whip lately did, " A capital thing to-day, Joe,"
said I to him once. " I know'd how 'twould be, sir," he
replied, " arter the first five minutes : there was nothing for me
to do. I never see'd hounds cluster together so in all my
born days. And how our master did ride sureig ! ! I
thought the old horse must have stopped with him," He
was a capital man with hounds. As Yankee Rush says of
Brougham, " a word told like a blow." But by all that is
good, I have left out one of the best of the " gemmen," as
Joe would call him — I mean Mr. Harrison, of Shelswell,
Oxfordshire, whom I remember one of the best over that
hard country. He was always splendidly mounted, but
when I state that two hundred guineas was with him a com-
mon price for a leader, it is no wonder he would give five
hundred for a hunter. He was likewise an excellent race-
rider, and once out-jockeyed me over his own course (the
Cottesford) for the Cottesford Heath Stakes.

208

©l>{]/^l^TilC^ ^QQc

I

ONG sounding as the
vowel / is, it produces
me a short list. One of
the best men England
ever saw, however, over
the strongest country in
the world, was Mr. Vere
Isliam, of Lamport,
Northamptonshire, bro-
ther to the baronet of
that name. Mr. Isham
\^ as my senior at Rugby
school, and take him on
all sorts of horses, he was quite deserving the encomium
I have passed upon him. He was nothing but a good one ;
and to prove this assertion, it is only necessary to say that he
was in the habit of purchasing horses other men were
obliged to give up — and this in a country where good
fencers are considered indispensable. But let him buy what
he might, they yielded at last to his fine hand and temper.
I generally saw him on a low but lengthy animal, well-
bred and thick ; and I liked to see him charging those
Northamptonshire '* stoppers," in his fearless manner.
His brother Henry was likewise a good horseman, but not
such a flyer as Mr. Vere. His neighbour, Mr. Isted of

LORD JERSEY. 209

Ecton, was a very hard rider, and an entliusiaf^tic admirer of
hounds.

There is only one man that I have wished had been
smothered in the birth, and that is he who mixed / with the
J, and U with the F, in the Dictionaries. But suppose
Lord Jersey had been stifled in the birth ! Why, if he had,
we should have lost not only one of the hardest, boldest, and
most judicious, but perhaps the most elegant rider to hounds
the world ever saw. In his best days — those of Mr.
Meynell — (when Lord Villiers) he was not to be beaten
either by hounds or by man ; on the contrary, there are
tales on record touching his lordship, that lead one to believe
he was one of the few of those times who were too fast for
the hounds even over that fast shire. I allude to his having
been now and then heard to exclaim in a run — " Curse
these hounds, what a bore they are ; they can't get from
under one's horse's feet." But all the Villiers's were dash-
ing fellows, — " prodigal of their persons," writes Clarendon.
Lord Jersey, however, so far took care of himself as always^
to ride horses more than equal to his weight, and he has been
very careful in selecting them. I remember his two famous
black horses, which he rode when LordVilliers ; but not cor-
rectly enough to describe them : nor do I now recollect the
exact sum which he either refused for, or sold them at.
But several of the splendid animals his lordship has ridden,
in the last twenty-five years, such as Grimsthorpe, Cecil,
and others, are now in my mind's eye, and they were equal
to much more than Lord Jersey's weight.

From an Earl to a huntsman is but a step — particular!}
so in this line, for the one cannot distinguish himself without
the other. Neither am I one who, because I have been
in the ' swell " countries, and seen most of the crack
performers in them, am blind to the merits of a man because
the field in which he displays them happens to be within a
dozen miles of London. Jonathan* then, (I forget his

* Griffin.— Ed.

2M) HUNTTNG KEMINTSCENCER,

surname) Lord Derby's late huntsman, comes next on mj^
list. But when I was in Surrey, the cry was — " look at the
horses Jonathan rides, and then look at his weight." No
matter for that ; a bad workman never has good tools, and
Prosper, Milo, The Baker, and Paddy, — his favourites, —
owed much of their superiority, as hunters, to Jonathan's
fine hand. To be sure he was but as a cock-sparrow on
their backs ; but I am bound to say he was all over a work-
man, and as cheerful a fellow to ride across a country with,
as I ever got alongside of. No man could put a horse
better or quicker at a fence — a certain proof of finger.
However, he has taken his last leap, and rather before his
time, though I fear this may have arisen from two causes.
First, he kept a public-house, a dangerous calling for a man
with a soul, for it is sure to become a wet one ; and, secondly,
it is said there has been more good ale drunk in Knowsley
servant's hall, than in that of any other nobleman in Eng-
land. But poor Jonathan's days were no doubt shortened
by gout.

Although " Mrs. Jones" is not in good odour, that is no
reason why the Mister Jones's may not be top-sawyers.
Let me see — where shall I go for a good one? Why, a long
Avay back ; to the late Mr. Roznon Jones of Gloucestershire,
and his brother Edward, since residing at the family seat.
In my early days, the former of these gentlemen was con-
sidered a first-rate rider, and was still more celebrated as a
superior judge of a hunter; and when I say that his name
alone sold one in Leicestershire — he being unable to ride him
one single day — for seven hundred guineas, I say enough.
Having, however, spoken of him as something out of the
common way as a horseman, I shall be expected to bring
some proof; and it will be found in the history and exploits
of one of his horses, which he rode many seasons — I should
be inclined to say, a dozen. He was an immense, thorough-
bred, gelding, by the late Duke of Bedford's Halkin —
certainly the largest-limbed thorough-bred one I ever saw ;
with only one eye ; a very hard puller, and a very uncertain

MESSRS. JONES. 211

fencer. Such, however, were his powers, that with the fine
hand of his owner, he very rarely fell, and never knew distress.
In dirt, his action was superb, and to sum up all. Lord
Sefton pronounced him the finest sample of a hunter he
ever saw. But Mr. Jones paid too dearly for the con-
spicuous place this horse could put him into, with hounds,
for his hard pulling, for so many successsive seasons, injured
his spine, and shortened his days. Were it allowable to go
once more into the hare-hunting field for a fine horseman, I
could say something of a brother of the last mentioned
eminent sportsman, who hunted his father's harriers, for
many years, in an almost super-excellent form, and in a
very deep vale ; but all these Jones's could ride, and the
Colonel of the Horse Artillery was once in great repute
as a jockey. I never saw him in the field. Mr. Jones of
Brackley — no relation to the foregoing — well known in Mr.
Drake's and the Duke of Grafton's hunts, is a very quick
and good man over a country. I saw Mr. Jenner (of
Berkeley) two seasons in Leicestershire. He made a good
start, but rather slackened pace after the first year, in
consequence of a smashing fall. Sir Frederick Johnstone
has made his debut since my time, but from what I hear of
him, he is a good one.

May I be permitted to call a man John, and nothing else
but John, for on my soul I cannot recollect his other name.
Nevertheless I have to call attention to a first-rate artist,
over a cramped country, John (something), who many
years hunted the Ludlow subscription fox-hounds, and with
whom I have crossed many a rough dale, and many a
punishing hill. But all who knew the country these
hounds hunted, are aware that it abounds with every de-
scription of fence that the ingenuity of a clod-hopper can
devise, and more especially with those called doubles — the
second ditch being often to be taken from very scanty
footing. It was at these cramped places that John's fine
finger served him, and I am bound to declare he was not to

p2

212 HUNTING BEMINISCENCES.

be excelled in tlie cool and masterly manner in which he
bounded his horses into, and over, them. Let Sir Belling-
ham Graham speak to one horse of his making, which he,
Sir B., called the Ludlow horse, having purchased him
from the late Mr. Adams with the hounds. Will. Staples
used to ride him, and he told me he was the most expert
fencer he ever had to do with. I dare not more than hint
at the boy who used to whip in to John, on a mule; but it
was astonishing to behold the places he and his hybrid (not
high-bred) hunter would get over, displaying, on the rider's
part, some qualities that would have been very serviceable
to several of my hard-riding acquaintances, and saved them
scores of falls. I never saw Mr. William Jolliffe with
hounds but once, and then he had nothing to do ; but I
was told he was one that could go better than most of the
provincials.

I cannot begin the eleventh letter of the alphabet — the
English kappa — better than with that gallant horseman,
Sir Charles Knightley, who once hunted the Pytchley
country (Northamptonshire), in which his fine domain is
placed. The world never saw a more daring rider, and
surely this is saying a great deal. Sir Charles being con-
\ / temporary with Assheton Smith and other stars of those
days. But all who remember his style of getting to hounds
will allow that nothing could be more determined, and, in
my eyes, nothing more beautiful — I mean amongst the
gymnastics. His wishing there was not a bridle-gate in
Northamptonshire, could only proceed from such a man
mounted on such horses as St. Maronel and Benvolio. In
fact, like Shakspeare's hero, Sir Charles might have ex-
claimed, "What man dare, I dare;" and his own me-
morable declaration, that " it is the duty of every man to
take care of his health ybr the sake of riding to hounds," proves
what an enthusiast he was. But alas! JVil violentum est
jjerpetuum; 'twas soon, soon over. He quitted the field in
the prime of his days, with all his honours thick upon him;

LORD KINTORE. 213

and his reason for so doing— at least that which he gave
me, when I hist saw him with hounds, on a pony — was,
that he could not get horses to carry him as he liked to
ride. I ventured to tell him that no doubt Benvolios and St.
Maronels were scarce, although good hunters were always
to be found ; but the remark reminded me of one made
many years back by Lord Delamere, although to a far
different import. " It must be very difficult," said a
youngster to him one day, on seeing thirteen of his stud
setting forward for Leicestershire, " to get thirteen such
horses as these." " Not at all," replied his lordship — then
Mr. Cholmondeley ; " the difficulty is to find the money to
buy them." This, however, does not apply to Sir Charles,
and w^here there is the wull there is always the way, says the
proverb. But I have often amused myself with thinking
had Sir Charles been in being in the days of chivalry,
what a gallant knight errant he would have made, and it
must have been a good man who crossed his lance. At all
events, he would have done honour to his order. I hope
" the young stock," as Joe Walton calls the heirs apparent,
will turn out well. I should add that Sir Charles leaped
the gate, near Northampton, on Benvolio, that Mr. Gurney
leaped on Sober Robin.

But when we speak of enthusiasts, where is the knight,
much less the squire, who could have outdone Lord Kintore
on horseback — not " for God and the ladies," as in olden
times, but to enable him to be close to his darling hounds,
in chase ? I cannot think he has ever yet seen the light ;
for, making allowance for the strongest passions which
actuate the human mind, I cannot conceive the daring of
any man can carry him further, in a favourite pursuit, than
his lordship's zeal has carried him in fox-hunting. The
act of travelling a pack of hounds five hundred miles to a
better country — to Berkshire — was a trifle. The furor
venaticus, however, of this sporting nobleman, is visible in
every act of his life. See him in a run, how ecstatic he is !
— pardon me reader, I can think of no other word. How

214 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

straight he goes ! how he rides at places, "not with the
expectation, but with the hope of getting over them* ! But
he is as hard as flint. A muddy ditch is a bed of roses to
Lord Kintore, provided it be on the same side of the hedge
with his hounds. Then mark him in the evening — how
joyously he speaks of them ! How his soul is wrapped in
the doings of the day, and the anticipations of the morrow !
Perhaps I may add, few men have been better mounted ;
and, as a proof that he thought so, he offered Lord Lyne-
doch four hundred guineas for one horse his lordship had
purchased at his sale, and bought in the brother to him at
more than three hundred ! Lord Lynedoch afterwards
refused eight hundred pounds for his horse, the offer being
made for the purpose of his being matched against Clinker,
in Lord Kennedy's steeple-chase with Captain Ross.

Had Lord Kintore been born without the silver spoon in
his mouth — that is to say, had his lot been cast amongst
those who work for their daily bread — if he could not have
been a huntsman, he would have been a whipper-in ; if not
a whipper-in, a dog-feeder ; if not a dog-feeder, an earth-
stopper. By this I mean to imply that his lordship is the
most ardent lover of fox-hunting, /or its own sake alone, that
has ever come across my path up to the present period of
my life.f And we find the proof of what I assert in the
countries he now hunts. In what he calls the home one, I
do not know of one man who can be called a sportsman.
And they are few and far between in the Turriff country. |
How often then in the season must Lord Kintore only par-
ticipate in the pleasures of the chase with his two whippers-
in I Although he laments this, he still " hangs on," to use

* In a run over the Vale of White Horse, Lord Kintore came down upon a fence
which he saw no horse could clear. " Hie, you sir, catch my horse," cried he to a
countryman on the opposite side, and, riding at, tumbled neck and crop over it.

t It may be remembered that one of the Duke of Cleveland's whippcrs-in was
heard to lament that his Lordship's father had not been a huntsman, so that the
passion for fox-hunting may be said to run in the blood.

X Lord Kintore sustained a great loss in the death of Mr. Dingwall of
Bruckley, Aberdeenshire, a very promising young sportsman, who was very pre-
raatuxely cut off. I had booked him as a future master.

LORD KINTORE. 215

his own words ; and no master in Great Britain is more
deserving of" success.

I greatly admire the style of hound Lord Kintore breeds,
the result partly of his experience of what that style ought
to be to stand work, and partly the result of his very
correct eye to the good points of all domestic animals,
which he has now and then exhibited practically to the
world. Then he has a sort of intuitive knowledge of the
animal dog, of the fox-hound certainly, which the following-
fact demonstrates. In the presence of Walker, now hunts-
man to the Fife (formerly whipper-in to himself), he had
the Southwold hounds drawn for his inspection, and then
drew them himself, not making more than two mistakes in
their names. Scott, Mr. Ramsay's huntsman, told me
he never saw his lordship's equal at this difficult task — " a
terrible quick man in a kennel, that Lord Kintore," said he
to me.

Besides his present countries and Forfarshire, Lord
Kintore hunted what is called the Vale of White Horse
country, Berkshire, (with part of Oxfordshire,) in 1826, on
the retirement of Mr. Harvey Combe, and hunted it three
seasons, with very good success. His quitting it was much
lamented by his numerous friends in that sporting jiart of
England, and especially so as he brought away with him a
misfortune which he has not been able to rid himself of —
the result of his zeal to show them sport. Riding at a sort
of impracticable fence he got a fall, the effects of which he
feels to this day, and probably will never cease to feel them.
That his lordship is also most popular in his present country
is not to be wondered at, and the sense of his brother
sportsmen on that point was a few years back practically
expressed by the presentation to him of a superb piece of
plate.

As a huntsman, both in the kennel and the field, I have
only to repeat what I have already said of Lord Kintore,
that he is both theoretical and practical. His various notes
upon hunting denote him the former, and the following

2J6 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

anecdote will show his anxiety to avail himself of the obser-
vations and experience of others. Wishing to have the
benefit of Crane's experience and judgment, when he (Crane)
hunted the Fife hounds, he sent him some observations of
his own, in manuscript, with the request that he would
comment freely upon them, and prefacing what he had
written with these words : — " To Thomas Crane, from one
who has seen and learnt a little, but who has yet a deal to
learn from those who have had longer experience than
himself."

In the kennel Lord Kintore shines as a huntsman ; no
one understands condition better than he does, and in the
season he never fails to feed his hounds himself. In the
field he is too well known to require more to be said than
that although his lordship may be excelled as a huntsman
— for he claims not perfection — there is little occasion for a
better, and I have had an opportunity of seeing him under
trying circumstances. His famous riding, for he will " be
with 'em," gives him a great advantage ; and he is not only
cool and collected in all his motions with his hounds, but
almost fastidious as to the manner in which matters should
be carried on. I really believe he had rather see his
hounds find and kill one fox in a truly fox-hunting style,
than a dozen in a slovenly unworkman-like manner. But
hear his own words on this subject. " I like," says his
lordship, " a burst of twenty minutes, and I do admire a real
hunting run of an hour, at a fair holding pace, when every
hound does his share of work ; and then to find them
increasing their pace by degrees, the fox sinking before them,
and running at last from scent to view. This is a pleasure
to be felt, but not to be conceived."

The Messrs. Kingscotes, brothers, and nephews to Sir
Henry Peyton, have done honour to the powers of the
horse ; having ridden as hard and well as it is possible to
ride to hounds, with the fearfid odds of a giant's stature
and sixteen stone, against the ten stone men on their
thorough-bred tits. In fact, one act is recorded relating to

MESSRS. KINGSCOTE — JOHN LOCKLEY, 217

tlie younger brotlier (Henry) that can have, I should
imagine, no parallel in the annals of the chase. In one of
Lord Lichfield's famous runs from Debdell Gorse, in the
Dunchurch country, he was riding a one-eyed horse, when
the other eye — having been previously amiss, and becoming
worse from excitement — failed him also, and he could no
longer distinguish ditches or grips, though he could jump
gates and stiles. The consequence was, his giving his rider
eleven falls ', notwithstanding which he saw the finish of the
finest run of the year, and one which Lord Lichfield told
me he could not have believed any one horse could have
carried any man, much less such a weight as Mr. Kings-
cote's, to the end of. I am sorry to say the elder brother
relinquished the field some years back, but Mr. Henry
Kingscote is still going with the Surrey Union, and, no
doubt, in his old form.

Lord Kinnaird and Sir John Kaye are first-flight men
in Leicestershire. I have already noticed the perfor-
mance of the latter when leading the field in a quick
thing, on his grey stallion. I shall finish the K's then with
the mention of Captain Kennedy (brother to Lord K.),
whose riding pleased me much in Yorkshire ; Mr. Knight,
of Chawton-park, Hampshire, whom, I ventured to say, I
thought would go well any where : and Mr. Kimmer, a
Duke of Beaufort's, and Lord Segrave's man, and a capital
in a wall country.

We m411 begin a laudamusof the L's with some of the old
ones, and it happens there are several good ones in this list.
For example — how I should like to see John Lockley put
on mortality again, and come amongst us in the full force of
manhood ! He has no business to be in a grave, nor
would he have been there now, despite of his heavy fall and
his fourscore years, had it not been for that obstinacy — I
can find no milder word — for which he was so renowned.
Had his horse shown the symptoms which his rider did
after an unlucky accident, he would pretty soon have had

218 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

the phlegm into his neck, and abstracted a gallon of blood ;
and had he permitted the nearest surgeon he could have
found to have stuck himself, he vs^ould have been amongst
us now. But, to be serious. Lockley was one of the most
extraordinary men in a saddle perhaps that England ever
knew ; and I here do not merely allude to his performance
in it with hounds, but to his predilection for it at all hours
of the day, for he spent at least half his life on horseback.
Lockley was, however, a pre-eminent horseman in the field
and on the road ; and, considering his weight in his best
days, little under fifteen stone, he could go brilliantly to
hounds in all sorts of countries, and, I may almost say, on
all sorts of horses. But I hear the reader exclaim — was
not Lockley always well mounted ? Not he indeed. His
object was to buy cheap and sell dear, consequently, good
judge as he was, all his nags did not turn up trumps. It
must be admitted, however, that he had some very brilliant
hunters in his day ; amongst the best of which were Confi-
dence,* Ready, and his famous bay horse, which he rode
for many seasons towards the close of his life. But he sold
several hunters in Leicestershire before I knew liim —
namely, in old Meynell's time, — when his judgment was
very much looked up to. He was never seen on a low-
bred horse, for which alone his memory should be re-
spected ; nothing being less in character of a modern
sportsman than to be seen on such an animal. It was
amusing, however, to remark what thorough-bred steeds
he would now and then be seen upon on the road, as also
astonishing was the distance he would ride them on a cup
of green tea. But Lockley was a horseman whom it
behoves every man to imitate. His seat was firm, but

• Confidence was a superb animal as an English hunter, by Weasel, by Herod,
dam by Young Eclipse, and of course thorough-bred. Mr. Lockley gave 100 gs.
for him at the foot of his dam in York streets, and, after riding him several sea-
sons, sold him to Earl Sefton for 600 gs. On his lordship giving up hunting, Mr.
L. took him again, and, after carrying him a capital day in Warwickshire, sold
him for 7-50 gs. to Mr. Best. He was ridden, in all, eighteen seasons.

LORD LYNEDOCfl. 219

easy to an enviable degree ; liis hand steady, and his temper
fine. Having failings himself (as he was wont to observe)
he looked them over in his horses, and he never gave them
up until he found them quite incorrigible. He had like-
wise a quick eye to hounds and country ; and, having taken
a lesson from the late Lord Forester, he always kept near
the pack in chase, knowing the evil of having ground to
make up. Nevertheless, as a sportsman, I thought little of
him. For the sake of enjoying an opinion of his own,
rather than coincide with that of others, his judgment led
him to false conclusions, and it struck me he knew little of
hounds. But this was Mr. Meynell's opinion. " Riding
was Mr. Lockley's forte," said he, and brilliantly would he
ride, especially if he thought any man had an eye to his
horse. It must, however, be borne in mind, that although
age cannot meet in the lists with activity and youth, nor
over a country, in a fox-chase, Mr. Lockley kept a good
place with hounds long after nine- tenths of mankind are
afraid to mount even a pony, and betake themselves to the
easy chair. A very few years before his decease he distin-
guished himself in the three best runs of the year, with Sir
Bellingham Graham's, Mr. Osbaldeston's, and the War-
wickshire hounds !

Now then for a laudamus for the hero of Barrossa, the
gallant Lord Lynedoch, whom every body has heard of, and
whom Napoleon distinguished as " a daring old man."
Lord Lynedoch has been obliged to relinquish the chase
the last few seasons, by reason of his eyes failing him,
for his bodily powers would have yielded only to death.
His lordship had fallen into " the sere and yelloAv leaf"
before I had the honour of his acquaintance, but in Mr.
Meynell's time he was a conspicuous man with the Quorn
hounds. In fact Lord Lynedoch rode as he fought, with
the lion's courage and the hero's zeal, and was allowed to
be the hardest rider the world ever saw at his advanced
age — nearer eighty than seventy. Perhaps his zeal may be

220 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

measured by the fact of his having, about the period I
allude to, refused eight hundred pounds for one of his eight
hunters — and for one, to my eye, the very reverse of what
is called an old man's horse, being impetuous at his fences,
and, as I thought, raw. Here is another sportsman to
whom we would i^ we could, give the Promethean touch of
youth, but alas, that cannot be done. We must acknow-
ledge our gratitude then to this son of lapetus, for what he
has done— for bringing the noble faculties of man into
action, and amongst others his management of the horse.

Every one who has not seen the man — a great loss by
the way — has seen the print of Mr. Ralph Lambton, in his
proper element — with hounds, and those hounds his own.
He is mounted on a favourite horse, called Undertaker,
by St. George, which he rode many seasons. I have reason
to believe that, in Mr. Meynell's days, there were few
harder riders in Leicestershire than Mr. Lambton, and no
man need ride nearer to hounds in chase than he did when
I was hunting with him sixteen years back. Indeed, Nim
North speaks thus of him in 1825. " Mr. Ralph Lambton
is a capital horseman ; his eye I would give any thing to
possess, and his riding is not dashed with that jealousy
which is so prevalent among the sportsmen of the present
day. On the contrary, if he is riding behind, and sees a
hound turn, he will call out ' right hand,' ' left hand,' as the
case may be, and seems delighted at the young ones getting
forward." The same excellent writer also most feelingly
describes one of his bad falls — for he had two within a
short time — which he had the misfortune to witness. Its
consequence was temporary paralysis, from pitching on his
head ; and pitching again on his head, in his second fall,
had nearly proved fatal to him. He, however, perfectly
recovered, with the exception of a slight distortion of the
neck, and it was subsequently to all this that I saw him
going so well in Durham.

The Lawley's all ride — " Sir Lawley," as he was called at

THE EARL OF LICHFIELD. 221

Melton, in Meynell's time — then Sir Robert Lawley,
at the head of tliem. But the crack man of the
three brothers was Frank Lawley, as he is called,
M.P. for Warwickshire. It is a long time since I have
seen him with hounds, and I fear he has quitted the field ;
but he was a prime hand over a country, and what we call
a beautiful horseman. He always struck me as a man who
ought to have been at the head of a pack of fox -hounds,
and I am sure he would have done the thing well." The
third and younger brother, Mr. Beilby Lawley in former
days, Mr. Beilby Thompson afterwards, and Lord Wen-
lock now, was also a pretty performer, but I believe he has
long since done with hunting. Doing honour to the name
was Sam Lawley, huntsman to the late Lord Vernon, whose
riding I very much admired. But he was splendidly
mounted, his lordship refusing nine hundred guineas for
three of his horses in my time.* By the way, Mr. Levett,
better known as The (Theophilus) Levett, a conspicuous
character in Lord Vernon's hunt, was the gentleman who
made the offer. There were few better riders than Mr.
Levett (a welter weight), and his horse, Banker, will, with
himself, be long remembered in the Atherstone country.
Lambert, one of the king's present whips, late George
Wyndbam's, also deserves notice among the Castors and
Polluxes of day.

The mention of the Atherstone country reminds me of
perhaps the best man who ever rode over it, and was
connected with it — I mean the Earl of Lichfield, who
hunted it several seasons, and in the literal acceptation of
the word, for he himself officiated as huntsman. On this
subject, perhaps I may be allowed the privilege of quoting
myself, " When I first knew Lord Anson in the field," I
say in one of my Tours, " I thought with many others that

* I honour the memory of Lord Vernon for this sportsmanlike act. Nothing is
more unfair towards a huntsman, in a strongly fenced country (or, indeed, in any
country) like Lawley's than to take from him his horse.s, wlucli he has made to his
own hand.

222 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

he went a hunting because other people went a hunting,"
little suspecting that he would have filled the situation he
now does — a master of fox-hounds, hunting them himself.
At the time I am speaking of he was a very indifferent
horseman, displaying but a small share of nerve ; but we
must not always judge from first appearances, and above all
we should never judge rashly. Lord Anson was fond of
hounds ; his fondness for hounds has made him a sports-
man ; his fondness for hounds has made him one of
the " hardest and best riders of the present day" — and I may
now add, of any other day. Indeed, as another writer in
the Old Sporting Magazine once said of his lordship, " his
riding is beyond praise;" and I believe I may with truth
assert, that in all the severe runs his hounds had during the
time he hunted them he was never — any more than Sir
Bellingham Graham was — known to be out of his place.
In the ever memorable run from Enderby to Ashby-de-la-
Zouch— fifteen miles point blank, best pace all the way, and
rendered memorable by a monument, erected by Mr.
Loraine Smith, on the spot whereon the nonpareil fox was
unkennelled — Lord Lichfield displayed as fine horseman-
ship as was ever seen in any country, although he had the
misfortune to pay the price of a horse for the high honours
himself and his pack obtained. I confess I liked to see
Lord Lichfield in a run. There was a fine slashing style
of riding that evinced a determination to get to hounds, and
a sort of indifference as to obstacles, that showed where
his heart was, in chase, and where he was determined it
should be; and his style of hunter also was magnificent.
You never saw him upon any thing but large, well-bred,
and commanding horses, more than equal to his weight, and
of course perfect fencers. At all events they would soon
become so, after his lordship had the handling of them*.

I have heard Sir Bellingham Graham say, that one of the
best men he ever saw in any country, he found, perhaps un-

* I think I can take upon myself to say, that nothing but severe attacks of gout
would have deprived the sporting world of Lord Lichfield and his fox-hounds.

MR. GRIFFITH LLOYD. 223

expectedly, in Shropshire. I mean Mr. Lycester of Row-
ton Castle, near Shrewsbury, who was going so well when I
was in Shropshire some years back — often leading the
field in the quickest runs, on a small but wonderfully clever
mare, called The Doe, which had formerly carried one of
Mr. Mytton's whippers-in ; and I understand he has now
got a most superior horse he calls Jupiter, on which he
equally distinguishes himself. Mr. Lycester comes under
the denomination of an elegant horseman as well as a hard
rider, qualifications not often united.

There was a long list of Lloyds to bring in here, but three of
them have changed their names and two only remain. Mr.
Lloyd of Aston, one of the trio who managed the Shropshire
hounds, was a hard persevering rider, and would be " with
'em" if possible. He was game to the back bone, according
to the vulgar phrase. I never saw so near a " go" for a
broken neck as fell to his lot, almost the last time I saw
him with hounds. When I helped to pick him up he was
black in the face, and the skin of his neck was very much
discoloured. In a day or two afterwards he was at work
again, and thought no more of the chance he had given to
the coroner. Mr. Griffith Lloyd was also one of the hard
ones, and a few years back had a still narrower escape, hav-
ing been given up as lost by Sir Astley Cooper. The in-
jury was occasioned by his horse falling back upon him, and
fracturing a bone of the pelvis — as was the case with Dick
Burton — and the agony he suffered beggars description.
His groans were audible at a great distance, but although
lamed for life he was sound enough to ride, and went at it
again as though nothing had happened. He was a strong-
horseman, and generally near enough to hounds to see their
hunting, of which he was allowed to be a fair judge. But if
" experientia docet" he ought to be, for he had been many
years with hounds, never missing a fixture, whether good or
bad, unless interrupted by illness, of which I have reason to
believe he had a very small share.

When I visited Mr. Warde, at the time he had the Cra-

224 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

ven hounds, there was also, on a visit to him, a very pretty
rider from Kent, cognomine Lambert, who, I have been
given to understand, has since been at the head of a pack of
fox-hounds — a situation, from all I saw of him during the
fortnight he was in the field with me, he appeared very well
qualified for. But I now speak of him as a horseman, and
as such I pronounce him perfect — reminding me very much
of Mr Davey, on whom I have already lavished my praise.
I would walk five miles any day to see him ride a chesnut
horse he had in Berkshire (or indeed any other horse that
could do what he did), over a stile which I had the pleasure
of seeing him ride him over. He did it like a workman,
and it required a workman, I assure you. In fact, Davey
himself could not have done it better.

There are two persons who would have made a figure
here, if I had seen enough of them for my purpose, but un-
fortunately I have not. I mean Mr. Lowth, author of the
Billesden Coplow poem, and Mr. Joseph Leeds. The
former I never met in the field, though I have seen him ride
many a beautiful race. But the sporting world had a still
greater loss by Mr. Lowth declining hunting early in life.
Had he not been an eye-witness of the celebrated Billesden
Coplow run, immortalised by his pen, a very garbled account
of it would have gone forth to the world ; and how many
other chefs d'auvres of hounds and men might not have been
recorded by his muse ! The other great artist, Mr. Leeds, I
saw once or twice with the Oakley, but there was nothing
to call forth his talent. It is, however, too well known to
need notice by me. Mr. Leeds had the credit of making
the renowned Clinker into a hunter, no easy task I presume,
from what I saw of him afterwards.

One of our best horsemen, as well as most experienced,
and I may add, enlightened, sportsmen, is the Hon.^ Colonel
Lowther, Earl Lonsdale's second son. No man need ride
better to hounds than Colonel Lowther does, and no more
need be said, unless the fact may be worth mentioning of
his having ridden one horse, called Postboy, up to his

MR. JOHN LUCY, OF WARWICKSHIRE. 225

twenty-fourth year, in which year I saw him, quite fresh on
his legs, having had an excellent likeness taken of him by
Fej'neley of Melton.

The blood chills in the veins when we think of the
sad end of that gallant horseman, Captain Locke,* whom
I have seen go so brilliantly in Leicestershire and other
places, though I always considered him too severe on his
horse. Lord Lisle was a very pretty rider, and I have
been told, a hard one ; but I never saw his Lordship any
where except in the New Forest, and consequently not opposed
by fences. Mr. John Lucy of Warwickshire, made himself
signal by being one of three that went the tremendous run
Lord Middleton had from out of the Warwickshire Vale to
Ditchley Park, twelve miles from Oxford — every other man
being beaten to a stand still, and the hounds taking up their
abode for the night in the Duke of Beaufort's kennel at
Heythorpe. Not one of Lord Middleton's men, capitally
mounted as they were, could get within reach of their
hounds. There were also a few crack Meltonians at start-
ing, but all, save one, who will be mentioned in his place,
shared the same fate. One of the best of them declined
when I cut it, about six miles from the finish. Without
detracting from the merits of either Mr. Lucy or his horse, it
behoves me to state, that he was the lightest man in the field ;
that the country was very deep for the first ten miles, and
great part of it on the ascent ; but this proves that weight
tells in the " telling pace" with hounds, as well as over the
course.

The tw^o Messrs. Legard, whose father once had Sir
Tatton Sykes's country, were crack men in Holderness —
George being, I believe, a turn the better of the two.

* My readers may remember that he was drowned in the Lake of Como, before
the eyes o^his wife, and a party of friends, who were, however, wholly unable to
render him any assistance.

22(1

©K/gi[?5irii(^

XFORDSHIEE, in the
up])er part, or what is called
the Hill Country, has been
hunted by the late and
present Dukes of Beaufort,
for a period of full eighty
years in succession. It is»
for the most part, a cold
cheerless tract, unpleasing
to the eye of any one but ^
sportsman or a farmer, and
not altogether composed of
that sort of soil considered favourable to scent. The enclo-
sures, however, are large, giving room to horsemen and
hounds, and, with the exception of the woodland part of it,
the covers are favourably situated for sport. The fences are,
for the most part, stone walls, originally from four to five
feet in height; but what are termed the "top stones" of
many of them being thrown down, the height is very much
diminished. Neither are they considered dangerous fences,
as they generally yield to the weight of a horse and his
rider, and are very rarely accompanied by ditches. Not-
withstanding this, it requires that horses should be ac-
customed to walls, as in that case they go close to them
previously to rising at them, and thereby very much lessen
the exertion.

THE DUKE OF BEAUFORx'b COUNTRY. 227

The lower part of the country, under Chipping Norton,
bordering- on Warwickshire, and Worcestershire, is strong
and deep, and the Evenload and the Kingham Brooks are
every now and then to be faced. Foxes will also sometimes
sink the hill from Walton Heath — one of their outside
covers — and enter the Vale of Warwickshire ; and perhaps
once or twice in a season, from Sandford Park, face the
fine Vale for Wroxton Abbey, near Banbury, when a
splitter, and too often some dead horses, are the result — the
country being very severe.

The Woodlands of Oxfordshire are large, particularly
those of Ditchley, Tar Wood, Gawcoml), Bruen Woods,
Witchwood Forest, &c., but they are well preserved, and
often produce excellent foxes, which after some trouble to
hounds to make them break, are very difficult to kill.

The favourite covers of this hunt, in what is called the
open country, are Addlestrap, Farmington Grove, Payne's
Furze, and Oddington Ashes, near Moreton-in-Marsh,
Walton Heath, Sandford Park, and Heythorpe, or Hey-
throp.

As the late Duke of Beaufort hunted two countries, he had
of course, two kennels. One at his well-known seat at
Badminton Park, Gloucestershire ; and the other at Hey-
thorpe Hall, near Enstone, Oxfordshire, where he for
many years occupied the noble seat of the Earl of Shrews-
bury, which he would doubtless have long continued
to occupy, had it not been destroyed by fire. His Grace
finished that season at Chapel House Inn, eighteen
miles from Oxford, but he afterwards took the lodge in
Witchford Forest, where he formerly resided, when Mar-
quis of Worcester, in the lifetime of his father.

The Duke of Beaufort's hounds divide the season between
the Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire countries, and pretty
ecpially so as to the periods of hunting each. As may be
expected, the absence of the hounds for the respective
kennels is much regretted by the followers of them; but
circumstances must be submitted to. It is possible the

q2

228 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

first-mentioned country might support hounds the season
throughout, three days a week, but not so the Badminton,
of which the following is a sketch : —

There is a g'reat portion of grass land in the Badminton
country. Indeed, from some covers, Stanton Park for
example, about ten miles from Badminton, and near to
Malmsbury, there is as good a country to ride over, and one
as advantageous to hounds, as almost any part of England
can show. The foxes from that cover are also noted for
running stoutly and taking a deal of killing. A gorse
cover in Badmington Park is likewise a sure find, and
generally shows a run. Some years since a fox was re-
peatedly found in an old ivy-tree in it, and gave some
excellent runs. Mr. Kingscote, who married one of the
Duke's daughters, now, unfortunately, no more, made
several gorse covers on his property, which are great
acquisitions to this hunt. Shipton Wood, close to the
town of Tedbury, the property of Mr. Escourt, and Silk
Wood, between Tedbury and Kingscote, are likewise
favourite covers ; — as also Box Wood, the property of Mr.
Huntley, whose son, the captain, was a great supporter of this
part of the country. Hawkesbury-Upton, Elm-Ash, and
Dray cot Park, the seat of the Misses Long, are also
excellent fixtures.

There are fine Woodlands in the Badminton country.
The lower woods, on the Sodbury side, perhaps stand first.
These often send out " a traveller" to Colonel Berkeley's
covers, whose pack bring him back at a merry pace — that
is, provided he do not give up the ghost on the road, for the
country is a choking one. It is the opinion of many good
sportsmen, that these and the other Woodlands would stand
more hunting than the Duke gives them, which is too often
the case, according to the present system of fox-hunting.

The Oxfordshire country is a good deal more extensive,
embracing a large tract of hill and vale. It joins the
Bicester country, the Warwickshire, Colonel Berkeley's,
Lord Ducie's, Mr. Horlock's, and Sir John Cope's ; but

MAP OF THE

m E IE Y

DUKE OF BEAUFORT'S

H CD) 17 I>7 JD S.

Sti2/t- of i:n0Uah Miles

THE DUKE OF BEAUFORT's COUNTRY. 229

does not transgress the boundary of the county, though
it verges on the borders of several. Indeed, the four-
shire stone — a stone standing in four several counties —
is near to one of the favourite covers of the Hunt. In
better times, the towns of Chipping Norton, and Woodstock,
as well as the inn at Chapel House, contained parties of
gentlemen in attendance on the Duke's hounds ; but those
days are gone by. A few old stagers, however, are still
occasionally to be found at the village of Charlbury ; and
now and then a visitor or two to the other places.

For the conspicuous riders of this part of Oxfordshire, we
must look to some of the old ones, who have done the trick
in better countries.

Mr. Evans of Dean, once a Leicestershire man also, and
Mr. Webb of Kiddington, Mr. Lewes, and Mr. Thorn-
hill, ranked high ; nor must Mr. Holloway of Charlbury,
be passed over. He was a thorough sportsman, and — like
his horses in chase — would go till nature cried " enough."

All who like to see the manly character displayed, will
receive pleasure in recollection of the name of the late Rev.
Harry Waller, who was for so many years an everyday attend-
ant on the Duke's hounds. It was justly said of him, that he
was " one of the hardest old men England ever produced."
Neither did she ever produce a more determined rider, nor
a better judge of hunting. " Deaf as a post" — grown old in
years — not the best mounted man in the hunt — yet he would
be with the pack, and was scarcely ever found absent at the
finish of a good run.

All the Somersets inherited their late noble father's passion
for the chase, although the still more honourable occupation of
arms has divided the pursuits of some of them. The late Duke
himself was never a forward rider, but his brother, the late
Lord Charles Somerset, was a good man in his day over Lei-
cestershire, in the time of the justly renowned Mr. Meynell.
His lordship was also a fair gentleman-jockey, contending
every year at Bibury, against the present Duke of Dorset^
Messrs. Germaine, now Lord Sackville, Delme Radcliff,

230 HUNTIiVQ REMIWISCENCKS.

aid others, and he was considered a first-rate judge of race-
horses. The present Duke has followed hounds all his life,
and trained on in keenness for the noble sport. Lord
Granville Somerset, however, is the quickest of his name,
and has generally as good a place in a run as any man in
the field. In the Badminton country, Mr. Peach of Tock-
ington, Mr. Southcote Austin, Mr. Miles, and Mr. George
Anstice, were generally leading men ; the three former, how-
ever, spent most part of their winter with the Burton Hunt,
in Lincolnshire ; and Lord Ducie, perhaps the best amongst
them, also quitted the Duke's hounds, to hunt a pack of
his own.

Mr, George Robins of Baverstone Castle, near Tetbury, a
wealthy yeoman, with his trepanned skull, occasioned by a
fall, should not pass without notice ; nor should Mr. Kym-
ber, an excellent sportsman of the same cast, be left out of
the list of the Oxfordshire good ones. The retirement from
the field of Thomas Kingscote, Esq., the Duke's son-in-law,
was lamented by all good sportsmen, as he was one of the best
welter weights England ever saw. That out-and-outer
Jack Taylor, now no more, will never be forgotten as a
horseman of the very first class.

It is useless to say that the private character of the late Duke
of Beaufort was an example worthy of imitation by every
English nobleman, and every English gentleman, as a
husband, a father, a landlord, and a master. An attempt
was once made to assail it, but in what did it end 1 In the
discomfiture of the author of it, and a complete refutation of
the calumny on the part of himself and his family. But
what was the motive of it? Ill-will towards his Grace? No;
the motive was the destruction of every thing that is
respectable, and a wish to build up a new-fangled fabric on
the ruins. As a master of fox-hounds, the duke also stood
pre-eminent — not only as regarded his nobleman-like conduct
in the field, but as a scientific sportsman. His kennel
stood, perha})s, third from the top of all the kennels in
England. His old huntsman, Philip Payne, greatly

THE DUKK OF BEAUFORT "s COUXTUY. 231

assisted his Grace in this department of his establish-
ment ; — I mean breeding- the hounds. Payne proved
himself a man of sense and discernment, greater than is
usually met with in persons of his cast in life. With
Mr. Warde for his pattern, he did not breed his hounds
merely with a view of flying over a country on high
scenting mornings, but to stoop to, and hunt their foxes
over, perhaps, one of the worst scenting countries in Eng-
land. Neither was elegance of form lost sight of, — on the
contrary, the Duke of Beaufort's hounds are as handsome
to the eye as fox-hounds need to be. Indeed they have
long shown a decided superiority over most of the neigh-
bouring packs — a superiority so generally acknowledged,
that the mention of it cannot be productive of either envy or
ill-will.

Each of the Duke of Beaufort's countries is plentifully
supplied with foxes. Vulpecides are unknown, and the
landowners are well-wishei's to the sport. Among the good
friends to the hunt. Lord Andover, and Mr. Blaithwaite of
Dyrham Park, should not be overlooked. In short, few, if
any hunts are better conducted throughout ; and all good
sportsmen should put up a prayer for its continuance, since
there is but too much reason to apprehend that fox-hunting
is on the wane.

Heading the list of servant riders stood Will. Long, for-
merly whipper-in and afterwards huntsman to the late Duke
of Beaufort. He was very well described, I remember, in one
of Peter Pry's letters in the Old Sporting. " Will. Long,"
says he, " as a huntsman, is as near perfection as may be

To gain his objects, horsemanship is important,

and in this he is unrivalled. I invite all lovers of a cliase
to see him ride one ; the finest seat, with such hands as are
rarely in use ; he rides without jealousy, and takes the
country as it comes. If I could take portraits, I would
have Long putting his horse at a stone wall, with the hound
Pillager at his side — perfect specimens." Mr. Lewes, Avho
long hunted with the Duke, and was, I believe, a member

232 HUNTING REMINISCENCES,

of his hunt (colour not blue, but black), was a beautiful
rider to hounds, and would go in any country that is
hunted.

Reserving him for a bonne bouche, I now bring forward
Mr. Lindow, and I must pay a warm tribute to his talents ;
since there are many, many, crack men — Meltonians too
— of the past, and indeed of later days, who have never
set eyes on this " Goliath of degrees ;" although they have
seen him going a slapping pace on a snuff-box, and certainly
nothing could more closely resemble the man. Indeed, I
remember that, some years ago, in a letter from Paris to
the Old Magazine, from a very crack man, under the signa-
ture of" An Old Un" — well-known at Melton — the writer
said, that " having seen Musters with hounds compensated
him for never having seen Meynell, and Thomas Assheton
Smith for never having seen Lindow."

I believe I have already stated, that I was in the same
form or class, at Rugby, with Abraham Rawlinson and
Lindow Rawlinson, " twin brothers of the same womb," as
Shakespeare has it, and all I knew of them in the throng
was, — first, that they were so like to each other that it
was very difficult to distinguish them (indeed, like the
tennis player, who was fraudulently exchanged for his twin
brother in the middle of the game, either one of these
brothers could have re^jresented the other, and we only
knew them apart by a difference of dress) ; secondly, that I
was always very civil to them, for they were devils to fight,
and you might as well have struck a deal board as either
of their mugs ; thirdly, they were as ready with thoir lessons
as with their fists ;* and lastly, they were called " devilish
conceited fellows" behind their backs, though few dared tell
them so to their faces ; in short, evidently showing that
some day or other, and in some way or another, they would
prove to the world they were not sent into it, as Horace

♦ I shall never forget the hiding that Lindow (without a scratched face) gave a
lad by the name of Halsted, a stone heavier than himself His face the next day
resembled a plum pudding.

MR. LIN DOW. 233

says, " merely to assist in consuming its fruits," but to
become candidates for a lasting fame. Like Juno's swans
also, they "went coupled and inseparable."

The first time I met Mr. Lindow as a sportsman — having
dropped the name of Rawlinson, in compliance with the
will of an uncle who left him a good fortune — was in 1803,
at Melton, where he was a member of the Old Club, in the
height of his riding fame, and in the possession of the cele-
brated Clipper, having the character of "the best hunter
IN England!" On their first starting in life it was a toss up
which might make the most brilliant horseman of these
twin brothers, but Lindow had advantages which rather
gave him the lead. In the first place he took to the racing
saddle, and had a good share of practice at Bibury, when
Bibury was in all its glory, and afterwards at Kingscote,
which of course strengthened his seat and improved his
hand. His three or four winters' residence at Melton
afterwards made him a master of the art, and becomino; ,

possessed of " the best hunter in England" for Leicestershire, ;

for the weight he could carry, — which was just his own, say ■*

a little more than twelve stone with his saddle — placed him
on the pinnacle of fame. He had of course several other
brilliant horses which I very well remember, but I will
only dwell upon the Clipper. He was a spiry chesnut
gelding, showing a great deal of blood — thorough -bred, no
doubt — with the devil's own bad temper and " shocking
bad" fore legs. All those who remember him will remember
the following circumstance, and those who do not will not
require to be told ichy he was named The Clipper. Towards
the end of a capital run with the Quorn hounds, over the
severest part of Leicestershire, Assheton Smith on Gairy
Owen, and Lindow on this horse, found themselves alone
with the pack — no other horseman being in sight, and the
fox sinking before them. Both horses at length stopped,
but Lindow's went the longest. But why called the
Clipper? The word in common use denotes the reverse
of speed (metaphorically a stopper), but the word-book of

234 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

the Falconer gives the licence ; and beautifully hath Dryden
applied it :

" Some falcon stoops at what her eye design'd,
And with her eagerness the quarry miss'd,
Straight flies at check, and cli2)s it down the wind."

As regards myself, I always particularly admired Lindow's
style of riding. Independently of his quickness and ne7-ve
equal to any thing, he was an excellent judge of pace, very
strong in his saddle, and rarely over-matched his horse. As
to his seat, it was perfect ; but, as I have before said, it is
known to almost every one, having been in almost every
snuff-box or print-shop window^ in Europe, and the repre-
sentation extremely correct. When " going a slapping
pace" he generally stood up in his stirrups, having his horse
fast by the head ; and although some persons vote this slow,
and always sit down on their saddles, no one can dispute
the advantage of shifting the position of the weight, and
thereby relieving the muscles. The proof of the pudding
lies in the eating. No man went better than Lindow went,
in very fast times, and it is to be regretted that he gave up
Leicestershire in the prime of life, with ample means for the
enjoyment of it, for he was a great ornament to the field.
The reason assigned was said to be, that he found the
young ones pressed too closely upon him in a run, and that
he could not always have the best of it. I am inclined to
believe this ; but that " aut Ccesar, aut nullus," is the devil,
and drives many a good man into the shade, from fear that
his laurels may fade.

The letter M. produces an awful list, but with the
grammarians it is " never mute." With whom then
shall I commence — with the pride of ould Ireland, Va-
lentine Maher? To be sure I shall, as his countrymen
say ; but if your readers could hear him, with his own sweet
voice, describe the accidental meeting betAveen himself and
a tenant from the county of God knows wLift, all I have to
tell of him would read mighty flat indeed. Charles Mathews
himself could alone equal it, and I much regret his having

VALENTINE MAHER. 235

never heard it. Now what shall I say of him as a horse-
man ! Why only what I have already said, that no daughter
of Eve need ever produce a better. Indeed I may perhaps,
without fear of contradiction, assert that, for power over his
horse in proportion to his weight in the scales, Mr. Maher
has only been exceeded by one, and to him all must bow.
For eye to hounds, he was perfect ; for knowledge of the
countries he hunted in, unrivalled : for pace equal to
any one ; and when he liked it few men could head him, nor
could hounds, on the best scenting days, beat him. But
there is generally a " but." Of later years, Mr. Maher was
not an every-day man. If the field got a start of him
the " aut Ccssar" came across him, and he would not per-
severe to get a place. In one description of horsemanship
Leicestershire never saw his equal — I mean his riding what
is called "a lark," or the devil take the hindmost, a frolic
he often indulged in, and in which his topographical know-
ledge gave him advantages.* To sum up all, his name will
be remembered at Melton for another generation to come,
and his place will not readily be supplied. He saw upwards
of twenty-three seasons in Leicestershire, having gone there
in ISn. He "did the thing" like a sportsman — his stud
consisting of from a dozen to fifteen hunters : and he was
a constant attendant upon hounds.

The next on my list is Mr. Maxse, (if not the best,) one
of the v€7^i/ best men that Leicestershire ever saw, or
perhajjs will ever see again. Where was the man to be
found much better mounted than Mr. Maxse ? but his
weight, and his style of riding, compelled him not to look
to appearances, but to points and features indicative ofj^ower
and speed, even if they should be combined with large
heads, and raw-boned hind quarters — the line of beauty being
violated. What did he, Mr. Maxse, sav to me when I

* On this occasion the signal is — " Who is forMelton}" and, with a few hun-
dred yards start, it must have been a good man on a good horse that could have
caught Valentine Maher. This is all very well with your Meltonians, with a dozen
or sixteen horses in their stables, but it will not do in the provincials.

236 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

asked him whether he should keep the King of the Valley
for his own riding, raw and awkward as he was ? " My
good fellow," replied he, " we heavy weights must not be
nice about mouths and tempers ; we must be content with
being carried to hounds in the best manner loe can." As for
their tails, I can only say, they generally showed them to
three parts of the field in quick things, and being often only
visible at a distance, it was better perhaps they should not
be too small. On the fashion of the switch tail I have
already given my opinion, nor is it worth repeating here.

But, putting out of the question the " tali auxilio," let me
speak of Mr. Maxse as a horseman — as a sportsman, it is
not my object, he being universally allowed to be a good
one. I conclude I have a right to quote myself, and in one
of my tours I thus speak of this justly celebrated per-
former : — " Among the high weights in Leicestershire Mr.
Maxse is quite a front-rank man, remarkably well mounted
for that country, his horses having a great deal of power
upon short legs, with a good allowance of blood. Strange
to say, he has one horse, called Cognac, which has carried
him nine seasons, and is still fresh and well. His weight is
sixteen stone, but his seat on his saddle is much in his favour.
He sits well down on his fork, close behind his horse's shoulders
— the point of union between the rider and his horse — and
has a fine bridle hand. As a proof of this, he went through
one whole season, and up to Christmas in the next, without
having a fall. He was also well carried two seasons by a
horse that had been nerved — a very rare occurrence." On
a horse called The Baron, purchased of Sir Bellingham
Graham, Mr. Maxse often distinguished himself, — but most
particularly so in a burst with the " Squire's" bitch pack,
from the Coplow, of forty-eight minutes without a check —
one short cast only having been made, fw a trot. Out of a
}arge field only seven were present at the death, Mr.
Maxse, on The Baron, being one. On another occasion
he made himself signal ; for, by a lucky arrangement of his
horses, he saw the two best runs of the year, in Leicester-

MR. IVIAXSE. 237

shire, on the same day, and witli two packs of hounds.
First, a brilliant forty-five minutes with Lord Lonsdale,
from Woodwellhead to Goadby, in which he was capitally
carried. He then rode to Waltham pastures, whither he
had sent a horse, with the hope of falling in with the
Duke of Rutland's hounds, which he did just as they had
found a fox that afforded a brilliant run. These facts may
be relied upon, as they were stated on the authority of a
letter from Melton to myself, detailing a w^eek's sport; but
I have not been explicit enough as to the merits of the
second act performed this day by Mr. Maxse. Such was
the severity of the Duke's run, that Goosey and his whips
had been beaten an hour before the finish — the only man
then with them being Lord Wilton, on a borrowed horse,
having tired his own ; but the last man who declined was Mr.
Maxse! Two years after this, in a run with Osbaldeston
— eighteen miles an end, the finish being seen but by twelve
out of a hundred and fifty who started, Maxse being one of
twelve. So much for the coach horses !

Sir James Musgrave was well known in Oxfordshire, War-
wickshire, and Berkshire, as a first rate horseman, pre-
viously to his appearing in Leicestershire, where he
acquired a high reputation, as well as a horseman as a
sportsman, and has been for some years a member of the
Melton Old Club. It is quite unnecessary that any man
should go nearer to hounds, to enjoy the pleasure of hunt-
ing, than Sir James went, and he rode the best of cattle.
He also rode like a sportsman, never pressing upon hounds.
His stud generally consisted of from ten to a dozen hunters,
and the condition of them was all one could wish.

The mention of Sir James leads me to that of Mr. Moore,
also of the Melton Old Club, a sportsman of long standing,
and an excellent friend to fox-hunting. There might be
faster riders than Mr. Moore, but no man could give a better
account of a run, nor did any man enjoy one more. His
stud generally consisted of ten strong well-bred horses.

Going back in the world, I must bring into notice the

238

HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

late Lord Maynard, who, with his friend and brother sports-
man, Mr, Childe, was the first to introduce the really hard-
riding system into Leicestershire, in the time of the famous
Meynell. Indeed, his Lordship may be called one of the
school-masters of those ever-to-be-envied days. Then he
was not only a dashing rider and a good sportsman, but one
of the pleasantest men in the field I ever came across. He
was also an excellent judge of a horse, and he one day made
a remark in my presence which I have often thought of
since. Some gentlemen in his rear were discussing the
merits of a hunter which was for sale, whilst the hounds
were drawing a gorse cover ; and one of them observed,
that he was a likely horse to carry a woman. " Whose
horse is that ?" said his Lordship, turning himself round
quickly in his saddle, " I'll give two hundred guineas for
him to-morrow ; for if he will carry a woman well^ he will
carry me better" His Lordship was the delight of the
society in which he moved — whether in the field or else-
where, and was much looked up to as a sportsman. In a run
over Leicestershire he got an awful fall at a brook, which
distorted the vision of his left eye, but in other respects he
•was none the worse for it. His famous horse, Holyhock, on
which he so often distinguished himself, was the sire of many
good hunters, and, amongst others, of Mr. Loraine Smith's
famous hunter of that name, for which Lord Sefton offered
him eight hundred guineas, when he, Lord S,, hunted Lei-
cestershire.

Quitting Leicestershire for the present, Mr. Musters next
presents himself; and where can I find a better specimen of
the British horseman ? It is a great treat to see him ride
over a country. He does the thing so neatly, so quietly,
and yet in so workmanlike a manner, that it does one's heart
good to behold him. Then see him get a fall ! By heavens,
he even does that with a grace. He rises from the ground
with all the sang froid imaginable ; first looks at his horse,
then at the (I wish I could still say his) hounds, and then
away with him again. But looking at Mr. Musters now

MR. MUSTERS. 239

who could fancy his riding races at Bibury, and being de-
scribed in the Coplow poem as " Musters tlie slim :"

" After him plung'd Joe Miller, with Musters so slim,
Who twice sank and nearly paid dear for his whim."

All that we can say on this subject is, that he has thickened
wonderfully siiKie that period ; but his weight has not
stopped his getting to hounds, for I believe it is acknow-
ledged by all the sporting world, that during the many years
in which he hunted them, he was seldom absent when his
assistance was wanting. His gentlemanly mirth, his merry
heart, his cheering holloa — in short, faculties which can be
found in very few in the same perfection, fitted him for his
task, and told in the balance against the general curse of
gentlemen huntsmen.

Mr. Musters is now a master of more than thirty-four
years' standing, and was last season, as I can speak from
experience, as keen as ever in every department of his office.
It must not be forgotten that he was a pupil of Mr. Meynell,
as well as of his own father, who kept fox-hounds before
him, and was a sportsman of a high estate. And what a
compliment did Mr. Meynell pay to his pupil in one of the
last acts of his sporting career, by making him a present of
ten couples of his best old hounds, with which he found good
materials for his kennel. The preceptor must have per-
ceived the seeds of excellence in his pupil, and it is to be
lamented that he did not live long enough to see the perfec-
tion in the fruit.

Speaking of Mr. Musters as an individual, no man was
ever better qualified by nature for all the duties of a master
of hounds. His personal appearance, and elegant manners,
could not fail in procuring him respect from all who attended
his hounds in the field, and sportsmen could not but be de-
lighted with the practical science he displayed. No man
ever yet born has been so universally allowed to attach
hounds to himself, and obtain command over them in a short
time, as the gentleman in question has been able to do ; and

240 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

the well known story of his pack breaking away at the
sight of him, as he was crossing the country on his road to
a dinner party, is a striking instance of this extraordinary
faculty on his part.

I did not know Mr. Musters as a master of hounds, until
I saw him in Northamptonshire, wdiere he was very badly
supported by the squires of the country, in spite of which
he showed the best of sport. Then he was used still worse
in his own country, where his hounds were poisoned by
some dastardly scoundrels, which imposed upon him the
the necessity of having the survivors muzzled on their road
to cover! a sight that I should not have believed, twenty-
years back, would ever have been presented to English'
eyes.

As a master, there are many of past and present days,
who have done the whole thing, as the term is, in better
style than he has done it, but none more effectually in a real
sportsman's eyes. He was, as I have already said, cradled
in a kennel, having actually performed the part of
amateur whipper-in to his father, who hunted parts of
Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire for at least fifteen years ;
and when he sold his pack to the late Sir Harry Harpur,
the celebrated Shaw, who hunted them, was heard to say,
that Mr. Musters — or rather Mr. John Musters as he was
then called — was often of more use to him vvhen a difficulty
occurred, than both his whippers in. In fact, he was as
regularly educated for hunting hounds, as a churchman is
for the church, and has given the lie to the generally correct
assertion that no gentleman ever can make a truly good hunts-
man, which may be accounted for by the following reasons.
First, because, having other pursuits and avocations, they
are precluded from giving their time and attention to
acquire a thorough knowledge of the system, which the
servant, who has no other calls on his time and attention, is
enabled to do ; and, secondly, that their over anxiety to
excel, and to stand high in the estimation of their field,
creates a degree of excitement not experienced by the

MR. MUSTERS — THE LATE LORD MIDDLETON. 241

servant, but generally fatal to the gentleman who undertakes
to hunt hounds.

Combining the character of a sportsman with that of
social man, it would be difficult to find a fellow to Mr.
Musters, or one better qualified for the station he so
long filled, of master of a pack of fox-hounds. Of his
ability as a huntsman, not a word more need be said, and I
shall conclude my notice of him, with my best wishes for a
long and happy life to himself, and all like him, at the same
time summing it up, as the lawyers say, in the following-
words, applied to him by myself, on a former occasion.
" There was a time when he could have leaped, ho])ped, ridden,
fought, danced, played cricket, fished, swum, shot, played
tennis, and skated with any man in Europe."

His countryman, the late Lord Middleton, next occurs
to me. I did not know him till the prime of his days was
past, therefore, as far as my knowledge of him extends,
I cannot place him among the hard riders, but I call him a
very fine horseman. He was, however, very uncertain, some
days going well and others not at all. He was splendidly
horsed, and it was not to be wondered at that he should
now and then do something that was splendid ; and I
remember his once going on the morrow, with " plummet
and line," to take the dimensions of a brook he had ridden
over the day before. However, all things must have an
end, and I saw the finish of his lordship's prowess. His
favourite horse, Billy Button, gave him a fall and rolled
on him, but it appeared to me to be much cry and little
wool. However, we must give great credit to the noble lord
for making a fresh start with hounds, despite all his
infirmities.

Lord Middleton had one of the principal essentials to
hunting a country. He had an inexhaustible purse, and
was by no means shy of dipping into it.

In his conduct towards Mr. Corbet, in the purchase of iiis
hounds, the liberal spirit of the British nobleman was mani-
fest. The price was, I think, fifteen hundred pounds, for

R

242 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

which sum he sent his cheque, saying that he considered the
hounds to be a gift.

I never could satisfy myself as to whether Lord Middle-
ton had acquired that knowledge of hounds and hunting
which his experience, both as a master and amateur, ought
to have enabled him to attain. I think he was a fine judge
of the animal dog generally, and of the spaniel especially ;
for I have never seen such as he bred and possessed ; I also
think he had an eye to most of the essential points in hounds,
but it was too much attracted to leg's and feet, to the disre-
gard of other points. That elegance of neck and shoulder,
that strength of thigh, that protuberant bodily muscle,
which some some of the modern packs that I could name
exhibit, were far from prevailing features in his pack : and,
but for their splendid condition, — and such I admit was ap-
parent to a great degree, particularly in Harry Jackson's
time, — the want of them would have been more conspicuous
than it was. And one proof of this condition, is in a run
they had in the year 1825, the greater part of which I wit-
nessed, when they fairly ran away from a well-mounted
field of one hundred and fifty horsemen — three only excepted
— running their fox to ground at Ditchley in Oxfordshire,
at the end of seventeen miles, as the crow would fly, and
over dreadfully severe ground both for horses and hounds.
Strange to say, neither huntsmen nor whips could get near
the pack towards last, and they were taken to the Duke of
Beaufort's kennel, at Heythrop, for the night.*

One of the most unfortunate acts committed by Lord
Middleton was giving up that fine woodland country, the
Meriden, in which we saw such capital sport in Mr. Cor-
bet's time, in the spring. I have yet to see better foxes

* As my old and esteemed friend, the late Mr. "West of Alscot Park, of no small
racing celebrity, is now in his grave, I may mention a little incident connected
with this run. It was known that a few Melton men would be out, and as I was
dining at Alscot the preceding evening, I was thus addressed by Mr. "West — " My
old friend Musgrave (Sir James, one of the oldest of the Meltonians) holds W"ar-
wickshire cheap. Now you shall ride Opodeldoc (formerly one of his race horses,
and made into a capital hunter by his whipper-in to his harriers) on condition that
yott try to beat Miisgrave." Glad to save my own stable, and pleased to have such

LORD MIDDLETOX. 243

than these woodlands produced, or better runs at that sea-
son of the year. It has since been attempted to make a
country of these woodlands, together with a part of what is
called the Stratford country ; but a man must be an enthu-
siast in fox-hunting to hunt rough woodlands all the year
round. His Lordship also gave up some fine country on
the Combe (Lord Craven's) and Dunchurch side which Mr.
Corbet thought much of in the spring, and where he occa-
sionally had the pleasure to see some members of all the
neighbouring hunts, including thoseofthe Quorn, Belvoir,&c.

Harry Jackson, whom I previously knew, when first whip
to Sam. Lawley, with Lord Vernon's hounds, hunted Lord
Middleton's pack for several seasons, on his Lordship suc-
ceeding Mr. Corbet in Warwickshire. I considered him
an excellent kennel-huntsman, but slow and slack in the
field, — so much so, that I have more than once heard Lord
Middleton tell him, " he was thinking more of his dinner
than finding his second fox." He was latterly supplanted
by Tom. Smith, his Lordship's first whip, who was a favourite
servant of his noble master, and, by a curious coincidence,
was at that period the third " Tom Smith" hunting hounds
— the two others being the " renowned Tom" of Quorn cele-
brity, and Mr. Smith, late of the Craven, and since of the
Pytchley.

But Lord Middleton's favouritism in the field and the
kennel did not confine itself to Tom. Smith. He had a fa-
vourite hound called Vanguard — and a fine animal he was
— that absolutely had the entree of his dinner-room, and by
such and other indulgences — giving him bread, for example,
in the field, he well nigh destroyed his propensity to find a
fox. At all events, he made him one of the slackest hounds
in his pack.

a mount, I at once promised to do what I knew I could not do — namely, to beat
one of the best men of his day over a country. Strange, however, to say. Sir James
and myself both pulled up in the same large field, he having the lead at the time,
and we rode to Stratford together. Opodeldoc being unable to rise at a low sheep
hurdle ; and Sir James's horse not a whit better. I told the baronet of this at
Melton, and it caused him to smile at the jealousy and amour propre o( his old
Warwickshire friend.

R 2

244

HTTNTING REMINISCENCES.

Lord Middleton was naturally a very fine horseman, being
strong in his seat, and with a very good hand; and he
would occasionally ride well up to his hounds ; but no doubt
his best days in that respect were past before I knew him :
and I saw the finish of him as a horseman. I saw him get
a fall, from the effects of which he never sufficiently reco-
vered so as to be " himself again :" and a most extraordinary
fall it was, and from one of his favourite horses. He merely
put him into a trot on some smooth green-sward, when he
crossed his legs, fell, and rolled over his rider.

No man rode better cattle than Lord Middleton did, and,
as I have already stated, his men were splendidly mounted
in the field. His grey horse, Smoker, was one of the cle-
verest animals that ever met my eye ; and when his noble
owner was on his back, he looked both the nobleman and
the sportsman. And I shall now dismiss his Lordship as a
master of hounds with this short remark: — he possessed
many of the qualities which masters of hounds should pos-
sess, and some of them to a great extent. He was regard-
less of all necessary expense in his establishment — doing all
he was required to do towards the country he hunted, with
a liberal hand. His turn-out at the cover side was first-rate,
and what more could have been desired ?

Lord Charles Manners was among the trumps, and an
honour too, for no man stood higher in the sporting world.
As a horseman he is pre-eminent. There was one circum-
stance connected with Lord Charles Manners' character as a
rider to hounds, which ought not to escape comment. He
was the first to banish the half-bred horse from hisstud, never
riding any thing in the field but pure blood. Do not, how-
ever, imagine I am going to belie ray experience by asserting,
that nothing but thorough-bred horses can live over Leices-
tershire, or other grass countries,— on high scenting days

with hounds; but the better they are bred, no doubt the more
likely they are to do so. But it was at one time not only as-
serted but believed, that, speaking generally, the thorough-
bred horse would not face the rough fences of the grass

LORD FITZWILLIAM— COLONEL MELLISH. 245

countries. Praise then is due to the man who removed this
prejudice against them, at one time so strong ; although amus-
ing stories are on record of the difficulty attending the edu-
cation of some of this nobleman's young ones, who were un-
willing to learn their trade. Of this fact, however, we may
assure ourselves — namely, that for many successive years,
no man in Leicestershire had such a stud as Lord Charles
Manners had ; and report goes so far as to pronounce the
average value of them, during two or three seasons, when
hunters were selling higher than they now do, to have been
five hundred guineas per horse. It was indeed a great treat
to all admirers of horse-flesh to see them at the cover side,
but still greater to witness the gallant manner in which
their rider put them along. Lord Robert Manners also
rode well to hounds.

I can only call to my recellection having seen the present
Lord Fitzwilliam with hounds twice, consequently cannot
speak as to his general performance. A few years back he
greatly distinguished himself in a desperate run with the
late Earl's hounds, over the severest part of his severe
country. The fox ran through fourteen lordships, and only
about eight of a large field -were up at the death, Lord
Milton one of them. I dare say many of your readers will
recollect the day, from the circumstance of his lordship
having nearly lost his life on his return home, by falling
into a flooded brook, in the dark.

It was not my good fortune very often to meet the
renowned Colonel Mellish in the field. But he that did
every thing well, was sure to distinguish himself in a
favourite pursuit, and I have reason to believe no man could
ride harder. The song says —

" Behold Harry Mellish, as wild as the wind,
On Lancaster mounted, leaving numbers behind ;

and thus gives some idea of the man, with hounds. That
he was a fine horseman all the world knows ; and as the
lines alluding to him were written in his noviciate, we may

246 lUTNTlNG REMINISCENCES,

safely conclude that, when he had the benefit of experience,
and entered into the pleasures of the chase, he regulated his
pace to that of the hounds he was following ; and he was
too good a judge not to live and learn. It is, however, no
bad sign in a young one to be a turn too fast.

Lord Mostyn, late Sir Edward Lloyd — one of those
members of the old Parliament who, Sir Charles Wether all
said, were ^^pitchforked into the Lords" — was for many
years a very good man across Oxfordshire, and, for aught I
know to the contrary, may be a good man still. However,
jesting apart. Lord Mostyn was a fine horseman and very good
at water. His eldest son, now the Hon. Edward Lloyd
Mostyn, but formerly Mostyn Lloyd, was also one of the best
of the Oxfordshire riders ; and I have reason to believe his
brother to be as good. He was very promising when at
Christchurch, Oxford, and I have heard flattering accounts
of his later performances. His elder brother was a sportsman.
Sir Edward Mostyn, no relation of the former, but a catholic
baronet of old date, would have equalled any of them had
not his he.ilth been interrupted by violent attacks of asthma.
Few men have been better mounted than Sir Edward —
from four to six hundred guineas being the price given for
several of his hunters. Among these were, GOO gs. for a
white-legged horse called the Clipper (not Lindow's), 400 gs.
for the Infant ; — and I remember his offering Lord Lynedoeh
the same sum for his White Stockings. The history of the
Infant is somewhat singular. He was thus named — luciis
a nan lucendo — from his being seventeen hands high. But
the extraordinary part of his history, is the well-known fact
of his carrying Dick Foster, when he whipped-in to Lord
Foley, in Worcestershire, throughout as tremendous a day
as ever hounds had, and in that deep country, when only
four years old. At Lord Foley's sale of hounds and horses,
John Lockley bought him at 200 gs., and sold him, at a
premium of cent per cent, to Sir Edward Mostyn. He was
a noble animal, with the temper of a dove. I conclude
with saying, that I have seen Sir Edward Mostyn charge

MR. MKYRICK, OF BUSH MAJOR MORAY. 247

some as savage places — particularly timber — as I ever saw
attempted by any one, and I have reason to believe that,
had his wind been equal to that of his horses, few men
could have beaten him in an half hour's burst.

Let him get well away, and it has always taken a good man
to beat Mr. Meyrick, of Bush ; well-known in Northamp-
tonshire, and indeed most other countries. He always
rode a good sort of horse bred in his own county, Pem-
brokeshire, where they were first ridden and made handij for
every thing by the various descriptions of fence that all rural
and picturesque countries afford. His bay horse, Old Jack,
which he rode so many seasons, I considered a pattern card
for a twelve-stone man. Something having gone wrong one
day in Leicestershire with Mr. Meyrick, he took a small
sum from a friend to return £100 if he ever met hounds in
" that there shire" again, as Tom Wingfield says. I need
scarcely say, he paid the £100. Some few years ago, I met
a very neat and good rider in Warwickshire, in the person
of Major Moray. He was thought much of in War-
wickshire, and showed them what he could do over the very
strongest part of that country, when Mr. Hay hunted it, in
a tip-top fifty-five minutes from Oakley Wood. By the
way, I should like to know what is become of a Mr. Murray,
from the same side of the Tweed, who was at Melton in
1803. He was a good rider, and had a large stud; never-
theless, I remember his giving me a long price for a great
black Sultan horse I then had, although it was the last day
of the season. But I mention this for another reason — to
show the difference between selling a horse in Leicestershire,
and selling him — generally a good week's work — in the
provincials. After he agreed to purchase Saladin, I said,
" I forgot to tell you, Mr. Murray, that my horse has a
broken knee." " It does not interfere with his action," said
he : " it's of no consequence." But I have not done with
him yet. " I am going to dine with Lord Saltoun to-day,"
continued he : " but if you'll call on me to-morrow at twelve,
I'll give you the money for the horse." Now in those days

248

HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

there was no bank at Melton, and his valet was dispatched
to Leicester, to obtain cash for a cheque. As we awaited
his return, I amused myself with looking at his supporters
on his seal. " The devil take the supporters," said the
Scotchman, — "see what they entail upon me" — (I conclude
as the iiead of his clan). " I am obliged tobuild this church,"
— pulling out a drawer, and showing me a beautiful plan of
the intended edifice. " But," added he, " the whole parish
is my own, and it is forty-three miles in length." '* Indeed,"
said I, " had I known that, you should have given me
another hundred for Saladin."

There is no man better entitled to a place amongst hard,
aye desperate riders to hounds than Mr. Mytton was, and a
welter weight too. But how is it that he can come under
the latter denomination, who, ten or twelve years back, was
riding amongst the gentlemen jockies under twelve stone ?
The question is best answered by the fact of his having
become, by the aid of good living, upwards of fifteen stone,
with his saddle, for some years past ; and I think Sir Bel-
lingham Graham will confirm the truth of my assertion, that
he was nothing short of that weight, on his capital Hit or
Miss mare, when he so distinguished himself in that famous
run with his, Sir B.'s, hounds, of an hour and forty minutes,
from Babins Wood, in Shropshire. But it has not been in
this run, nor in that run, in one country, nor in another
country, that Mytton made himself signal ; and yet I
might hazard an imputation on my veracity were I to
recount all the extraordinary deeds of this most extraor-
dinary man, in various situations with hounds. Indeed,
adding the hazards for his neck that he has encountered in
the field to those to which he has subjected himself else-
where, the most extraordinary thing after all is, that he was
so long in existence. However, confining my remarks
to his riding, I am bound to pronounce him one of the most
daring horsemen that ever came under my eye : and I must
likewise add, that, all things considered, he had fewer
falls, and tired fewer horses in chase, than his larking and

MR. MYTTON. 249

desperate system of crossing countries would warrant the
expectation of. But this has been attributable to the
immense muscular powers of the man ; to a sort of iron
grasp by which he held his horses in his hand at all times
and upon all occasions, which, let your slack-rein gentlemen
say what they may, is no small support to a horse going his
(Mytton's) pace over a country, and particularly over the
uneven surface, the deep ditches, and blind grips of his own
county, Shropshire. Indeed, when I last met him, I asked
him whether it had ever been his fate so to tire a hunter as
not to be able to ride him home, when he declared he never
recollected having done so. As to the height and width of
fences which have been ridden over by him, I repeat I am
afraid to recapitulate them; but I have very respectable
attestation to my having once measured a brook that he rode
his famous one-eyed horse. Baronet, over, in cold blood, in
my presence, and found it to exceed, by some inches, nine
yards from hind-foot to hind-foot ! But far from pleasing
reflections are the result of looking back upon these brilliant
feats of horsemanship, rarely excelled by any one. On the
contrary, one cannot help lamenting that a person so gifted
to shine in the field, as Mr. Mytton proved himself to be,
should not have taken more care to preserve, unimpaired,
the almost unequalled natural powers which he possessed, —
so essential to the figure he made.

Mr. Molony, of racing riding celebrity, went very well
for some years in Oxfordshire, no man, I believe, better.
He was a singularly strong man on a horse for his size and
weight, which were among the smallest and lightest. There
were two brothers of the name of Moody, residing at South-
ampton very good men over a rough country. In Sir
John Cope's country Mr. Montague was quite the beat
man save one. From what I have seen of him, he
would be good any where with a good stud. At fences he
was a glutton, and, like the Moodys, thought nothing of two
or three capsizes in one day. His name-sake, Captain
Montague, of the guards, was also in high repute — and

250 HUNTING REMINISCENCliS.

truly a horseman of the first grade, and I was much
pleased with his manner of getting across Shropshire. But
he had a high character in better countries than Shroi)shire.
Lord Molyneux was long esteemed one of our boldest, and
also one of our best horsemen, and had good experience
of the crack countries.

" Molyneux tries at, what scarce horse will rise at,
Bold Plymouth bull-finches close at his side:
Musgrave on Antelope, Baird upon Jemmy Hope,
Over the grassy slope forward do ride;"

says Johnny Campbell of him in his song descriptive of the
finish of a fine run with the Quorn, when all the horses
were much distressed — his own beaten to a standstill. Lord
Molyneux was the man who played the duet with Mr.
John Lucy, on the ever-to-be-remembered Ditchley day,
before spoken of, on his capital old horse, Oxford, which he
rode for so many years, and never had a mane ; and
this reminds me of the late Sir Charles Mordaunt, of Wal-
ton Hall, Warwickshire, who was third best man in that
run, but he did not get to Ditchley. Sir Charles — who
could ride like a workman — was this day on a horse he had
given a sporting Northamptonshire grazier four hundred
and fifty guineas for, a short time before, but I am sorry to
say he died the next day. The grazier's name was Manning,
famous for a good nag, and for showing him to advantage
in the field.

Yorkshire produces several crack riders who come into
schedule M. I shall just notice Mr. Milbank, of Thorpe,
son-in-law tothelateDuke of Cleveland, and onceatthe head
of the Bedale country, formerly hunted by the Duke. Mr.
Milbank was the best mounted man, for his weight, in the
Raby hunt when I visited it, and therefore, with his use of
so good a stud — and few could make better — was always in a
good place. He doated upon hounds, and had paid the
penalty of his fondness for them in very hard thumps,
having been nine times blooded in consequence of severe
falls. Mr. John Monson, of Bedale, was also a capital hand,
and greatly esteemed as a sportsman by the Duke. In the

MR. JOHN MONSON MR. STEPHEN MATTHEWS. 251

" Operations of the Kaby pack," I saw a handsome com-
pliment paid to his riding from the pen of the noble author,
on the occasion of his playing a solo with the hounds, on his
famous grey mare (those grey mares are always good) at the
end of a fine run. I am told that he has been obliged to
relinquish the field in consequence of bad health, but hope I
have been misinformed, as he is one of " the right sort" in
every sense of the phrase. Mr. Thomas Maude, of Selaby,
near Raby, pleased me much with hounds ; and I read
with pain the account of his two good hunters being
destroyed in their stalls by fire. Mr. Alexander Macdo-
nald, son of the late Lord Macdonald, of Thorpe, was a
conspicuous character in Yorkshire, and my opinion of him
was expressed in a few words. I said he was " as quick as
any man in England over a country," and I believe I spoke
the truth. His horses were all of full blood, when I was in
Holderness, and from his weight and his pace he should ride
nothing else.

It is not very often, barring the Leicestershire graz-
iers who are for the most part men of means, that we
meet with a very quick one, with hounds, in the shape of a
yeoman farmer. But this is easily accounted for. In the
first place, their horses are not always in cue ; and secondly,
they are afraid of bursting them by the pace, lest a tale
should be told. I am, however, about to name two ex-
ceptions to this rule. One of them, a Mr. Medford, whom
I saw in the Holderness country, and I saw him to great
advantage. I witnessed his catching hounds, quite after the
manner of the Meltonians, over a cruelly deep country, and
staying with them afterwards in a very masterly manner —
despite of the slice he must have taken out of his weedy
grey mare (the grey mare again!) by some very queer
places, and one stiff gate out of a deep ploughed field. The
other was Mr. Stephen Matthews, of Shropshire, a most
respectable yeoman, of whom Sir Bellingham spoke from
experience when he said, " nobody could go much better
over a country than Stephen Matthews." He Mas likewise

262 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

a sportsman, as, indeed, six out of ten Salopian farmers
are.

The mention of yeomen reminds me of George Marriott,
the celebrated Melton draper, who was a conspicuous man
in the Quorn, Belvoir, and Cottesmore hunts, for more than
forty years, and has not long retired from the field. I
fear from the same cause that myself and many others have
retired from it, namely, want of the means to remain in it.
Mr. Marriott was a good sportsman, and allowed to have a
better knowledge of the country, twenty miles round
Melton Mowbray, than any other man. As a horseman,
his merit has been universally allowed ; for although
measuring ^six feet three inches in height, and stout withal,,
lie maintained a very respectable place with hounds, and
consequently sold horses at large sums. But George
was also a sportsman ; and as such, as well as from his
great devotion for hounds, was allowed some latitude in
the field. I.i fact, I have seen him do what I think no
other man h.it himself would have been permitted to do,
without " getting goose." But the " ardour of the chase,"
acted powerfully upon him. I ought to have mentioned,
that George sold four horses of his own breeding, for 800
guineas, as an encouragement to brother drapers to follow his
steps.

The Morants all rode hard, and Mr. E. Morant was one of
the best men in the Hambledon country, Hants — by no
means one in which a shy rider can acquire a name. He
was one of the few that lived to the end of Craven Smith's
tremendous day, when he hunted the Hambledon. But, as
the song says, " the lad of all lads, was the Warwickshire
lad" of that name, who lived so many years at Upton House,
on the Edge Hills, a seat of Lord Jersey's. 1 had a great
many year's experience of that gentleman's performance,
and I can safely say, he had but one fault as a rider to
hounds; and that was, he expected his horses to do im-
possibilities. To have carried him as he wished to go, they
should have had extra legs, extra muscles, extra lungs,

MR. MORANT. 253

extra every thing. In fact, they should have had the
wings of the morning, and even then I question their having
been swift enough for him. But what followed ? why he
never had but one horse (by No Pretender) who could carry
him through a run of one hour's duration ; and, indeed, I
have his figure now before me when he made a sad example
of himself even upon him. We had had a brilliant hour in
Mr. Corbet's time, and Morant went brilliantly up to the last
ten minutes, when he and No Pretender were missing.
Can I ever forget the state we found them in, after we had
killed our fox? No — nor can many of his friends now
alive. He was sitting still in his saddle under a black-
thorn hedge, a sad example of mis-spent time. He was minus
his hat, his face was torn and bloody, and his clothes were
rent. No Pretender's tongue hanging out of his mouth, black
from pressure on his bit, and very woe-begone did he look.
But here was one of the good traits of the man ; he had not
a spark of jealousy about him, and joined in the laugh his
appearance created. " Well," said he to Mr. Robert
Canning ; " a very pretty thing indeed, I am glad you killed
him, for the hounds deserved him. / should have liked to
have seen the finish, but somehow or other the old horse shut
up." The fact was, that, not getting a good start, he had put
him along at that pace at which no horse could live an hour
with hounds. As may be supposed, I witnessed his getting
many rough falls, and one which was very near proving
fatal, owing to his alighting on a ruck of stones, on his
head. And here again comes the man. Apprehending a
slight concussion of the brain — appearances evidently de-
noting it — the doctor had recourse to depletion and other
proper precautions, leaving him comfortable for the night,
with — " I shall see you again in the morning, sir." The
morning came, and the doctor came, but Morant was gone to
the hounds ! Much such another hard one was Mr. Joseph
Martin, a fellow of All Souls, Oxford, whom I have before
spoken of as purchasing horses no one else would ride. Part
of his tackle once breaking, on a run-away brute with the

254 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

Duke of Beaufort's lioundsthe following laughable scene oc-
curred. Having no control over the horse, he leaped upon a
butcher who was riding along a road to his market, and both
men, with their horses, lay speechless on the ground. The
butcher coming first to his senses naturally expressed his
astonishment, and in the true language of his calling ; for,
looking upon the person of his assailant, as he would upon
his fell destroyer, he emphatically exclaimed — " D — n your
eyes!" I met in Surrey a gentleman by the name of Met-
calfe, with whose riding I was much pleased. There was a
quickness about him which is the sine qua non of modern
horsemanship, and I think he would have shone in any
country. He was many years a leading man in the Old
Berkeley hunt. Mr. Yarnton Mills, of Shellingford, Berks,
was well spoken of by Lord Kintore, and distinguished him-
self in some of his Lordship's best runs over the Vale of
White Horse. Indeed, I have seen enough of him myself
to pronounce him a good horseman.

The mention of Mr. Mills reminds me of the Hon. Mr.
Moreton, now Lord Ducie, in whose country he resided. Mr.
Moreton's character in the field is well known, as a first-rate
rider to hounds, and equal to any man in nerve. But he
rides under the disadvantage of short sightedness, and yet,
though that adds to his merit, it leaves in doubt whether
any man in England would be better if such had not been
his condition. No one has ridden abler cattle than Lord
Ducie. Lord Maryborough's best days were over before
I saw his Lordship in the field, but I have seen him ride
well to hounds, particularly for his time of life. It is appa-
rent at first view of him in his saddle, that he is a horseman,
and as such I wish to record him. From accounts I have
read of him in early life, when Mr. Pole, it appears few men
rode harder or better. A few years back his Lordship
broke his arm, by a fall, in consequence of being ridden
against, but was soon at work again.

Some years back I was in the habit of occasionally meet-
ing in the field with one of the best men over a country

MR. MORGAN. 265

England ever produced, by the humble title of " Mr.
Morgan, hop merchant, of London." On one occasion, and
the first, I stumbled upon him in a most extraordinary
manner, as the following tale will unfold. It chanced that
I was at the turning out of a stag on the Ludlow race
course, one fine day in October, in honour of the burgesses'
feast. A person appeared in the throng on such a
wretchedly bad hack, and of so mean an appearance withal,
that the person who collected the half-crowns declined
handing him the glove. All that denoted the sportsman
was a black velvet hunting cap, his person being enveloped
in a thread-bare brown surtout buttoned up to the throat.
On the hounds being laid on the scent, however, the scene
changed, and much after the fashion of a pantomime. On
a signal being given, a countryman rode up to Mr. Morgan
with his hunter * ; the threadbare coat was thrown on the
ground, and the sportsman appeared in the most correct
costume of the chase! But, to be brief. We had a very
excellent run, and the riding of Mr. Morgan and the
performance of his horse, over a very difficult country,
were the admiration of the few who could witness them,
of which few I had the good luck to make one. But
now for another change of the scenes. "Who is this fine
rider?" said one. " Where can he come from V said another.
" Will he sell his horse ?" asked a third. By accident it
was ascertained that it was the well-known Mr. Morgan,
but he would not sell his horse although 200 guineas were
offered for him, as he was leading him and another through
Ludlow, on the morrow. I should think the world never
produced a more perfect hunter ; and, as a proof of his
astonishing the natives, the gentleman who offered the
200 guineas for him never before gave half that sum for a
horse.

The letter N produces a short list. At the head of it,

* It appeared afterwards, that, Mr. Morgan was " incog" for a short time in the
neighbourhood, and, sportsmanlike, was accompanied by his two favourite hunters
but dispensed with the attendance of his groom. '

256 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

however, we must place Mr. Neville, of Leicestershire fame,
having had a house in the country for some years and a good
stud, which he knew how to make use of. I have seen Mr.
Napper ride very well to hounds, and he also was known in
Leicestershire. By the way, I recollect an anecdote relating
to him which may amuse. Some years since I had a good
Zii^Ze horse called The Adjutant. "You have been offered
a good price for your horse," said Mr. Griffith Lloyd to me
one day, in Oxfordshire, ." why he is but half a horse."
'Twas true he was but a little one by the side of the big
brutes he generally rode. But Mr. Napper purchased him,
and told me he was never carried so well over Leicester-
shire as he was twice by The Adjutant. I have never seen
Mr. Nicoll in enclosed countries, so can only speak of him
as a rider over the New Forest, but horsemanship is much
wanted there. It was highly pleasing to me to see this fine
sportsman ride to his hounds over that trying country.
Looking at his weight, looking at the ground he had to
travel over, and the pace at which he travelled, I hesitate not
to say, no man could have done it better. His seat was good,
and his strength of arm was of use to his horses in assisting
them " over the bog and quagmire" of that — to me — infernal
country. Of Mr. Field Nicholson I need say but little. His
name was up in Lord Yarborough's country before he twice
distinguished himself in Leicestershire — first as the rider of
Mr. Gilmour's Plunder, and again, on Magic, in the well-
known grand steeple-chace which he won. The first attri-
bute of a horseman is courage, next, good hands and seat,
and Mr. Field Nicholson possessed them all. He was a very
first-rate performer indeed.

There were two good horsemen of the name of Newton —
first, Mr. Newton of Pickhill, in Sir Richard Puleston's
country, very heavy, but always forward. I remember him
in Oxfordshire, where he went well on so-so nags. Secondly,
his name sake in the Bedale country, who was going in tlie
van when I was there, but he told me that would be his last
season. He had duties of a graver nature to attend to, and

MR. NEWTON.

257

his best horse came up from grass a roarer. Mr. Newnham,
who had the Worcestershire hounds, was a capital horse-
man ; and no man rode harder than he did when I used to
meet him, many years back, in Oxfordshire, when he and
Sir John Cope joined house-keeping at Bicester. Mr.
Nunes, who hunted the Hambledon country, only merits a
place here for the good style of hunter you saw him upon,
and the excellence of his condition, at a time when that was
a rare sight in the provincials. A neighbour of his, Mr.
Frederic North — desperately short-sighted — rode as hard
as any man I ever saw. " A bountiful eye," says the
proberb, " shall be blessed ;" but a quick sight is every
thing with hounds. Mr. Norbury, son-in-law to Sir Richard
Puleston, was a very excellent horseman, having the good
qualities of hard riders without their faults. He was well
known in most of the good countries.

'>r,8

©cm[Piri[Kj o.^L

ROM O being
related to the mar-
vellous, I shall be-
gin the list with
the " Hercules of
horsemen," as the
Quarterly Review
calls Squire Os-
baldeston. And
who, indeed, can
dispute his title?
Like that son of
Jupiter, his whole
life appears to
have been devoted
tosearchingoutand performing the most arduous enterprises ;
with this difference only, that those of his exemplar were for
the good of mankind, those of the Squire to please himself.
But, jesting apart, and speaking of Mr. Osbaldeston as a
horseman, no one has hitherto equalled the extent of his
labours ; and there cannot be a doubt that his name will be
remembered for ages to come as one of the most eminent
men, in his way, that the world ever gave birth to ! Let us
then see what he has done. He has hunted hounds, ridden
steeple-chases, ridden races, driven trotting matches, all in
the same week ; and during his occupation of the Quorn

MR. OSBALDESTON. 259

country — nine seasons, I believe — he hunted his own hounds
six times a week. But what are all these doings, great as
they are, to his Newmarket match against time? Absolutely
flea-bites. Was ever jockey by profession bold enough to
say he would ride fifty, or half fifty, four-mile heats in ten
hours ? No ; but the Squire rode them under nine, and
offered to ride them in eight ! I can scarcely give credit to
the fact as I write it. Of what materials is he made ? His
physical energies must be more than human, or there must
be some peculiar formation of body and limbs ! Suppose I
attempt a description of him, as there may be some to whom
his person is not known. But stop. I may save myself the
trouble — the pleasure I should have said — of doing this,
as it is already done in Nim South's published Tour where
he is drawn to the life, and wherein he is humorously
depicted as " two single gentlemen rolled into one." He is
likewise represented, and truly represented, as about the
middle stature, and such are the men to stand work when
put together as tightly as our hero is screwed. Scott says of
Scotch James : —

" The monarch's form was middle size,
For feat of strength, or exercise.

Shaped in proportion fair ;
And hazel was his eagle eye,
And auburn of the darkest dye

His short curled beard and hair.
Light was his footstep in the dance,

And firm his stirrup in the lists ;
And oh ! he had that merry glance

That seldom lady's heart resists."

But let us look at Mr. Osbaldeston as a rider to hounds.
It is my wish to avoid all comparisons with times, places, or
men ; and although it is frequently asserted that the Squire
has not ridden so hard over a country since, as he did before
the severe fall by which his leg was fractured (which it was
my fate to witness), it would be a useless attempt to detract
from his merits on that score, for experience has proved he
has ridden near enough to his hounds to show superexcellent
sport as their huntsman. It is true he does not appear com-
fortable— and who does ? — when some harum-scarum liorse-

s2

260 HUNTING REMINISCENCES,

men are close at his heels, when he puts his horse at a fence
at which there is a chance of a fall ; but who that saw him
upon Clasher against Clinker, ridden by Dick Christian —
on Pilot against Polecat — on Grimaldi against Napoleon —
a winner on each — will be bold enough to assert that he is
not entitled to all his fame? Of his riding over the race-
course I have had but little experience, nor is it within my
province to record his doings there ; but speaking of him as
a sportsman, I may say of him what Johnson said of a great
man in his way — that " what he attempted he performed,"

I have somewhere remarked, that to enable a man to ride
straight forward over a country, he ought to be as sound and
healthy as a prize-fighter when he strips in the ring. Even
then how severely does he now and then suffer from
the bangs and bruises which befall him ! How many
times have I ridden half through a run in agony, from
a blow from a gate-post or a tree ; or, what is still more
painful, from a stake or grower catching the point of the
toe at a fence, and running up the shin to the knee. Many
is the time and oft that, in endeavouring to recover his legs,
my horse has struck my head with his own till my eyes
struck fire, and my teeth shook in their sockets ! How often
have I been rolled over, ridden over, dragged, and trampled
upon.* Why, I suppose, about as often as most other men
who have hunted as much as I have, and who have ridden
all sorts of horses — as has been my case. But then, if I had
not the *' mens sana" (which may be doubted) I had the corpus
sanum — no old sores in aggravation.

What now if I produce perhaps one of the very best men
that ever followed hounds, who followed them ivith chalh-
stoned hands and gout-swollen feet, and who was obliged to be
lifted on to his horse ?

" Once Ongley graced the cover's side,
Its joy, its ornament, its pride;"

* I have been three times ridden over — once by Mr. Hawkes, another time by
Mr. Edward Tommes, of Southam, when my horse was much hurt ; and, lastly, by
a Mr. "Willan (not Jack Willan), who leaped upon me on a horse sixteen hands
high, and I escaped with a broken spur, torn breeches, and a bruised thigh.

LORD ONOLEY. THE OLDACRES. 261

and the late Hon. Samuel Ongley is the man I allude to !
The last time I saw him with the Oakley pack he was ex-
actly in the state I have represented him, and who rode
harder ? I answer, no one could ride harder than he did ; nor
is he the only one that I shall produce who has been lifted on to
his horse to enjoy the sport of fox-hunting. But what a com-
pliment to the sport ! Was ever another invented by man that
could make him rise from the bed of sickness and pain to partak e
of its exhilarating pleasures ? I have never seen the nephews
of this gentleman — Lord Ongley and his brother — in the
field, but report leads me to believe they wish to follow their
uncle's steps, and remember that they have

" Seen him on some high scenting day,
Shoot like a meteor — to obey
The animating ^ gone aicay.' "*

I absolutely regale myself at times on the recollection of
some of the first-rate artists that I 1 ave met in the field. I
have often before me the persons and performances of the
two Oldakers, as I saw them with Mr. Combe's hounds in
the Vale of White Horse, and I regret to think that there
is no chance of my seeing one of them (Henry) again, as he
has taken leave of hounds from ill health. They were
capital horsemen — in short, every thing that could be wished
for, and capital sportsmen as well. Robert, has since hunted
the hounds kept by Mr. Sebright, formerly Lady Salis-
bury's. I never saw the celebrated old Tom Oldacre, their
father, in the field, which I lament, as I have reason to
believe he was a good specimen of an English sportsman.
As a horseman, perhaps, he might now b6 considered slow.

Having never, that I can recollect, seen Mr. Henry
Oxenden in the field, my list in O falls short. Mr. Smythe
Owen, of the Shropshire, is what was called a neat horseman ;
but there was a namesake of his, a first cousin to Mr. My tton
— Captain Owen, of Woodhouse, who appeared to me likely
to make one of the best riders in Shropshire. But hold
hard ! am I going to omit the most wonderful of all the O's
in the world — aye, more wonderful than Osbaldeston him^

* A bong written on the Oakley hunt.

262 HUXTING REMINISCENCES.

self? My readers sliall determine, I once spent a pleasant
week with Mr. Yeatman in Dorsetshire, during which time
I hunted three days with his hounds and once with Mr.
Farquharson's, but the results of my visit were not made
public. As we were one day drawing a cover with the
former gentleman's hounds, my notice was attracted to a
respectably dressed farmer of the old school, more than
commonly attentive to the passing scene. I made inquiry
as to the man, and you shall now have his history, not on
my authority alone, but on that of several of the gentlemen
of Mr. Yeatman's hunt. His name they told me was
Oliver, and, strange to say, he rode a stone-blind mare two
seasons with the fox-hounds in that country, and was never
very far behind, neither did he get many falls ! ! ! Surely
this sentence is worthy of the triple note of admiration
which I have involuntarily affixed to it ; and more especially
when I describe the kind of country the Blackmore Vale is
composed of, which may not be known to many of my
readers. Two out of six of the fences are double, the ditches
generally deep and wide, and too frequently there is but a
small allowance of footing for the horse, from which he has
to take his second spring. There is also a good deal of
timber, but that, as I shall show, must have been the easiest
fence for the blind mare. The most miraculous part of the
story, however, is yet to come. If any country in England
requires a double set of eyes, in men and horses, it is this
said Vale of Blackmoor, a serious objection to it in my
eyes. The reason is this. The meadows are, one half
of them, what is called open drained, and, from the rich-
ness of the land, the fog-grass is not withered by the
time hunting is half over ; and these drains are nearly
as " blind," as the term is, as the old mare herself
was. For my own part I consider them the bane of
an otherwise very pretty country, and several awkward falls
were occasioned by them in my presence — General Gilbert's,
particularly so, his horse going at nearly full speed when he
fell. Now, how did farmer Oliver pilot the old mare over

MR. MINSTER — THE LATE EARL PLYMOUTH. 263

sucli a country as this? I might as well ask myself, how
did Jonas live three days in the whale's belly ? but we are
equally bound to believe both stories, for — not meaning an
indecent comparison, British sportsmen are incapable of
fabricating an uncalled-for falsehood. I do certainly
remember, many years back, my old acquaintance and
infallible doctor*, Mr. Minster, of Cheltenham, having a
very fine old grey hunter stone blind ; and when visiting his
patients he would often cross the country, by the foot-paths,
leaping the stone stiles with ease and safety : neither does
my story end here. Being in company one day with a
dashing young farmer who boasted of the feats his horse
could perform, the doctor took the shine out of him on the
instant, by proposing a wager, that he had a horse in his
stable which could take a leap his horse could not take.
" Where shall we go to decide the bet?" said the farmer,
who of course said " Done." " Only into the street, replied
the other. Consequently the doctor was mounted on the
blind horse in a trice, when, giving him the office by the
bit (and, as Horace says, there lies the horse s ear), he made
him believe a stone stile was before him, and he took a
spring that would have cleared the highest in the parish, to
the no small discomfiture of the farmer. Clever as was this
feat, it yields to that of the Dorset yeoman handing the old
mare, without seeing them, over the awkward fences and
grass-covered drains of the Blackmoor Vale, and through
" the blind mazes of the tangled wood."

I cannot commence my next list with a name more
respected by fox-hunters than that of the late Earl Ply-
mouth, who was gathered to his fathers at such short notice.
But what of that ? The man who leaves such a character
behind him, in the country in which he resided, as Lord
Plymouth did — just in his dealings, beneficent to his
tenantry, useful to his country, and good to the poor —

* The winter previously to my quitting England, I went to Cheltenham to have a
fortnight's hunting with Lord Segrave's hounds. An awful sore throat laid me
on my back after the third day, and in return for a good cure by Mr. Minster,
I sent him a set of the Leicestershire Steeple-chace.

264 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

although a fox-hunter, need not fear being called to his
account upon any day or at any hour. But I am now to speak
of his lordship as a horseman ; and here I must not withhold
the panegyric due to him, although it can never meet his
eye. He was undoubtedly amongst the first class of the first
riders to hounds in Leicestershire, and his stud of hunters —
generally consisting of a score — were as good as money
could procure, and of this he was not sparing in his purchases
of such as he thought would suit him. Of late years they
were almost all thorough-bred. Indeed his style of riding
required good breeding, for he would go the pace.

A friend of mine was out one day in the season 1825 with
Lord Lonsdale's hounds, and saw a gallant performance by
Mr. T. A. Smith. He (my friend) happened to be in a
situation to view the fox whilst the pack were at fault, and
awaited their coming to him with the scent. He had been
previously amusing himself with examining a fence which
he conceived to be a stopper, and was meditating within him-
self whether it were practicable or not, and whether any
one would attempt to ride at it. Mr. Smith came first aw^ay
with the hounds, and, without appearing to look at it, put
his horse's head straight for it, and cleared it all. Lord
Plymouth followed him, and, by breaking the second rail
(for there were, first a ditch, then a rail, then another
ditch, and then another rail !), enabled my friend to follow
him.

Lord Plymouth struck me as a man not riding for fame,
but for the purpose of seeing hounds, and, if not in the fir; t
flight, was almost always near enough to enjoy a good run,
and I may say eight times in ten he had the cream of it.
Without seeking fences, he was seldom stopped by the
largest: and, from the many years' experience of the
country, he knew how to ride over Leicestershire. And
then recollect how he was horsed, and what condition
his horses showed ! Not eleven stone on their backs then,
and picking the flowers of studs — that is to say, purchasing
almost every very superior horse of his stamp that was

THE LATE LORD PLYMOUTH. 265

to be purchased — his lordship threw no chance away that
could contribute towards placing him in the front. Of this
fact I am reminded when sitting at my own fire-side, and
looking at the portrait of Assheton, which he bought of Mr.
Osbaldeston — after having carried either himself or his men
for at least six seasons — for the sura of four hundred guineas.
Assheton was one of the queer-tempered ones, and took a
deal of " making," as we term the education of a hunter,
but those queer ones are generally good when once they are
made. That fine horseman Dick Burton had the handling
of him for some time ; but the day that sold him was that
on which he carried " the Squire," so brilliantly, from the
Coplow to Ranksbro', with a second fox, after having had a
good dressing with the first. In the words of an old sports-
man— " a better heart and bottom than Assheton's never
went into the field." In the fine picture Ferneley painted
for Mr. Osbaldeston, giving a faithful representation of this
fine run over the finest country in the world, he (Mr. O.) is
seen topping a flight of rails, upon Assheton, by the side of
Mr. Holyoake, upon Crossbow, checking the hounds at the
time, whilst some of the leading Melton men are in equally
enviable places.

No man is better entitled to a front-rank place amongst
British horsemen than Sir Henry Peyton — not the meteor
of a day, but shining with equal lustre through a long
succession of seasons, and he still remains a star. Driven
from England by the proprietor of a sporting magazine
which I was the making of, I can only now repeat what I
hear, and this is, that when hounds run hard, this accom-
plished sportsman is still as near to them as he should be,
and no more need be said But as we do not often come
across such artists as Sir Henry, and as I have seen so much
of his performance, I must not dismiss him without at-
tempting to give a sketch of him in his saddle. I will do it
to the best of my ability ; but we scribblers are now and then
brought to check for terms, when describing persons signa-
lizing themselves in the same pursuits, yet varying in the

266 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

grades of merit. I will, however, on this occasion, borrow a
word from the seaman's vocabulary, and call Sir Henry
Peyton an " able-bodied" horseman in the first instance, by
reason of my never having seen a stronger man in a saddle
than himself. But I must not stop here, and yet I need not
dwell on his excellent nerve in all kinds of difficulties which
hard riding men have to contend with. But I must bear
record of his fine judgment in riding to hounds, having ever
considered him one of the quickest to get away, and the best
selector of his ground in chase when away, that I have seen
in the field. Whether it be from the rough woodlands of
the Bicester Vale, or the more agreeable gorse covers of
Chipping Warden hills, he is sure to be with them before
four fields have been crossed, and once with them, he is
landed. Now, adding all these good qualities together —
the quick eye, the cool judgment, undaunted nerve, and fine
hand, nothing more is wanting to complete the portrait of a
perfect horseman.

By the way, speaking of portraits, I remember two par-
ticular instances of eye and hand in this distinguished sports-
man. The first occurred to my notice as I was making my
way up a wet furrow of a ploughed field, fetlock deep, with
my horse somewhat distressed. Hearing a rustling noise on
my right, I espied Sir Henry fighting his way up a dry ditch
the bottom of which was sound. The other was a fine display
of hand in jumping a brook and a rail, on his grey-tailed
horse Hermit. There was a very small space for the horse
to land upon, between the brook and the rail, and nothing
but the most delicate handling could have enabled him to
rise at the latter. It was on this occasion — or rather from
the attitude in which I saw him — that I ventured to tell him,
I wished an artist had been present to have sketched himself
and his horse. But I have not done yet. Among other
wrinkles obtained from Sir Henry, the following has fre-
quently been of use to me. " Whenever," said he, " you
come to a brook too wide to jumpot-e?-, but which you are
obliged to jump into, and you suspect the lottom of it to be

SIR HENRY PEYTON. 267

soft, do SO as quietly as you can if you wish to avoid a fall.
It will enable your horse to get a fulcrum from his hinder legs
before he springs to regain the opposite bank, and he has
then a better chance of landing you than if he went boring
headlong through it." I need scarcely add, that Sir Henry
has always been well mounted, having an eye to strength
as w^ell as blood ; for weedy horses, however well-bred?
have no chance in Oxfordshire — at least in that part of it
which he rides over. To show, however, that his object has
been to get to hounds, regardless of petty objections, he
gave four hundred guineas for Saladin, having only one
eye ? Sir Henry's weight, with his saddle, is about thirteen
stone.*

From all that has been said, and all that has been seen
of Sir Henry Peyton, it is nothing surprising that he should
be the sire of one of the very best riders of the present or of
any former period. Mr. Peyton, or " Young Peyton" — a
name he acquired when at Christchurch — became signal
very early in life, himself and Lord Forester being " the
two best men out of Oxford," as the term is, when alluding
to the road or field ; and it was generally acknowledged
that they bade fair, one day or other, each to eclipse his
father's fame. Now I scarcely know what to say of, or how
to describe, this same Mr, Peyton. Were I to declare that,
from all I have seen and all I have read of him, he is
the boldest and best horseman England ever produced, I
should be afraid of looking upon the wall and seeing Ass-
heton Smith, John White, and half a score more crack
names staring me in the face, and " hold hard, Nimrod," in \
big letters. But really, taking him over the country and s
over the course, he must be as near excellence as human i
ability and physical energies can place any one. When do

* Superiority of horsemanship shows itself very early in life. Sir Henry and my-
self are about of an age, and I remember, when we were boys, his coming on horse-
back to my father's house, when I was told to " observe how he sat his horse." As
my father was a better judge of a writer than a rider, there must have been some-
thing striking to have attracted his notice. I little thought then, that we should
so often travel together over a country.

268

HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

we hear of a run, when this artist is out, that he does not
get to the end of it — be the distance and pace what they
may ? Look back to Lord Lichfield's great day, when his
lordship, one of the best men then going, got nearly to the
end of that awful run at the expense of two tired horses and
one dead one. Peyton saw him hilled on his Edgecot mare.
Then look at his performances in steeple-chases, or over the
race course ! Why he almost always rides the winner ; and
I am glad to find that, when contending for the prize on the
latter ground, he has taken a leaf out of Sam Chifney's
book — never to he in a hurry to get home.

269

©•jO^lFTli^ ^c

^feaSSo'l"

OW often have I lamented
having resided ten years in
that slowest of all slow coun-
ties, Hampshire, instead of
pitching ray tent northward,
whence I could have visited
Leicestershire every succes-
sive season. When we consi-
der that the county of Hants,
as it is called, contains more
than one million, two hun-
dred thousand acres of land,
we are no longer surprised at
its finding room for six packs of fox-hounds ; namely, Mr.
Villebois's, the Vine, Mr. Thomas Assheton Smith's, the
Hambledon, Sir John Cope's, and the New Forest, all of
which, with the exception of Sir John Cope's and Mr.
Smith's, are confined to this county alone. As a hunt-
ing country, however, Hampshire is far from first-rate,
being for the most part under the plough ; and in addition
to this disadvantage the stratum of soil is thin over the
larger portion of the county, and consequently unfavourable
to scent. The flints also, which cover the surface over, I
may say, two-thirds of it, are always injurious to hounds and
often fatal to horses, cutting the sinews of the leg in sunder ;
moreover it abounds in sheep and sheep-dogs, the best friends

270 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

to foxes chased by hounds, but very inimical to sport.
Plouo-h-tearas are likewise to be seen in at least one field
out of four, causing foxes to be driven from their points,
and the covers are large and rough ; added to all this, im-
mense hedge-rows are kept on the farms, for the sake of
fuel, which is scarce, and these are exceedingly baffling to
hounds. In short, it may be said to labour under many
serious disadvantages.

As coming first on our road from the Metropolis
we will commence with Sir John Cope's hounds, which
hunted a small part of Hampshire in the immediate
neighbourhood of their kennel, which is at Bramshill,
the seat of their owner, just within the county. Nothing
can be worse than the Hampshire country hunted by this
pack, but that rather adds to the merit of the gentleman
who had the spirit to hunt it, which he did with, I
believe, a very small subscription. It would be uninterest-
ing to my readers to dwell upon this part of Hampshire,
which partakes of a sort of Cimmerian darkness in Novem-
ber— immense hedges, deep and blind ditches, extensive
covers, and bad foxes. The only place in it likely to show
a run was Dogmersfield-park, the seat of the Mildmays, from
whence a fox can get on the Warnborough hills and lead
the chase over a part of the open country, hunted by Mr.
Villebois. The Duke of Wellington's covers at Strathfield-
Saye, and those of Mr. Tilney Long Wellesley, were drawn
by these hounds, and are all in the county of Hants.

As connected with Hampshire sporting the following re-
corded fact may be entitled to a place here. In 1620, the
then Archbishop of Canterbury had the misfortune to occa-
sion the death of a keeper, by his cross-bow, whilst hunting
in Bramshill Park, and to expiate the homicide (as was the
good custom of those days) he founded a hospital at Guild-
ford for the maintenance of unmarried pauj)ers. It seems
archbishops hunted in those by-gone days — an amusement
which the morbid sanctity of the present times has attempted
to deny even to a curate. But let us have none of this

HAMPSHIRE. 271

swallowing camels and straining at gnats ! Nature her-
self has directed us to the chase, and I could bring a
long string of authorities — authorities revered hy the church —
who recommend the sports of the field as a relaxation of
pious labours. Quere. Are men better now than they
were then? I think not.

Mr. Villebois's hunt was by far the most extensive in
Hampshire, affording four regular days, and most commonly
five. It joined the countries of Sir John Cope and the Vine,
near Basingstoke, and those of the Hambledon, Mr.
Assheton Smith's and the New Forest being chiefly in the
very heart of the county. The kennel was at Armsworth, a
small village, three miles from Alresford and ten from Win-
chester, and where the worthy master of the pack had his
domicile. He had a very large kennel of hounds, divided
into two packs — one consisting of the larger hounds and the
other of the smaller, and they took the field on alternate
days. They were hunted by that well-known huntsman,
Richard Foster, who had been many years with Mr.
Villebois, and was looked upon as one of the first woodland
huntsmen of present times. Indeed his experience in cover-
hunting had been great, for in some parts of his present
country his hounds were oftener in cover than out.

Mr. Villebois had another kennel at Hursley, between
Winchester and Romsey, where he went twice in the season,
and always finished there. It is a rough uncouth country,
and an antidote to enjoyment of hounds, but useful in
cub-hunting and in the spring, as affording rest to the
better covers. Whilst the hounds sojourned at Hursley, Mr.
Villebois, accompanied by a few friends, took up his
quarters at the head inn of Romsey, which was handy enough
for his fixtures.

The country hunted by the Hampshire Hounds — as those,
of Mr. Villebois were called, although he kept them en-
tirely at his own expense — rough as parts of it are, is more
like a fox-hunting country than that hunted by the Vine
pack. In the first place, there are some fences in all parts

272 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

of it, and stiff ones in most ; and in the next, it is so roomy
that no part of it is persecuted by the hounds coming too
quick upon covers, the cause of many blank days. It was,
for the most part, uncommonly well off for foxes, an excel-
lent understanding having always existed between the
master and the farmers — the best security for their preser-
vation. His Farmers' Hunt races, on Abbotstone Downs,
and the dinner afterwards, at which he presided himself,
made scores of friends to fox-hunting, and among many
who never partook of the sport.

The favourite meet in the Hampshire Hunt is Thorny
Down, a circular cover on a commanding situation, about six
miles from Alresford. A most excellent and animating song
was made many years back on this favourite spot by Mr.
Paulet, when he had the hounds. The first, fifth, and sixth
verses are so good that I shall give them as a specimen of
a sportsman's muse, and I can assure my readers that I
have listened with the greatest delight to this enlivening
ballad.

"Free from care, from pain, from sorrow,
Haste to Thorny Down to-morrow ;
There shall our steeds outstrip the wind,
While time and age creep far behind.
No long vigils of love we keep,
Nor evening's cups protract our sleep,
But ere the sun has reached the skies.
Fresh as the morn we gladly rise.

Chorus.
" Then free from care, from pain, ftom sorrow.
Haste to Thorny Down to-morrow.

Fifth Verse.
" Check'd by sheep's stain in the valley,
Men of weight gain time to rally ;
Mopping his front and double chin.
Each heavy blue* comes puffing in.
Juniper hits it down the way —
Magpies and crows his point betray ;
Through the wet mead and chalky soil
The villain runs his tainted foil.

Chorus.
" Then free from care, &c.

* Blue was the uniform colour of the hunt.

HAMPSHIRE. 273

Sixth Verse.
"" Distress'd at length he gains the village
Where of late he roamed for pillage ;
'Midst his old haunts he finds no friend,
And Joe's whoo-hoop proclaims his end.
My rhymes are done ; once more excuse
Your ancient Laureat's limping muse ;
And here, in Dian's joyous court,
Drink, hi full cups, the noble sport .'

Chorus.
" Then free from care, &c."

But having quoted from one sportsman's muse we should
not omit mentioning that Mr. Lowth, the author of Billesdon
Coplow poem (son of the learned Dr. Lowth, Bishop of
London), was a member of the Hampshire Hunt, and greatly
distinguished for his classical attainments at Oxford. He
thus describes himself m the poem : —

" An H. H. who in Leicestershire never had been,
So of course such a tickler ne'er could have seen.
Just to see them throw off, on a raw horse was mounted,
Who a hound had ne'er seen or a fence had confronted.
But they found in such style, and went off at such score,
That he could not resist the attempt to see more ;
So with scrambling, and dashing, and one rattling fall,
He saw all the fun up to Stretton's White Hall.
There they anchor'd, in plight not a little distressing.
The horse being rate he of course got a dressing."

Not content with showing himself up in not the most
flattering light as a rider to hounds (he was one of the best
race-riders of his day), he jocularly adds the following note :
— " It is not quite clear whether the initials H. H. are
meant to apply to a Hampshire hog, or the Hampshire
Hunt. If to the hog, it does not appear that he saved his
bacon."

Very little more can be said of the H, H. country,
further than that it was uncommonly well-hunted by Mr.
Villebois,and, — which is no small consideration with a sports-
man,— everything done in a truly sportsmanlike style. It
is, taken altogether, severe for horses, in consequence of the
prevalence of ploughed land, always deep after frost : and
there is a good deal of fencing, but no brooks but what are
fordable. It is far from favourable to scent, which, according
to Foster's experience of it, is never to be depended upon

274 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

but after wet nights, with wind to the northward of west.
The hounds have always been well attended in the field ;
indeed, some years back more so than most others in
England — a hundred well-mounted gentlemen being an
almost every days complement at all their best covers.

The H. H., or Hampshire Hunt country, is one of some
antiquity in the annals of hunting countries. Mr. Paulet,
of King's Somborne, had it before Mr. Villebois, who
hunted it upwards of twenty years. " Squire Ridge," or
" Tom Ridge," as he was generally called, had it before Mr.
Paulet, and a good old sportsman was he. About a dozen
or fifteen neighbouring gentlemen subscribed their ten
pounds each towards expenses, and dined together, in the
old fashioned style, once a fortnight, at Popham Lane Inn
on the London and Winchester road.

Mr. Villebois's establishment was on the first scale, con-
sisting of two packs of hounds and at least twenty horses,
all at his own expense, and everything is done upon system.
Although the greater part of the country is rough and
woodland, a small track called the " Hartley country" is a
very pleasant one to ride over. Indeed, several of the
fixtures in the neighbourhood of Alresford are such as any
sportman should be content with, in a country not first-rate.
But he must not regard a scratched face : he must take a
lesson from Foster how to make his way through covers
(for I think Foster is the best hand at this work I ever
saw), and he must not lose sight of the hounds if he can
help it. He must ride a well-bred horse, that " can go upon
wind," as the term is ; he should be a good timber leaper,
and strong in deep ground ; his pasterns should be short,
and the hair encouraged to grow on his heels — the two
latter qualities being the best protection against flints.

The next in my list is the Hambledon, a rough, uncouth
country, abounding with woods and forests, but the best in
Hampshire for hounds. It is of fair extent, quite equal to
three days a week, and well supplied with foxes.

A celebrated yeoman of the name of Laund once hunted

MAP OF THE

OF THE

HAMBLEDON

M €> u rr ]D) s.

Scale of£n^Ush. J^Uos
(7223^30

HAMPSHIRE. 275

this country, and after him Colonel De Burgh (afterwards

Lord Clanricarde), whose kennel was at Droxford, on the

London and Gosport road. The Colonel was a gallant

oldier, and distinguished himself under the late Duke of

York in Holland, but he could not ride to his hounds.

Old Laund, as he was called, was a capital sportsman of the

old school, and amongst many others the following anecdote

is related of him : — The late Duke of Richmond, uncle to

the present Duke, had in his (old Laund's) day, an excellent

pack of fox-hounds at Goodwood, hunted by the famous

Tom Grant. It so happened that both packs met one day

at the same cover, each party laying claim to it. The Duke

became angry, when the other thus addressed him : — " It's

no use, my Lord, to put yourself in a passion. I've just

throw'd 'em in, and if there's a fox in the cover they'll find

him, and between us both we shall kill him. But, if your

Grace puts yourself in such a passion, as I hunted this cover

before you was born, I shall hunt it after you are dead" Sir

Bellingham Graham and Mr. Osbaldeston also hunted this

country whilst waiting to get possession of such as were

better, and the latter was succeeded by Mr. Smith, since of

the Pytchley. It was likewise hunted by the hounds of

the late Mr. Nunes, Mr. John Walker, and Mr. Shard, and

the kennel and stables at Hill Place, near Droxford, were

built by Sir Bellingham Graham.

In by-gone days several packs hunted parts of what is
now called the Hambledon country. Among these was one
kept by a Lord Stowel, whose country reached from Guild-
ford to Alton, hunting also Chawton Park, Mr. Knight's,
afterward in Mr. Villebois's hunt. His lordship resided, and
had his kennel, at the Government-house in Holt Forest, which
was a grant from the government to his father. He also hunted
Wolmer Forest, and thence on to Farnham. Lord Egre-
mont likewise hunted the left hand of the Portsmouth road
when Mr. Ridge claimed the right. Going still further
back, a Mr. Evelyn, a Kentish gentleman, hunted Hamp-
shire, having his kennel at Armsworth, where Mr. Villebois

2 T

276 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

resided, and another at his seat in Kent, near Wrothani.
He rode a famous grey stallion, talked of in these parts to
the present day, and which covered half the mares in the
country, but we may doubt his being so honoured were he
to make his appearance again. Stag-hounds were also
kept in great style in our Prince Regent's days, if we may
use such a term, at Up Park, in this county, the magnificent
seat of Sir Harry Featherstonhaugh ; and in later days his
Royal Highness had hounds at Kempshot Park, between
Basino-stoke and Winchester.

The Hambledon country was never better hunted than
by Mr. Smith, since of the Pytchley, who showed extraordi-
nary sport in it with a very small subscription. Without,
however, taking ought from the merit of Mr. Smith as a
sportsman — he having hunted the hounds himself — I
account for part of that extraordinary sport by the fact of
his covers having had two years' rest, by the country having
been vacant, and consequently producing a more than usual
share of old foxes, which took a great deal of killing. It
would be well if masters of hounds would take a hint from
this circumstance, and not kill down their foxes so closely
as they do, for the sake of blooding their hounds, a point,
in my opinion, of very minor consideration. There are
races every year on Soberton Downs, and no lack of
foxes in the Hambledon country, which, as has been before
observed, is the best part of Hampshire for scent, but deep
and distressing for horses, and very strongly fenced. Tliere
is, however, a large portion of maiden down in various
parts of it, over which hounds generally run merrily.

There being upwards of one Imndred thousand acres of
what is called waste land in Hampshire exclusive of forests,
it may be concluded that there is plenty of room for cub-
hunting. In the Hambledon country is Waltham Chase,
the property of the Bishop of Winchester, containing two
hundred acres, and well stocked with foxes ; and adjoining
it is the forest of Bere, which once consisted of sixteen
thousand acres. In the neighbourhood of Botley, near

HAMPSHIRE. 277

Southampton, likewise, are several very large woods, good
for spring hunting. Considering then that a fair propor-
tion of this country is sufficiently open to enjoy hounds in,
and that the whole of it is favourable to scent, it is one by no
means to be lightly esteemed in the eye of a real sportsman.
For horses, as I have before remarked, it is a severe one ;
and if a hunter will carry his rider well up to hounds, from
any of Sir S. Jervoise's covers, over the Telegraph hills, and
see the fox killed eight miles beyond, he need not be afraid
of showing his face in any of the crack countries. The
best covers are in the neighbourhood of VValtham, Durley,
Rowheig, Twyford Park, and some others running parallel
with the London and Gosport road. Mr. King, when he
hunted this country, had very good sport, and gave satis-
faction to all parties.

The Vine country commences at Tadley Forest, close on
the borders of Berkshire, and, extending to Kingsclear on
the right, pursues its course to Laverstock, between Overton
and Andover, being bounded on the left by the London and
Winchester road, which in no instance does it cross. The
distance from point to point docs not exceed twenty miles,
but it is pretty square, and consequently more roomy than
it appears to be, and quite equal to three days a week. It
is, however, divided into two classes, — viz. A small portion
of woodland extending right and left of the first four or five
miles of it, taking it in a straight direction ; bounded on the
left, by the Reading and Basingstoke road, and on the
right by the Kingsclear hills. This is a rough, bad tract of
country, thickly studded with covers, but holding a good
scent. The hill-country commences a mile beyond the Vine
Mansion House, the seat of the late owner of the pack, and
from which they take their name, and extends right and
left to the extremity of the limits of the hunt.

The hill country presents a variety of soils, but by far
the greater portion a flinty surface to a thin staple, on a
chalky subsoil ; and the vallies, which are narrow, afford a
treat to the eye, of well arranged water-meadows, clothed in

278 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

nearly perpetual green. They — the water-meadows — are
awkward to cross, at speed, from the quantity of small
channels for the water, and often occasion over-reaches, and
sometimes worse accidents to horses. There are, however,
fewer of these channels on the Vine country than in most of
the others of Hampshire, and the fewer the better for the
sportsman, as they baffle hounds, owing to the material
alteration of the scent — being from bad to good, and conse-
quently, from good to bad.

The Hampshire hills are seldom the scene of straight-
forward runs ; but when Mr. Paulet had the country, pre-
vious to Mr. Chute, a striking exception was experienced.
Freefolk Wood, the property of J. Portal, Esq., the outside
cover of the hill country, produced a breed of foxes that
almost invariably made their point for the Sherborne Wood-
lands, at least fifteen miles distant, and very splendid runs
were the result. This cover has ever since retained its
celebrity for sport ; and, certainly, if a fox is good enough
to fly from it, his life, or a run for it, must be had, for the
country is open to him for miles, with nothing strong
enough to hide his head in. But it is an unsatisfactory
country round it to a sportsman, mounted on what we call a
hunter, for there is not a fence within miles of it, and he
has, first, the mortification of seeing the hounds pressed
upon to their hinderance, and, again, having, the dirt flung
in his face by a school-boy on a well bred galloway, who
has the best chance to get across it, — for it is often deep and
sticky. The other most favourite fixtures in the Vine hunt
are Nutley Wood, four miles from Overton ; St. John's
Wood, two miles from Basingstoke, on the" great western
road ; Ashe, and Many down Parks, not far distant. The
p-reat Dean Woods are also a certain find.

o

On the decease of Mr. Chute, the Vine country was taken
by Mr. Abraham Pole, brother of Sir Peter Pole, Bart.,
who built kennels and stables at his seat near Basingstoke,
but he only hunted it two seasons, when he returned to his
hunting-box in Warwickshire. Indeed it is due to him to

HAMPSHIRE. 279

say, that, never having been master of hounds before, he
merely took the management of the Vine pack until a suc-
cessor to Mr. Chute could be procured. Fortunately for
the country, it was found in the person of Mr. Henry Fel-
lowes (brother to Mr. Fellowes, who hunted Warwickshire),
who is at this time at their head. Mr. Fellowes is no pro-
fessor of science, but, in every other respect, well qualified
for a master, and in popularity he stands deservedly high.
His subscription is about £800 per annum, and his kennel
and stables are at Overton, quite in the centre of the
country.

The Vine hounds were hunted by Richard Adamson, who
formerly lived with Lord Scarborough, and once in the ser-
vice of Mr. Musters. He was a very valuable servant, an
excellent horseman, and what may be called a fair average
huntsman in the field. In the kennel he was undeniably good,
always bringing his hounds out in condition, and by the
exercise of his own judgment and that of others, their cha-
racter was very greatly improved. The Vine country is ad-
mirably adapted to sportsmen whose hard riding days are
gone by, as they may have much enjoyment of hounds
without being called upon to leap, the greater part of it
being open. The fences in the woodlands, however, are
strong, but they are not hunted more than one day in a
fortnight.

A new hunting country has lately been formed in Hants,
and occupied by the hounds of Thomas Assheton Smith,
Esq. who was for so many years at the head of the Quorn.
His kennel is at Tidworth House (his residence), a few miles
from Andover, on the road from Hungerford to Salisbury,
and amongst others, contains the hounds this celebrated
sportsman purchased from Sir Richard Sutton, for one thou-
sand guineas. I often wonder how this gentleman submits
to the change, from the green grass-grounds, and the four-
acre gorse-covers of Leicestershire, to Dowles Great Wood
(seventeen-hundred acres, I believe), or the almost impene-

280 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

trable recesses of Collingbourn Dueis Woodlands. But
there is no small charm attached to hunting from home.

From the roaring of the lion to the raven's croak — from
bold Robin Hood to the babes in the wood — there has ever
been an interesting, I should rather say a quixotic associa-
tion of ideas, when we find ourselves in the midst of a forest.
No where in England then, can fancy be allowed a
wider range than in our own New Forest, which forms so
grand a feature in Hampshire, as a hunting country. Its
picturesque beauty may perhaps go for nothing with the
sportsman, but the enormities * of the monarch who made
it a forest, the pestilential blast that is said to have killed
his son when hunting in it ; the blood of Rufus which once
stained its soil ; the wretched villains by whom it was then
trodden, in abject submission to the feudal lord ; and though
last, not least, the chivalrous Knights-Templars who once
honoured it by their presence, must crowd upon the mind of
every man who has at all looked into books.

But I am going out of my line. The New Forest was
formerly of much greater extent than it is at present, the
circumference having been stated at nearly one hundred
miles ; its value as hunting ground has likewise been much
deteriorated by the enclosures which government have
effected in the centre of it, destroying the finest feature of
it — its wildness. These enclosures are likewise extremely
awkward to draw, although there are plenty of rides cut
through them. The lying is so strong (gorse, black-thorn,
&c.) that, particularly after a certain hour in the day, hounds
do not care to go far into them, unless accomjaanied by their
huntsman, and this is difl&cult by reason of the blind
drains with which they abound. Then what is to be done ?

* I am aware that the Monkish historians have egregiously overstepped the
limits of probability, in recounting the " enormities" here alluded to ; but, as the
Rev. Mr. Warner justly observes, the epithet new cannot be mistaken. Some
person depopulated this great tract of country, doubtless, at that time, very thinly
inhabited, and we fear our first William T>as a merciless preserver of game. But
the wise and sagacious Henry the First punished the murderer and the poacher
with equal severity — the halter.

HAMPSHIRE. 2^1

111 case of a fox slipping quickly away, it is dangerous
for a huntsman to accompany them dismounted, as he may
never catch his hounds ; on the other hand, if he holloas
them in from the rides, half of them will not ohey the holloa,
but remain at his horse's heels. What then, I repeat, is
to be done ? Why a whipper-in is generally sent into these
covers, on foot, encouraging the hounds, to draw them, and
this succeeds well. The plan originated with Mr. Nicoll.

Although the New Forest is esteemed fair scenting ground
by the nature of it, and rendered still more favourable to
hounds by aid of the side scent it affords them, by foxes
brushing the ling as they pass through it, yet it offers sundry
trying difficulties to hounds, and to hunt it well, a huntsman
must know it well. As to his hounds being steady from
deer, we of course calculate upon that, although the half-
starved appearance of many of these animals, and their
seeming inability to get away from them, render them
tempting to pull down. But hounds, to distinguish them-
selves in the New Forest, must be extremely handy and
quick in turning (their game rarely running straight), and
they should pack well together, as they are seldom out of
sight of the field. For horses it is distressing in the winter,
for although there is no fencing (which would be a relief to
them, inasmuch as it would abate the pace of the hounds),
the ground in the open is dreadfully deep, as most forests
are, from the total absence of drains. In the April month,
however, it generally rides well, and I need not inform
my readers that it is then seen to advantage, a large assem-
blage of sportsmen appearing in it from several other
hunts.

Were it not for boughs of trees and bogs, the forest would
be a fine field to display hounds in, as a well mounted sports-
man need never be far from their sterns. But without the
trees, the picturesque effect would be destroyed, for it is in
the ever shifting scenes of the forest that its greatest beauty
lies. At one moment we see the pack flinging to catch the
scent, where the fox has made his turnings in the brakes ;

282 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

at another, streaming away over the open, with a distant
brake in view. Now a red deer passing majestically in
their front, and then a fallow doe, with a fawn perhaps at
her side, jumping up out of the underwood, each unnoticed
by the pack. But the great merit of the New Forest is'
that hounds can hunt there when they can hunt no where
else ; on the other hand, they are subject to foot lameness,
to the great mortification of their owners.

The New Forest has been hunted by several conspicuous
sportsmen. Among them was the late Mr. Gilbert, whose
huntsman was old Tom Sebright, father to Lord Fitzwil-
liam's huntsman, who ranked so high in his calling ; the
late Mr. Compton, of the Manor-house, near Lyndhurst,
also hunted it, as likewise did Mr. Warde, for several suc-
cessive seasons. Mr. Warde was succeeded by Mr. Nicoll,
(whose quitting it in the prime of his days was a national
loss), and he was followed by Mr. Wyndham. Perhaps
no hunting country in England can boast of the extraordi-
nary degree of harmony and good fellowship that has existed
among the frequenters of this hunt for the last sixty years,
and long may it continue to distinguish it ! Death has put
his hand upon many of them, the times have dismounted
others ; but let the example of such as remain operate upon
the rising generation, for fox-hunting and good fellowship
should be inseparable.

I will, then, conclude my account of Hampshire, as a
hunting country ; perhaps no county in England is more
diversified than it is, every variety of hill and dale, aspect
and soil, being to be found w ithin its bounds ; we have chalks,
clays, sands, sheep-walks, downs, bogs, heaths, open fields?
and woodlands, which cannot but furnish an ample oppor-
tunity to the sportsman of determining the merits of each.
On the whole, however, it is a country that requires a low
scenting hound, quite steady to his game, for it abounds in
riot, and he is often out of sight of his huntsman ; he must
also stand well on his legs, with good cat-like feet, as it tries
both legs and feet, owing to so much of its surface being

MR, PAYNE. 283

stony. On this account, then, another disadvantage arises,
namely : hounds are often obliged to lie by, in consequence
of being cut by the flints, and we know the bad effects of
that; they are also too often pressed upon by the horsemen,
in chase, and driven beyond the scent. Taken altogether,
however, and estimating the value of the New Forest in the
spring, when all other countries are cut up, a man, with a
strong stable of horses, and determined to be in the field,
may have his heart's content of fox-hunting in Hampshire.

For reasons already assigned, it is not in my
power to say any thing of Sir Lawrence Palk, Lord
Pollington, and others. It is true I have seen the for-
mer with hounds, when he lived at Dalby, near Melton,
where he resided some years ; and I have heard that
Lord Pollington was very good, but I never saw his Lord-
ship in the field. Sir John Paul I have seen, and Mr. Payne ;
the latter, at one period, as well mounted as any man in
Leicestershire — I allude to the days of Panza, The Sheriff",
Latitat, Cottager, Sec, all first-rate nags. Mr. Payne is a
very hard rider, but his passion is for racing. I remember
seeing his stud once at Sulby — and a superb one it was —
consisting of thirty horses, hunters and hacks, and not one
lame one amongst them. A story is on record, but I won't
answer for the truth of it, that, when mounted on Panza, with
Sir Holyoake Goodricke alongside him on the Sheriff, they, in
a contest for superiority, went half a mile neck and neck over
the country after the hounds had killed their fox ! I re-
member Mr. Payne going capitally the first forty minutes
of Lord Lichfield's splendid run, from Croft's Mill to Brad-
gate Park.

Some years since I was in the habit of seeing a good deal
of Mr. Parker, who has since been the manager of two packs,
of fox-hounds. When I knew him he was the occupier of a
large farm in Worcestershire, but I often told him he mis-
took his calling. " You ought," said I, " to withdraw your
capital from agriculture, and take up your abode in Leices-
tershire ; but you must not speculate upon screws, as I per-

284 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

ceive you now do. Purchase good young horses, and, with
your style of riding, you'll soon make a fortune by them."
Now I ajjpeal to all sportsmen who knew Mr. Parker at the
period I am alluding to, if my notion of him was not a cor-
rect one. He rode rather heavy, it is true, but by care and
attention to the state and condition of his person he would
not have exceeded thirteen stone, with his saddle, and his
weight would have told in the golden scales ; for if a horse
can go well with a heavy man, he is sure to go better with
a lighter one — horsemanship being nearly at par. This
much, however, I can say of Mr. Parker, that, next to Mr.
Charles Boultbee, I consider him the best man on a bad
hunter — indeed, on no hunter at all — that I ever saw. I say
" man," because Bradley's Harry was a boy ; and I never
saw Dick Christian on any thing that could not be called a
hunter. The seat and hand of Mr. Parker appeared to
be perfect as to giving assistance to a horse over a deep
country like Worcestershire ; and for nerve, I need not
go beyond the fact of my seeing him ride an old groggy
horse over a good gate, in a very hard frost !

It is rather a singular fact, that in the same county with
Mr. Parker (Worcestershire to wit) was another eminent
sportsman and most accomplished horseman, who I have a
hundred times wished had taken up his abode in the grass
countries, as his style of riding to hounds was most peculiarly
adapted to them. I allude to Mr. John Price, of Ryall,
near Upton-upon-Severn, the great breeder of Hereford-
shire cattle, and whom I remember refusing 2,000 guineas,
from either Lord Talbot's or Lord Plymouth's agent, for
permission to pick ten of his cows — he, Mr. Price to bar one
of them ! But g) eat as were the prices he obtained for his
neat cattle, he would have gained six times as much by neat
horses, had he taken them into Leicestershire and ridden
them. I will say this of John Price, — and I knew him
well — that, with his head and hand, Leicestershire should
have been his market ; for, as it was, he sold horses for great
prices ; for example, two to the late Lord Coventry — then

MR. JOHN PRICE. 285

Lord Deerhurst — for five hundred guineas each, one of whicli,
by the way, no man could ride except himself. But there
would have been no necessity for cautioning Mr. Price as
to the sort of horse he should buy, for he was a superb judge
of a hunter, and always bought not only well-bred ones, but
sound ones ; added to which he could ride them brilliantly *.
Barring a few, and only a few, I could have given the lead
to no man in a very quick thing, over a very deep country —
for there he shone — if John Price was out, in his best day,
and for ought I know to the contrary he can still " do the
trick," On more than one occasion he has been the only
man who could live with hounds, when the scent lay well,
over that distressing part of Worcestershire, about Grafton,
&c., on the Warwickshire side of the county. Indeed I
remember his playing a solo with them upon Judgment, one
of the horses Lord Coventry purchased, not one other man
in the field being able to go his pace through the dirt. The
same county also produced that sporting yeoman Mr. Patrick,
known in Warwickshire as quite " a man of business" when
any thing serious was going on, and whose good little mare
cut so respectable a figure in — nay, indeed, was so near
winning — the great Leicestershire steeple chase, and was
purchased the same day by Lord Plymouth for two hundred
guineas.

But I have not done with the Prices, I was not in the
field in the days of Mr. Barry Price, when he planted every
man out, at the Rosy Brook, in the Vale of White Horse, on
his famous horse Monarchy, then riding good eighteen
stone : but I like to record such feats to the credit of man
and horse. His son. Captain Price, R.N., I have seen a

* Mr. Price would have his price for his horses, and now and then ovcrstood his
market, as the saying is. He had a clever little Bobadil horse for which he was
offered three hundred guineas, but wanted three hundred and fifty. Throwing my
leg over him one day, and giving him a gallop at his reqiiest, I said, " this horse
will be a roarer." " Impossible ;" said Mr. Price ; but he shortly afterwards sold
him for thirty pounds. He says the best horse he ever had was a big chesnut
gelding, sold by him to the late Lord Forester, and given by his lordship to Lord
Jersey, who called him Cecil. He was the finest winded horse, and the best in
dirt, Lord Jersey ever had. He was not thorough-bred, but had very large feet.

286 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

good deal of, and a very thrusting rider he was. Mr. Robert
Price, who resided near Ludlow, was also a very neat horse-
man, with a good eye to hounds, and had once the honour
of riding a race against Buckle. The Captain, however,
was at one time very often in the racing saddle. The last
season I hunted in Staffordshire there was a very good
heavy weight by the name of Purshouse, and a good sports-
man as well. I remember once seeing this gentleman come
up, as some of the shy oties were trying to get a stiff gate
off its hinges ; " Let a man come to it" said Mr. P., and,
popping over it on his pigeon-eyed horse, left his friends in
the lurch. Mr. Joseph Parfutt, a great Berkshire brewer,
was a most superior horseman, with his ability lamentably
thrown away in so vile a country as Sir John Cope's.
Fancy a man meeting hounds at Hartley Row turnpike !
The last year I was in Hampshire, Mr. Parfutt sold a horse
for two hundred guineas — a solitary instance in that part of
the world. Mr. Edmund Peel, until crippled by gout, was
one of the best men, and nearly the best mounted man, in
the Atherstone country, for many successive seasons. He
rode with great judgment, always forward, but never to the
baffling of hounds. Mr. Domville Poole was one of the best
of the Cheshire men : the Hon. Philip Pierrepont, a good
heavy man in Mr. Drake's country ; and there was a good
grazier by the name of Parr, in Leicestershire, who
once or twice distinguished himself — particularly in a run
the " Squire" had some years back in the Quorn country,
when he was one of about a dozen, out of a hundred and
fifty, at the end.

Going many years back, there was a very fine horseman
in Warwickshire — Mr. Walsh Porter, who so much dis-
tinguished himself on his two little bay mares, not more
than fourteen hands three inches high, but lengthy and
well-bred. If my memory does not fail me, he purchased
one of them of Mr. Wynniatt and the other of Sir Grey
Skipworth, at two hundred guineas each. But there was a
peculiarity in his style of riding, at that period the more

i * "K^

Y

MR. WALSH PORTER. 287

striking, inasmuch as it was very seldom displayed in the
field — I mean the long stirrup leather. In this instance it
had a more remarkable appearance, from the fact of the
rider being six feet high, and his mare so low. One feared,
indeed, as he charged the rasping fences of Warwickshire —
which he did in gallant style — that his feet might strike
them, by their hanging so much below the belly of his mare.
Mr. Porter had likewise an excellent hand ; and, although
a very good judge of horsemanship, used to say of him, that
he was " very near being a very fine horseman," I confess —
and I saw much of his performance — I considered him
perfect. There was a smoothness about his seat, and all the
movements of himself and his mares, that was delightful to
behold, and his example was not lost sight of in Warwick-
shire. He resided quite on the outside of the country; and
if a correct account could be given of the distance those two
good little animals travelled in the course of an open season,
I think it would scarcely be believed.

But it may be said — what credit can be given to a long
legg'd gentleman on a two hundred guinea mare, if I
produce another gentleman who rode nearly as hard, with
only one leg, and on very queer cattle ? Had I words and
images at command, I might awaken the sympathy of all
sportsmen for the fate of a man who could follow hounds,
having only one leg, a disabled shoulder, and who was
obliged to let go his bridle when he leaped a fence to hold on
by the saddle, being deprived of the natural clip from the
thighs. But what will not a British seaman do ? and such
was Captain Pell, whom I saw with the Oakley hounds when
I visited Lord Lynedoch. It appeared he hunted every day
on which he could reach hounds, and I saw him take many-
good fences. Perhaps this may be considered not a bad
finish to the list of Ps, and the letter Q draws blank.

I cannot do better than begin the next batch of good
horsemen with Lord Rancliffe, of Bunny Park, Notts., an
excellent sportsman, residing within the limits of the Quorn
country. As a rider to hounds his lordship has ever been

288 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

considered quite first-rate — always trying to go, and very
seldom failing in being where he wished to be alongside tlie
pack, let the pace or country be what it might. In fact, both
in Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire, his fame as a rider
has long since been established ; and he was the only person I
ever saw riding a good pie-bald hunter — one that could go
the pace and hold it. Mr. Wilson Roberts, of Bewdley,
used to go very well over Leicestershire some years ago, in
the late Lord Forester's time, and, like his Lordship,
generally possessed some good Shropshire horses of the old
Snap blood. Colonel Rolleston also went well over the same
country, and particularly on his famous horse Spot. I am
likewise old enough to remember seeing Mr. Rowland (in
those days called Mr. Rowland the farrier, since, of course,
V. S.) riding capitally when Lord Sefton had the Quorn, and
as a proof of it, his Lordship gave him eight hundred guineas
for a grey horse, which he called after his name. I saw Mr.
Rowland a few years back at Melton, looking hearty and
well, but he had given up the chase. But surely I am not
going to pass over Jack Raven, Meynell's huntsman, and
afterwards Lord Sefton's ! I could as soon believe I
should forget my dinner. Jack's best days were passed
before I knew him, but he rode well then, and looked
the horseman to the very tittle. Lideed there was no
deception at all about Jack Raven, for a more inde-
pendent straight-forward fellow never showed his face.
'Tis a thousand pities there is no print of him, for he would
have furnished the very beau ideal of an English huntsman
to a pack of fox-hounds. His countenance was indicative of
very superior intellect — uncultivated, no doubt ; and his
appearance manly in the extreme, with a voice such as I
have seldom or never heard since. You would have thought
it had been pitched purposely for hounds — and who can say
it was not? Jack was a jolly soul in the evening, and I fear
the arm chair in the servant's hall at Quorn, and " its
accompaniment, ale" which the poet gives to history, proved
at last his bane.

MR. HORATIO ROSS. 2S[)

Now what must I say of Cajitain Ross, or rather of Mr.
Horatio Ross, he havino- lony," since ceased to hold her Ma-
jesty's commission ? Why, perhaps the best judgment of his
horsemanship and pkick, would be formed by a recapitulation
of the several feats he performed in the various sweepstakes
in which he was engaged over Leicestershire ; which have, of
course, been read and heard of in all parts of the world. I
shall therefore only touch upon them lightly. His first
match was between himself and the late Lord Kennedy,
made on their road to Epsom races — his lordship backing
Mr. Douglas against Mr. Ross, four miles over Leicester-
shire— thus ascertaining which was the best horseman of the
two — the former being a crack man in the north. Mr. Ross
proved the winner ; but the interest this match created is
best shown, not in the money depending on it — several thou-
sand pounds, his lordship himself having staked more than
two thousand pounds upon it — but by the vast pains taken
in procuring horses for the decision of it. In fact, all Eng-
land was ransacked — such was the esprit de corps on the
occasion — and twelve hundred guineas were offered and
refused in one quarter, and eight hundred in another. The
two contending horses cost a thousand pounds, one chosen
out of the stable of Sir H. Goodricke, and the other of Mr.
Assheton Smith. Neither were the pains taken by jtheir
riders less severe. Ross reduced himself from 13st. 51b. to
list, 81b., with his saddle, and Douglas from 14st. to 12st.
91b. Much was said about another match between these
gentlemen, with some insinuations of this having been no
trial of horses, as hunters, or of hunting horsemanship, by
reason of the fences having been broken down previously to
the match being performed, but none other was made. Be
it, however, borne in mind, that in a trial of Clinker over
the ground, to ascertain his fitness for the undertaking, and
previously to the fences being lowered, — the ground very
deep withal — he Avent the four miles in eleven minutes and
fifteen seconds, ridden by Dick Christian — List. 41b. ! !
Mr. Ross's next display of horsemanship was in a match,

u

290 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

two miles over a very strong part of Leicestershire, against
Mr. Gilmour, who, as I have before said, had a fine stnd at
Melton. The conditions were, that Ross should have one
hundred yards start, and if Gilmour touched him or his
horse before they reached the winning-post, half the match
money was won by him — the other half depending on the
final issue. Ross's horse refused a fence about midway ; so,
by being touched by his competitor, he paid upon that event,
but received on the other by coming in first. This produced
the great Leicestershire steeple-chase, on which I need not
dwell, further than to say that, until the accident of losing
his stirrup, no man could have gone straighter or more
gallantly than Mr. Ross did, although it was announced by
him at starting that he only intended to cut out the work
for Clinker.

We next find Mr. Ross matched against Mr. Osbaldeston,
who, unwilling that Clinker should retain the laurels he had
gained (for, barring the unlucky slip at the last, he had un-
doubtedly been the winner of the great steeple-chase), chal-
lenged him to bring him to the post, and ride him against
himself upon Clasher, one of his favourite hunters. The
challenge was accepted, but the match was postponed in
consequence of an accident to Clasher, and the Squire paid
forfeit. Like two good-plucked ones, however, they substi-
tuted other horses rather than disappoint the spectators, and
a noble struggle ensued. Desperate falls were encoun-
tered,— the Squire had one, and Ross two — the first, by
charging an impracticable place which the Squire left on his
right ; the second in a second ditch, of a double fence, in
which his mare was cast on her back, and was not released
under an hour. It was, however, admitted by all present,
that more gallant horsemanship could not have been dis-
played than that of both riders ; and had it not been for the
second fall, it would have been a fine race to the last, as
Ross was creeping up.

Now all who know the " Squire" would be sure the matter
would not rest here. Clinker was yet supposed to be the

MR. HORATIO ROSS. 291

best horse in Leicestershir©, but he disputed the point.
Clasher was again brought to the post with his owner on
him, and Clinker with Dick Christian, each riding 12st.
It was a splendid race, the five miles being run in sixteen
minutes — but Clinker fell at the last fence and was beaten.
But what will satisfy a man whose soul burns "/«m« veni-
entis amove" as Virgil says of ^neas 1 Mr. Ross was to be
defeated as well as Clinker, and another match between
these two sporting characters soon after took place — Ross,
13st. 71b., on Polecat ; Osbaldeston, 12st., on Pilot — distance
four miles, the latter staking 500 sovs. to 200 sovs. Pilot
won with much ease ; Polecat having refused a brook in
Harrington lordship, which left her not a chance to win, as
the pace was good, the four miles being run in fourteen
minutes ! Eight hundred persons were present at this
match ; but the happiest man in the throng was the Squire.
As descriptions of all scenes are but the feelings of the
narrator, it may be excusable in me to dwell a little longer
on these. May I then be allowed to give the history of the
horse who was in great part the cause of this strife for fame ?
Clinker was purchased by Sir H. Goodricke, from Mr. Joseph
Leeds, for five hundred guineas, and was considered one of
the best, if not the best, of all the horses at Melton, in a very
severe forty minutes burst. His dam produced three hun-
ters which sold for the enormous sum of two thousand
pounds — save five ; and had he accepted the offer of
twelve hundred guineas for Clinker, the sum total would
have been without a parallel in hunting studs. As re-
gards his owner, in the contests in which he engaged him,
it is but justice to say, he backed him with spirit and was
well supported by his numerous friends. Mr. Ross has,
however, retired from the field in which he acquired his
fame, and now contents himself with a pack of harriers and
his gun ; but neither his fame nor name will be forgotten in
Leicestershire for many generations to come. I will not say
there are not better horsemen, but a more fearless one was
never seen by the cover's side.

u 2

292 HUNTIXG REMINISCENCES.

I need say but little of Mr. Ravvlinson — Mr. Lindow's
brother — his good name as a rider being in ev^ery one's
mouth. He has retired from the field before his time in
consequence of indifferent health, but when he was " going"
in the Duke of Beaufort's or the Warwickshire hunts, no
man could beat him in a quick thing ; and once or twice —
on his grey mare, for instance — he ran clean away from the
field, as Lindow did on The Clipper. For perfection of
seat and excellence of hand he is quite equal to his
twin brother, and if you had seen the one you had
seen the other. The following trait, however, is not
unworthy of notice : Although nothing can exceed
the brotherly affection which has always subsisted between
Rawlinson and Lindow — indeed, if the string that united
them were still uncut it could not be closer — yet when they
met in the field, in their hard-riding days, they appeared as
though they could break each other's necks. Each was
jealous of his brother's fame, and it was amusing to see how
they strove for the mastership.

There was a very heavy man in Warwickshire some years
since who rode well to hounds, and as such I shall not omit
him. I think he could not be under twenty stone. I
allude to Mr. Henry Roberts, who resided at Stratford-on-
Avon, and was for many years a constant attendant on the
Warwickshire hounds. I saw a very excellent rider in
Dorsetshire, Mr. Richards, of Marstock ; and I was much
pleased with the horsemanship of Mr. Ridsdale, whom I
saw in the North. He rode all thorough-bred ones, and of
the very best stamp.

I have now to conclude the list of R's with three excellent
horsemen, as well as three excellent servants. I shall begin
with Roffey, late huntsman to Colonel Jolliffe, who, taking
his weight into account, — at least fifteen stone — was as good a
man to get over a rough country as any one would wish to see.
In making his way through a cover he was equal to Dick Foster.
and that is saying enough. Jack Richards, huntsman to the
Badsworth, was what we call " a devil to ride" when he

JACK RICHARDS TUM ROSE. 293

vvhipped-in to Sir Bellingham Graham in the Atherstone
country, and I heard a good account of him when I was
with him one day with the Badsworth, but I had no chance
to judge for myself, as we could not get a run. Ransom,
second horseman to Lord Jersey, and who was with his
lordship in that capacity many years, was a most superior
horseman. Indeed it is enough to say that he rode Lord
Jersey's horses, for woe to the man who pulled and hauled
them about. But surely I am not going to omit Tom Rose,
so many years huntsman to the Duke of Grafton's hounds !
Indeed I think I see him this moment, in his green coat
and his black cap, fringed round with his white locks — a
most respectable and sportsmanlike old gentleman, civil and
good humoured to every one, which is more than was said
of his son, who was one of the new sort, whereas Tom was one
of the old sort — of servants. Touching his horsemanship,
as practice makes perfect, he had every opportunity of be-
coming a good one, although with some I could name, all
advantages have been lost. Tom Rose, however, was
always — aye, even to the last, and he hunted the hounds
almost up to his seventieth year — a good man across his
country, which, from having ridden over it so long, he knew
as well as he knew his road to his bed. This, let me
observe, is no slight advantage in a strongly fenced country
like his. A weak place in a live hedge this year, cannot be
a very strong one next ; and the knowledge of such places,
on first getting out of, and away from covers, lands a man
comfortably with his hounds. Of course I need not
tell a sportsman — that after two or three deep rings
in Frisley Wood, in black mud half knee-deep, Tom
Rose's horse was entitled to every chance he could give
him ; and Tom seldom failed in bestowing it upon him.
In short, he was a clever and judicious horseman, and
having said this I have said enough. Tom Penn, Sir
Watkin's pad groom, was a good horseman, although he-
did break his neck in a clumsy way at last.

294 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

I have a long list in letter 8, and, of course, lots of
Smith's. But Theodore Hook says, " they should be num-
bered," and there can be no hesitation as to the best claim
to " number one" namely, Thomas Assheton Smith, Esq.,
of Tedworth House, Hants, M.P. for Carnarvonshire, late
owner of, and huntsman to, the Quorn hounds, and at present
hunting a very good pack of his own in Hampshire. Now
I am not going to give merely my own opinion of Mr.
Thomas Assheton Smith, as a horseman and a rider to
hounds, but shall lay before my readers that of all the sporting
world, at least of all who have seen him in the field ; which
is, that, taking him from the first day's hunting of the
season to the last! place him on the best horse in his
stable, or on the worst, he is sure to be with his hounds, ayid
close to them too. In fact, he has undoubtedly proved him-
self the best and hardest rider England ever saw, and it
would be vain in any man to dispute his title to that cha-
racter. But we might as well attempt to make a blind
man an optician, a lame man a dancing master, or a one-
armed one a fiddler, as to suppose that any gentleman could
arrive at this ultra state of perfection in a very difficult art^
which horsemanship undoubtedly is, unless nature had been
prodigal of the requisites. Setting aside the daring, the
undaunted, the not-to-be-denied determination of Mr. Smith
to get to hounds, despite of any and all difficulties which
may have opposed him — the result of strongly-braced
nerves, and great physical powers — let us look at him in his
saddle. Does he not look like a workman ? Observe how
lightly he sits ! No one would suppose him to be a twelve
stone man. And what a firm hand he has on his horses !
How well he puts them at their fences, and what chances
he gives them to extricate themselves from any scrape they
may have gotten into. He never hurries them, then : no
man ever saw Tom Smith ride fast at his fences, at least at
large ones (brooks excepted), let the pace be what it may ;
and what a treat it is to see him jump water! His falls, to

MR. THOMAS ASSHETON SMITH. 295

be sure have been innumerable ; but what very hard riding
man does not get falls ? Hundreds of Mr. Smith's falls
may be accounted for ; he has measured his horses' pluck
by his own, and ridden at hundreds of non-feasible places,
with the chance of getting over them, somehow. Bravo !
Mr. Smith ; you must be number one,* for, by Heavens,
there will never be such another Mr. Smith as long as the
world stands.

I have said that Mr. Smith's make and shape, together
with a fine bridle-hand, have assisted him in rising to per-
fection as a horseman, and I will produce one or two proofs
of the use he made of these by no means subaltern endow-
ments. I have seen him riding horses which scarcely re-
quired a bridle, such as his large grey horse Jack-a-Lantern,
Gift, Tom Thumb, Gaddesby, and others equally temperate
and agreeable ; and I have seen, and heard of, him riding-
some that no other men could have ridden, as he rode them..
Mr. Lindow's Clipper was, for example, so hard a puller
with hounds, that the bit called " the Clipper bit," was made
purposely to suit him, and a most severe one it is. On a
proposal being one day made, that Lindow and Smith should
exchange horses for the day, the latter, previously to mount-
ing the Clipper, put his curb chain into his pocket. " Good
bye to you," said his friends, as the hounds were finding
their fox, " we shall never see you again." He rode him,
however, in his usual place — alongside the pack ! It is well
known that Radical was purchased out of Mr. Smith's stable

* It used to be asserted, but I presume with exaggeration, that Mr. Smith's
falls were about a hxmdred in the season. Strange, however, as it may appear
this gallant horseman was never very seriously injured by falls — no broken bones
that I can remember hearing of (the worst he had was with the Duke of Rutland's
hounds, when his head was much hurt), but he is made of hard stuff, and his activity
has assisted him in getting away from his horse. Coolness in danger — habitual to
him, as indeed to all- hard riders — has likewise been a preservative for him. But
to show how little he valued falls when he hunted Leicestershire, I shall relate
the following anecdote. " I never see you in the Harborough country," said he
to a gentleman who occasionally hunted with the Quorn. " I don't much like
your Harborough country," replied the gentleman, the fences arc so large."
" Oh," observed Mr. Smith, " there is no place you cannot get over with a fall."

296 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

for £500, to run the steeple chase against Clinker. He was
a hard-pulling, thorough-bred horse, that would go in nothing
but a snaffle bridle, and for the first two seasons of his owner's
riding him, was awkwardness and wilfulness personified. In
factj the character Smith gave of him when he sold him was
this — " Whoever rides Radical," said he, " should be as quiet
as a mouse, as bold as a lion, and as strong as a horse."
Nevertheless, Mr. Smith rode him with his hounds, in a
plain snaffle bridle, turning and twisting him as occasion
might require.

Mr. Smith became a master of hounds in 1810, succeeding
the late Lord Foley in the Quorn country, in which he had
hunted forat least half a scoreof years, when Lords Sefton and
Foley occupied it, and I believe I may go further back and
class him amongst the field in the latter end of Mr. Meynell's
reign, as we find mention made of him in Mr. Lowth'spoem
of the Billesden Coplow run, which was in Mr. Meynell's
time. Thus may he be considered to have been duly quali-
fied for the task he entered upon, and he hunted the Quorn
country seven^ seasons.

It is only natural to suppose, from Mr. Smith's high repu-
tation as a rider, and as what we may here call an amateur
sportsman, that much was expected from him Avlien he camj
forth as a practical one, in the trying situation of master of
the Quorn hounds. Neither were these anticipations disap-
pointed. Melton and its neighbourhood were never more
full of sportsmen than during Mr. Smith's mastership, and
the whole business of the field was conducted in a truly
sportsman-like style. Those eminent men in their line —
Jack Shirley, Dick Burton, Joe Harrison, and Tom Wing-
field, were in their turns assistants to Mr. Smith in the field;
and these having been the best days of himself, Mr. Lindow,
Mr. White, Mr. Maxse, Mr. Maher, Mr. Edge, Sir James
Musgrave, Mr. William Coke, and a few others of this stamp
in their saddles, the riding to the hounds of this period was
above all praise, and what no other country under the sun

MR. THOMAS ASSHEtON SMITH. 297

could find a parallel to. As for Mr. Smith himself, so often
at work whilst the others were standing still, the wonder is
that he has an unfractured bone in his body, whereas
I have reason to believe that he was very seldom much
hurt. But no man knows so well as he himself does how to
fall, which accounts for the trifling injuries he has sustained ;
and I once saw an instance of his skill in this act of self-pre-
servation. He stuck fast in a bullfinch, on his tall grey
horse, his hinder legs being entangled in the growers, and
there was every appearance of the horse falling on his head
into a deep ditch below him. A less cool man than Mr.
Smith might have thrown himself from his saddle, in which
case, had the growers given way at the moment, for the
horse appeared suspended by them, his horse might have
fallen upon him, ere he could have gotten out of his way.
Mr. Smith, however, sat quiet, and by that means the well-
practised animal got his legs free, and he landed himself in
the field without further difficulty. At one time it appeared
to me as if nothing could prevent both falling headlong into
the ditch. Then what a capital hand over the country was
Jack Shirley in those days, and what a capital anecdote did
Mr. John Moore tell me of him from his own experience.
Hew^as riding one Gadsby — a celebrated hunter of his mas-
ter's, but then a good deal the worse for wear — over one of
the worst fields in all Leicestershire for a blown horse,
between Tilton and Somerby, abounding with large ant-hills,
and deep holding furrows. " The old horse," said my in-
formant, " was going along at a slapping pace, with his head
cpiite loose, and down hill at the time, whilst Jack was in
the act of putting a point of whipcord to his thong, having
a large open clasp knife between his teeth at the time !"

To return to Mr. Smith as master of the Quorn hounds.
Mr. Smith's father — himself a good sportsman, and much in
the confidence of Mr. Meynell — being at the time alive, he
may be said to have been, as to joecuniary resources, far less
able than any of his predecessors to hunt the Quorn country ;

298 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

and although he had a subscription exceeding £2,000 per
annum towards his expenses, there can be little doubt but
that it was as much as he could do to make matters square
at the year's end. There was then in his hunting establish-
ment nothing of the pomp and parade which had charac-
terised the doings of some of his predecessors — not, by the
bye, at all essential to the well-doing of hounds — but every
thing with him bore the stamp of really business-like pro-
ceedings. In the kennel also there was to a certain extent
a disregard of some of those niceties, if I may so express
myself, which some masters insist upon, as much perhaps to
gratify the eye, as tending to mere utility. Mr. Smith was
not particular as to the sizeableness of his hounds, his object
being their running well together, and other not-to-be-
dispensed-with essentials. I believe few people had a more
killing pack than his were in the three last years of his
hunting Leicestershire ; and his run, called " The Belvoir
Day," in his last year, was, as I am informed, unequalled
for severity of pace, and stoutness in the continuance of it,
in the voluminous annals of Leicestershire fox-hunting. The
distance, from point to point, was nineteen miles ; and so
severe was the country, and so quick the pace, that himself
and Mr. White were, at last, the only two who could live
any where near to the hounds.

As a huntsman, I fearlessly put Mr. Smith in the first
class. He has, even to this day, all the requisites to make
him such — zeal, quickness of perception, untireing perseve-
rance, a ready judgment when in difficulty, and horseman-
shijD quite unequalled for daring and duration by any man
of this or any other age. For example, what said his brother
sportsmen of him only last season, in Lincolnshire? Why,
that there was no man who could get over, or out of, when in,
the wide and deep drains of that country so cleverly as Tom
Smith did. When too wide to be cleared, as I was informed
by an eye-witness, he would force his horse into them
diagonally, then, alighting from his saddle, and scambling up

MR. THOMAS ASSHETON SMITH. 2!)9

the bank, he would pull his horse after him. And this when
past his grand climacteric !

During the period of Mr. Smith's hunting Leicestershire,
his residence was at Quorn Hall, the residence of his prede-
cessors, and, at one time, that equally celebrated sportsman,
Mr. Edge, of Strelley Hall, near Nottingham, resided with
him. His three famous hunters, Remus, Banker, and
Guzman, were then in their prime ; no man could beat him,
on' either of them, in a burst, although they carried twenty
stone. The excellence of Guzman may be estimated by the
fact of his having carried his owner every Monday for nine
seasons in succession : that of Banker, by the equally extra-
ordinary fact of Mr. Edge having been offered fifty pounds
for one day's hunting on him ; and of Remus and Banker
conjointly, by the offer for them — which was refused — of
two thousand two hundred guineas, by the late Lord
Middleton !

I had the good luck to see one extraordinary run with
Mr. Smith, rendered the more so by the period of the
season at which it happened — being on the sixteenth day of
April, under a hot sun, but after a wet night. We found
in a hedge row, in coming away from the gorse at Slauson,
which had proved blank ; ran very fast to within a mile of
Shankton Holt — say a quarter of an hour, and killed.
Found instantly in the Holt, and killed near to Market
Harborough town — an hour all but two minutes. There
was great distress among the horses, only one single check
having occurred, and amongst others old Jack-o'-Lantern
stopped with Mr. Smith, although he came about again, and
went to the end. I say " old" Jack-o'Lantern, because Mr.
Smith had afterwards young Jack-o'-Lantern, which he con-
sidered a still better hunter than his sire.

Although there are, and have been, more extensive
breeders of hounds than Mr. Smith, his blood is to be found
in several of our best kennels, and he has been a spirited
purchaser. For example, he gave Sir Richard Sutton a

300 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

thousand guineas for one pack, with which I liunted on tlie
first day of their appearance, in his Hampshire country, in
1827, and this was previously to his father's decease. He
also offered Mr. Warde 1500 guineas for ten couples.
The last time I saw his hounds in Hampshire, was on the
8th of April, 1829, at Speary Well, near Lyndhurst, whilst
he was on a visit to Sir Hussey Vivian, in the New Forest.
He had then a fine pack of hounds, hut was without a
single whipper-in, excepting a little boy, a son of Mr.
Warde's late huntsman Neverd, who being mounted on
Rob Roy, a horse of great size, was compared by the field
to a frog on a washing-block. Burton entered his service
before the next season, but the one he concluded, on the day
I am now speaking of, had been anything but a good one.
The last time I saw his hounds in Leicestershire, was the
season but one before the last, when Lord Lonsdale gave him
a day in the Titton country, but it was a dies non, there not
being an atom of scent. He had a noble pack in the field,
picked for the occasion, no doubt.

Mr. Smith's present kennel at Tedworth House, Hants,
having been so accurately described by Mr. Delme Rad-
clifi'e in his " Noble Science," it only requires to be
mentioned here as regards one circumstance, and this is a
very material one, — namely with relation to what, in kennel
language is called its soundness. Notwithstanding all that
was done to render it in all other respects, complete, it did
not prove to be what is called a sound one — in other words
the disorder called kennel lameness prevailed in it to
such an extent, that Mr. Smith told me he was abso-
lutely obliged to put some of his hounds under the cow
and calf houses to prevent their becoming useless. Further
— that he had tried various artificial subsoils, such as chalk,
large stones, &c., but it was his fixed opinion, that nothing
but clay, well puddled, for the foundation, and consequently
imj)ervious to damp, would have the desired effect.

I shall now dismiss Mr. Smith, but not without making

MR. THOMAS ASSIIETON SMITH. 301

him signal, otherwise than as merely a master of the Quorn
hounds, as also of those he now possesses, and as a horseman
quite unequalled in the present or in any other age. I
allude to the extraordinary compliment paid to himself, and
to fox-hunting as well, in the reception he met with last
year, when he brought his hounds into Leicestershire, But
to thoroughly explain myself here I must break fresh ground
— ground on which I scarcely have courage to tread. Was
the compliment paid entirely to Mr. Smith, or in part, to the
noble diversion of fox-hunting ? I answer to Mr. Smith
entirely ; why, therefore, it may be said, is this question
asked ? I will explain myself further.

That Mr. Smith hunted Leicestershire as Leicestershire
ought to be hunted, is a fact no one will dispute ; but that
Mr. Smith was generally popular in Leicestershire, or in the
hunting world throughout, few will venture to assert. It
might be, as is too often the case with men pre-eminent in
their station, that his pre-eminence was to a certain extent
the cause of his not being so generally popular in tlie field
as other masters of the country had been before him, and
have been since. A hastiness of manner, a few sharp re-
bukes— little as they may be regarded by his equals, or even
by real sportsmen of any station conscious of their havino-
deserved them — are not generally relished, and to administer
these was Mr. Smith given in his zeal to do his duty by the
country he had taken upon himself to hunt. But mark the
result ! No doubt, when he left the country, some of those
wounds which words will (jive — and which are said to be
sometimes harder to heal than those given by the sword —
were still open, and yet what a balm to every thing did his
presence produce ! From far and near did his brother
sportsmen assemble, and, excuse me, reader, if I express a
doubt, whether the great captain of the age, on his arrival
from the wars, with victory on his brow, could have had
more honour done him than had this master of fox-hounds
on the occasion alluded to. The scene of congratulation did

302 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

not lie in Hyde Park nor at Charing Cross, nor in any other
public place ; but in the middle of a large field in a midland
county, to which repaired scores of persons from upwards of
a hundred miles distant, in addition to hundreds who came
from places adjacent, and for what purpose ? To see the
hero of a hundred fights ? To see a monarch crowned ? No ;
but to see and welcome a comparatively humble individual,
the man who has made himself signal as (take him for all
in all) the first fox-hunter and sportsman of the age in which
he lives ! Thus then is it that I have been bold enough to
assert that fox-hunting, together with Mr, Thomas Assheton
Smith, claims some share in this triumph — for a triumph it
was. In no other pursuit would pre-eminence have been so
attractive.

But let me not be supposed capable of detracting one atom
from the character of Mr. Smith, otherwise than as a sports-
man. I believe him to be in all the relations of social life,
every thing that an English gentleman ought to be, and
such is he found to be, by those who know him well. That
he is not the best tempered man in the world, he himself
once told his Leicestershire field, perhaps with good effect,
as giving force to the cry of " Hold hard :" and his " Hi !
hi !" to any one who rode over his hounds, will never be
forgotten in Leicestershire. But on this subject, some
amusing anecdotes are on record. His father was wont to
say that he himself was the worst tempered man in England,
except his son Tom ! Again — on a Leicestershire grazier, who
used to hunt with him in the Quorn country, hearing him
check some of the field on the memorable Rolleston day
(the day on which he was so handsomely greeted on his
arrival amongst his old hunting friends) he exclaimed
to Mr. White " there is the old Hi hi ! Sir, but not
with the usual hemphasis." By this we may presume, he was,
on this occasion, on his very best behaviour. But we will
dwell no longer on this subject ; there are spots on the sun
with all its brightness, and we will not seek, with micro-

MT?. THOMAS SMITH. 30-3

scopic eyes, to tarnish the fame of the first man of the age —
in his line assuredly.

The late Mr. Assheton Smith had retired from the hunting
field before I entered it ; but when I saw him at Amesbury
Coursing Meeting, on his fine black horse, I could distin-
guish the remains of those powers of horsemanship which
placed him so forward in the days of Meynell, and also in
great measure accounted for the prowess of his son, the
resemblance between them, making allowance for age, being
peculiarly striking.

As milder lights are overpowered by the blaze and lustre
of those that are stronger, so must the horseman who is
brought to notice immediately succeeding Mr. Assheton
Smith, appear to no small disadvantage. Mr. Smith, of the
Craven hounds, however, must be " number two ;" and having
seen a good deal of him in the field, and heard more, I hesi-
tate not in calling him a very wonderful performer over a
rough country ; and although not what I call an elegant
horseman — his seat being looser than I like to see it — no
one can dispute his being a good one. Indeed every body
allows that, on a middling nag — and his have not been
"from great Alceste's royal stalls sujjplied" — he has few
equals. He has not had, like his namesake, the means and
opportunities of picking the best. However, I will go so
far as to assert that, if I were asked for a subject to enable
an artist to represent upon canvas the often talked-of pheno-
menon of" a rum one to look at, but a devil to go," I should
say, " Take Tom Smith's hog-maned black mare, with himself
upon her," that is to say, if the said blackmare be still in the
land of the living. Believe me, reader, I mean no dispa-
ragement. On the contrary, as the bad carpenter never has
good tools, so those of the more skilful one generally per-
form their office. I repeat, then, that Mr. Smith, of the
Craven, is — all things considered — a surprising man across
a country.

I have a more difficult task now to perform in drawing the

304 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

character of this extraordinary huntsman, for extraordinary
he certainly is, and in some respects unequalled by any
man who has come under ray observation in the character
of a Master of Hounds ; hunting them himself. And, in
what consists this stricking peculiarity ? I answer — first, in
an enthusiastic zeal for,andan unsubdued spirit in the pursuit
of fox-hunting, which have carried him on. in an almost
uninterrupted prosperous course, from the period when, as
a schoolboy, he followed the hounds on his pony, to that which
found him hunting the second best country in England.
Secondly, there are features in Mr. Smith's character as a
huntsman, that appear to be peculiarly his own, and for
which I have reason to believe the hunting world give hiui
full credit. The sort of intuitive knowledge he displays in
reo-ard to what is called " the run of a hunted fox," may be
said to border on instinct. At all events, it is such as I have
never seen or heard of in any other huntsman ; and when
we read, in the preface to his book, of his having killed ninety
foxes in ninety-one days in the Craven country, we might
almost say one half of them were killed by his hounds and
the other half by himself. Then what is my opinion of Mr.
Smith as a huntsman ? It is told in a few words. He has
proved that he can kill foxes with any man in England, and
his having killed so many good old ones in his Hambledon
country, and still more of all sorts in the Craven country,
notoriously a bad scenting one, makes good the proverb that
" handsome is that handsome does." Still I am compelled
to say, I am not a general admirer of Mr. Smith's system of
hunting hounds — the system at least which he persued when
I saw him in the two countries above mentioned There
was too*much wildness in his proceedings — too much of the
man, if I may be allowed the expression, and not enough of
the hounds, to satisfy a lover of hunting. I admit that
there was something enthusiastically cheering in seeing him
dash through a strong cover, come out of it with the leading
hound, and with hat in hand, and cheering holloa, ride away

MR. T. SMITH. 305

with the few couples that eaine next, apparently thinking-
nothing- of those left behind. But where was his eye at this
time? — on his hounds? often not, hut fo7'ward to some point
which his intuitive knowledge of the line foxes take induced
him to believe his had taken ; and six times in ten he was
right. But the question is, — is this the way a pack of
hounds should get aAvay from a cover with their fox ? In
my humble opinion it is not. It is not doing the thing-
altogether in a workmanlike style, or in that in which fox-
hunting should always be done. To carry on a scent, with
safety, the body of the pack should do the work, and this
never can be the case when a few couples get away ahead,
and the rest become blown by getting up to them. Neither
is this system altogether favourable to sport. Foxes hol-
loaed away and ridden after in this manner are very apt to run
short, either from fear or want of wind, a fact proved by the
experience of woodland foxes generally standing longer
before hounds than those found in gorse covers, because
they most commonly have a chance to go quietly away.
What is called bursting a fox and hunting him to death, are
very distinct operations; and on this subject I can state an
incident to the point which I witnessed with Lord Kintore's
hounds, in Scotland. We had run a fox about twenty
minx^es into a small cover, whence we viewed him breaking
away again. " Pray help Joe to stop the hounds," said
Lord Kintore to me, blowing his horn at the time; " let
him get well away and we shall have a runf He did get well
away, with the body of the pack on his line ; and the result
was a beautiful forty minutes, and his brush is now in my
view. I call this fox-hunting.

Let me not be supposed to have the least intention of
detracting from the merits of Mr. Smith, as a sportsman
and a huntsman. The man who can kill ninety foxes in as
many days, and in what Mr. Warde pronounced to be the
worst scenting country he ever had to do with, must be
allowed to be both one and the other. He had his system,
and he found it answer ; my only object in alluding to it is

X

306 IIUNIING REMINISCENCES.

the desire that it may not become a precedent for tliose who
come after him, and who may in vain expect, by similar
means, the like success.

The Hambledon is certainly the -best of all the Hamp-
shire countries for hounds, unless it be the New Forest, and
I saw a splendid run over it in Mr. Smith's time, of seven-
teen miles from point to point, without entering one cover,
and the first fourteen without a cast : and in the same
season he had one of the most remarkable runs that the
annals of fox-hunting record, the description of it by Mr.
Smith, reminding one of the fox-hunting of olden times.
The fact was, his foxes in those days took a deal of killing,
and for this reason ; previously to his taking to the country,
they had not been " killed down," as we term it, and the
consequence was, a large portion of good old foxes, able to
stand before hounds.

I rejoice to hear that Mr. Smith had his share of sport in
Northamptonshire, and that the gentlemen of the country and
others were satisfied with him. I always admired Mr. Suiith's
conduct towards his field — firm, without being offensive.

I believe the Hambledon country is now hunted by Mr.
Long, jun., of Preshaw House, whose huntsman is Squires,
late huntsman to Mr. King, who succeeded Mr. Smith ; and
the mention of Mr. Long induces me to relate an anecdote of
him, at a period at which, perhaps neither he nor myself
imagined he would ever be the master of the Hambledon
hounds. That fine horseman. Colonel Greenwood, was in
the field, and being then a captain in a Hussar regiment,
had moustache on his upper lip. " Who is that gentleman,"
said Master Long, — for he was then only in his ninth year,
" with a wig under his nose?" I have heard that Mr. Long-
takes bitches only into the field. His kennels are at
Preshaw.

I cannot dismiss my notice of Mr. Smith, as a master of
hounds, without ofiering a few remarks touching his book.
I was disappointed in finding it so short. The announce-
ment of the " Diary of a Huntsman" — and of a huntsman

MR. T. SMITH. 307

of such long experience as Mr. 8mith — led me to believe
I should get at least twice the information from it than is
contained in two hundred and twenty pages of large type
and larger margin. I looked for the experience of some
particular days, in which some particular events had
occurred, some particular difficulties been overcome ; in
fact, some new lights, and those by which future masters
and huntsman, as w^ell as others, might more clearly see their
way in the dark and intricate path they take upon them-
selves to pursue, in the difficult science of hunting the fox.

I think my friend — and in strict friendship I write this —
is rather hypothetical on the cunning and acquirements of
foxes, the latter the result of experience of good and bad
scenting days, &c., so, in my opinion, he also is on scent.
Hypotheses are inseparable from the discussion of so
unfathomable a subject as that of scent ; but to use the
language of the fox-hunter, rather than the philosopher, the
closer they hold on to the line, the better and more satis-
factory they are.

Mr. Smith's chapter on hounds is the best in his book.
It abounds in sensible, well-considered observations, which
may be most useful to the rising generation, should fox-
hunting last their time, of wdiich at present there must be
doubts in all reflecting minds. At all events, it is about to
receive a " severe blow and great discouragement," in the
combined effects of railroads, stag-hunting, and that abomi-
nably cruel and cocktail practice of steeple-chasing. I am
glad to find Mr. Smith's opinion of the size of hounds for all
countries, agrees with that long since made known by me
which is in favour of those of a large size, especially for
severe countries. As a good big horse is always preferable
to a good little one, so must it be the case w^ith hounds ; and
Mr. Warde, Mr. Villebois, the Duke of Cleveland, and Lord
Lonsdale have shown us that it is possible to breed them
both large and good. Twenty-four inches for dog hounds
against any other standard say L

I wish to offer one remark here with reference to the just

x2

308 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

observation of Mr. Smith, when writing on the form of
hounds, namely, that the portraits by Sartorious and Stubbs,
of some of the hounds of former days, which performed such
wonders in trials of pace, &c,, over Newmarket Heath,
represented them with crooked legs, flat-sided, and loose in
their loins. I think such could not have been the case with
the hounds in question ; but I am inclined to believe the
defects were in the artists. No one could make me believe
that the portraits of the celebrated horses of his day, by
Stubbs, were in the form he has given them on canvass.

The chapter by Mr. Smith, on earth-stopping, treats of a
manner of performing this most essential operation, not
generally known, and still less generally practised. If not
carried on too far in the season, it has much to recommend
it, in theory ; and as I am all for results irr^natters of this
nature, the experience of its good effects by Mr. Smith, in
the Craven country particularly, at once proves its useful-
ness in practice. Open earths are the great curse of fox-
hunting, and in no country in which I have ever hunted, has
the evil been effectually done away with by merely trusting
to occasional stopping. Should Mr. Smith's plan of stopping
at once for the season, or at least up to a certain period of it,
not prove injurious to the breeding of foxes, it ought to
become general.

That fine old sportsman, Mr. Loraine Smith, of Enderby
Hall, Leicestershire, comes next, one of the great personal
friends of Mr. Meynell, long renowned as a sportsman, and
an uncommonly good judge of a hunter. Loraine Smith
was considered, not so much a dashing, as a judicious rider
to hounds — one who looked around him with a keen eye,
ready to take every advantage of circumstances, and all this
told well with him ; for, when in the prime of life, he must
have been a great weight on his horse. He was past his
prime, when I knew him, but I always admired his style of
riding, and owe much to him for some judicious remarks I
have heard him make in chase. In short, he is a fine — an
accomplished sportsman, and if he had not been such, he

PARSONS SMITH. 309

-couIS never — even with his commanding pencil — have given
the sporting world such a treat as " Dick Knight, upon
Contract," in the run with the Pytchley hounds.

In my early days, Shropshire, i. e. the Shiffnal country,
produced two capital sportsmen of the name of Smith, one
known as Parson Smith, of Badger, and the other as little
Parson Smith, and two worthier characters never breathed.
The latter is dead, but although an excellent horseman, he
fell short of his brother chip as a sportsman, who, I believe,
was allowed to be paramount even in that sporting country.
He of Badger (by Jove ! I had nearly written " the badger-
pied parson," so aptly do these technicals present themselves
to me) had generally two or three pupils under his roof, who,
of course, took a leaf out of their preceptor's book, and
sacrificed to Diana Venatrix, as well as to her brother Apollo ;
for several good sportsmen, and amongst them one of the
best men * over Warwickshire, were " turned out," as the
term is, by this modern Chiron. And why should it not be
so? Look into the first chapter of Xenophon's Kwriyeritcoc
and there you'll see a long list of the chief heroes of antiquity
who studied hunting under that, almost omniscient, peda-
gogue (Chiron), all of whom, Xenophon says, were honoured

by the gods — " otto deuip i-if-ifi Irj."

But I have not yet done with the Smiths. The best
mounted man, and the man who rode nearest to hounds in
my part of Hampshire, during the last five years of my
residing in it, was Mr. Smith (formerly a member of the old
Berkeley hunt) who resided at Kempshot Park, once the
residence of George IV. I saw two yeomen of this name in
Yorkshire, confederates in a pack of harriers at Borough -
bridge, who were much spoken of — particularly the one
who hunts the hounds — as quite superior horsemen, and as
such they appeared to me, having very good hands. There
was also a good grazier in Leicestershire, a Smith, whom I
remember distinguishing himself one day with the Quorn,
in the Squire's time, and no doubt Messrs. Maxse, Maher,
and a few more remember it likewise.

* Mr. Hugli Campbell.

310

ll^AlPTgE

NDER the letter S some
conspicuous men were to
be met with in Yorkshire
and Durham. I saw Mr.
Sargenson, or Mr. Ser-
jeantson, for I forgot how
he spelt his name, going-
very well with the Duke
of Cleveland — indeed I
believe he was one of the
best in his Grace's hunt.
Mr. George Swann, of
York, was a crack man
with the York and Ainsty.
8ir Tatton Sykes, whom I of course saw, was a race
rider, and as such I do not touch on his merits here,
liaving given him his due before ; but of the Messrs.
Shafto I have something to say. Mr. Thomas Shafto, tlie
original owner of, and, at the expense of many falls, the
maker of Mr. Lindow's Clipper, was so well known to every
one that it is scarcely necessary to say much about him.
He was a fine horseman over a country or over a course ; but
I thought he was likely to be eclipsed by his nephew, Mr.
John Shafto, second son of Mr. Shafto, of Whitworth, who
a])peared, in my eyes, one of the most accomplished riders
of his years I had ever before seen. He had the hand and

LORD CIIAHLES SOMERSET. 311

teat uT a John White, and the head and judgment of a man
who had been twenty years with hounds. At the period
I am speaking- of he was at Oxford, but I hear tliat his
maturer performances have been fully equal to his early
])roniise.

I must now hark back to some of my older acquaintance,
or they perchance may think I have forgotten them. Sir
Grey Skipwith went well for at least five and twenty years
over Warwickshire, which county he afterwards represented
in Parliament. The worthy baronet came under the denomi-
nation of a very pretty rider — always well mounted, generally
in a good place, and an attentive observer of hounds.
Perhaps I may be excused a short digression, if, for the
honour of Warwickshire, I mention a run I once enjoy ett
in his company, from a fixture which is generally called a
bad one. We had twelve miles over grass, icith only one
ploughed field, which Sir Grey said, for the honour of War-
wickshire, he would not go into.* Mr. Sheldon, of Brails
— son of the late Ralph Sheldon, of Weston, that perfect
sample of the old English gentleman — was also one of the best
of "the Warwickshire lads," and a good sportsman vrithal.
Lord Granville Somerset rides hard and well — the best of
the family in a quick thing. But then you may say — look
at his wei2:ht and the cattle he rides ! But the most scien-
tific horseman of all the Somersets was the late Lord
Charles, who could ride a race well, and was thought much
of at Bibury, He was fastidiously neat in all his horse
apjiointments, and I fancy I see him now, as I used to see
him in Leicestershire, with the fore legs of his horse, from
the knees to the fetlocks, in laced boots, to protect them
against thorns, and with the surcingle over his saddle, in the
racing style. Lord Charles was not esteemed a quick man
over a country, but a good sportsman, and one that could give
a correct account of a run. In judgment of horses, of all
descriptions, he was supreme.

* From Farnborough to Ufton Wood. Several persons staying at head
quarters declined going out because it was a bad fixture !

312 HUNTING REMIiXlSCENCES.

Let me take another cast into Leicestershire, as the most
likely " find" of what I am in pursuit of — but mind, I only
speak now of those riders I have myself seen. Amongst the
best of them was Mr. Charles Standish,who, lam sorry to say,
preferred the pleasures of the Continent to those of the chase,
of which he w as at one time both a lover and an ornament.
The song says —

"Coke, on the pony, has scarce got a crony,

And Standish has distanced the crowd very far ;
Whilst at a place, sir, that few men would face, sir,
Without checking pace, sir, goes Valentine Maher ;"

and after seeing him so well jjlaced, one laments that he
should have retired from the field so early in life, and with
ample means to have continued in it. Captain Stewart,
commonly called " Billy Stewart" — brother to Sir Simeon,
but alas no more ! — used to ride very hard and well. The
last time I saw him at Melton his arm was broken in two
places by having been ridden over by two or three at once,
when on the ground. The late Colonel Standen,of the guards,
was well known, and a much harder rider could not well be.
He was also a very strong and good horseman, and always up
to a lark in the saddle. Like the young Lochinvar,

'• He staid not for brake, and he stopp'd not for stone,
He swam the Eske river, where ford there was none ;"

and when quartered in Dublin, he surprised the natives by
swimming the Liffey, the Thames of Ireland, after hounds.
Of Count Sandor, the Hungarian nobleman who spent the
season of 1828 at Melton, I need not say much, as his
doings have been given on the canvas as well as in the
types. The Count, however, gave astounding proof of what
can be done in a short time in acquiring perfection in bodily
arts, when heart and soul are earnestly engaged in them.
From a mere tyro, scarcely equal to sit a horse if he shyed,
he became in a few months able to go along-side the best
men of the day, although at the cost of sundry marvellous
escapes from broken bones and watery graves. The prints
])ublished by Ackermann, from the pictures Ferneley,
of Melton, painted for the Count, descriptive of the various

SHAW. 313

situations, good and bad, in which he exhibited himself in
chase, are excellent, and I am not surprised to hear that they
have been so eagerly sought after.

I have always been a bad hand at what is called sight-
seeing. In fact I never saw a procession, save that of the
mail coaches, in my life, nor any grand spectacle that I can
recollect, having been always content with hearing such
things described by others who have seen them. Perhaps
it may be that, as the poet says —

" Thus are my eyes still captive to one sight,
Thus all my thoughts are slaves to owe thought still ;"

and that hounds or horses alone would allure me. Be this
as it may, although I would ride ten miles around to avoid
a Lord Mayor's show, I would go five times that distance
to-morrow to see Shaw ride one good run over Leicester-
shire. Of course I need not say what Shaw I am speaking
of — he who hunted, first Lord Moira's, next Sir Thomas
Mostyn's, and afterwards the Duke of Rutland's hounds.
There was a something about Shaw that (I know nothing of
his pedigree) had every appearance of his being the son
of a gentleman. A.t all events there was a style and
manner very uncommon in a menial servant, and his lan-
guage was strickly in unison ; it was that of an educated
man, or at least of one who had mixed much with those who
were educated. But his forte was his horsemanship, and
in that he really shone. In the first place, he looked the
horseman to a nicety, his figure and seat being quite per-
fect. Then he was so quick, so determined, so fearless, and,
withal, so lively in a run, that it must have been a dead soul
which did not respond to his. " Gently, gentlemen, if you
please," he would say, when the scent was light and ticklish,
or his hounds had been carried beyond it ; " one moment
and I'll thank ye," with his hand raised above his head, by
way of adding force to his words. " Governess has it,"
some hard ridino; gentleman would exclaim, and a few
other hounds might score to cry. " Will it do, Shaw ?"
the Duke would ask ; " I think not, your Grace — I fear it's

314 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

flash." Then to see hiin make his easts when lie thought
he had a good fox before him ! By heaven, 'twas delight-
ful ! What places he rode at, to take the chance of hitting
him ; what animation in his countenance when he found
he had hit him ; and, cap in hand, what a cheering holloa
would he give them, to encourage them to settle down to
the scent. But the superiority of this man was shown in
the treatment he received from his masters. Sir Thomas
Mostyn gave him £300 per annum, and a servant to wait
upon him. His place with the Duke was still better; but
I must stop, for I ought only to have spoken of him as a
horseman. I may, however, be allow^ed to say where I last
saw him. It was at Stratford-on-Avon, in Lord Middleton's
time, where he had a comfortable house and two good
hunters, as also the use of Lord Middleton's stud whenever
he had occasion for them ; but he was only the wreck of the
man I had seen in Leicestershire, having met with the too
common fate of mankind — a very severe illness.

In the sequence of degree, and perhaps not much his
inferior in horsemanship, came the noted Jack Stevens,
many years whipper-in to Mr. Osbaldeston, and since hunts-
man to Mr. Wilkins, as useful and civil a man as I ever
saw in a field. But think of Jack among the big wigs in
the Quarterly Review ! Why, we can only exclaim — " who
would have thought it?" although some one says, " every
situation in life serves for formation of character ;" and I
believe this" somebody" was Paley. Jack Shirley was another
great artist in the saddle ; and was a favourite whipper-in
of Mr. Smith's, when he hunted Leicestershire ; and now,
if I mistake not, both master and man are again in the
same county, viz., Hampshire, Shirley, as I hear, living with
Sir John Cope. By way of showing of what stuff Shirley's
nerves were made, and that it was " like master like man,"
I shall repeat an anecdote I before related of him. " He
was riding an old horse called Gadsby (not much the better
for having been many years ridden by his master) over
one of the worst fields in Leicestershire for a blown horse

WILL STAPLES. 315

— between Tiltoii and Sonierby — abounding with large
ant-hills and deep furrows. The old horse was going along
at a slapping pace, with his head quite loose, and down hill,
whilst Jack was in the act of putting a lash to his
whip, haviny a large open clasp knife between his teeth at the
time ! Will Staples, late whipper-in to Sir Bellingham
Graham, and afterwards huntsman to Sir Rowland Hill's
hounds in North Shropshire, was a very clever fellow in a
saddle, and so he ought to be. He was got by old Tom Staples
once huntsman to Lord Middleton ; brought up from his
boyhood by Sir Bellingham, and perfected in his horseman-
ship by riding his. Sir B.'s, second horse in Leicestershire,
when he had his hounds at Quorn, I never saw a man that
could follow the turnings and twistings of a hound that
wanted to avoid the lash, equal to Will Staples — a certain
sign of having the finger.

It too often happens that those who have been much in
the " crack countries," as they are termed, are given to hold
cheaply what are called cockney sportsmen* — that is, such
as figure in the counties neighbouring to London. I have
long since been beaten out of all such absurd prejudices,
and I am free to admit that I saw several very superior
horsemen in them. Where, for example, could a finer
rider be found than Shoch,-\ whipper-in to Lord Derby,
when I was in Surrey ? Indeed he was in one respect
superior to Jonathan (the huntsman), inasmuch as he
went as well on a young horse as he did on an old
one. I considered him a splendid horseman. There
was also another man in Surrey who went by the name of
Shock Jem (his real name being Hezletine), whom I once,

* All those who knew the veteran John Lockley, can vouch for his having been
a bundle of prejudices. It so happened that he never but once, and that once late
in his life, hunted with hounds in the immediate vicinity of London. " What did
you think of the field?" said I to him, expected something rich. "Why," he
replied, " one half of them seemed to me candidates for the treadmill. If I had been
thrown from my horse and he had got loose, I should never have expected to have
scon him again."

t This persons real name was liuUen, and it may be recollected that he went
from Lord Derby to hunt a pack of fox-hounds in Scotland.

31G HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

and only once, saw with hounds. I have heard many good
judges — Mr. Tattersall amongst the number — say that there
scarcely ever was this man's equal ; a sort of dare-devil that
would ride a young and raw horse at a new and high gate,
with as much confidence as if he had been on the back of
Prosper. He was likewise renowned for breaking horses to
harness, and breaking those wJiich others had given up as in-
curable. I heard a person relate the following anecdote of
this extraordinary character, of which I had no cause to
doubt the truth. On calling at his stables, in the country,
to see a hunter which was for sale, my informant espied a
horse in the yard, harnessed, and his head borne up to his pad,
but he was not tied or confined in any other way. Observ-
ing him make a plunge, he had the curiosity to inquire the
reason of his being left in that situation. " Oh, sir," said
Shock Jem, " he has been there, as you now see him, two
days. He will come to his senses presently, and then I shall
be able to drive him." I did not hear the sequel, but we
know that hunger is a great tamer of animals, and no
doubt was often resorted to as a cheap instrument in the
hands of this nriro^ofiog' E/crop. Now why these two men
should bear the name of Shock, or rather why it should have
been given to them, I know not, unless we take the word,
as derived by Johnson — " from shag, a rough dog ;" and
Shock Jem had an uncommon head of hair, curling all over
and down the sides in what are called cork-screw ringlets.

There was a gentleman by the name of Shaw, who must
not be passed over, for I should think it would be difficult,
setting aside Mr. Ongley, to find a man who rode over a
country under such appalling difficulties as he laboured
under for the last six years that he hunted with Lord Derby's
hounds. *' Game to the back bone," however, he would not
give up, and, although lifted on his horse, and with chalk
stones working out of his hands, I have seen him ride as
hard as any man in the field. He had a splendid horse,
called Comet ; but Mr. Shaw was (for he is gathered to his
fathers) a Yorkshireman, and a good judge of the animal.

SIR HORACE ST. PAUL. 317

The late Mr. Storey, better known as Jack Storey, was at
one tinie ofday very hard to beat over Leicestershire. Indeed,
I once saw him show them all the trick on old Cockspinner.
Sir Horace St. Paul I remember going brilliantly over Lei-
cestershire, and it was he who gave seven hundred guineas
for a horse, once my brother's, called Hermit. Having
one day ridden him into convulsions, he was seen by Mr.
Loraine Smith opening one of his veins. A humorous cari-
cature soon afterwards appeared, of "an apostle administering
comfort to a distressed Hermit." I saw Major St. Paul
going well in Yorkshire, and very well mounted.

I must now conclude schedule S with a very good
horseman by the name of Sloper, whom I saw with Mr.
Warde's hounds in the Craven country ; and I shall
never forget his wonderful little mare, not fourteen hands
high, got hy a cart-horse out of a thorough-bred mare, for
whom no fence was too high, no day too long, and who,
during nine seasons, was never out of her place, which
was in the front rank. The smoothness of her action
enabled her to do this, but she was a phenomenon in my
eyes.

318

©XIAl^TI^^

I shall commence with a right good
Leicestershire grazier — I mean Mr.
Thoralin, who lived in tlie neigh-
bourhood of Lord Lonsdale's
hounds, but was a constant attend-
ant on the other packs also, having
generally had from six to eight
hunters in his stables. Few men
sustained a higher character as
a rider and a sportsman than Mr. Thomlin and although
well enough able to bear the expences of hunting, he
sold several horses for large sums. A few years back,
however, he was near being run to ground, for he had one
of the worst falls that a man ever recovered from. Nothing
daunted, he has been riding as well as ever since, and had
not the horse fallen amiss, he was to have ridden Mr.
Tollemache's Jerry, once Mr. Assheton Smith's, in the
grand Leicestershire steeple-chase.

A song made on a capital run with the Oakley, has the
following verse.

" See, the Marquis is gallantly charging a stile,

You may guess what a burst it will be by his smile ;
And Whitbread is riding right desperate hard,
Though he well knows the country around, to a yard."

The Marquis alluded to is the present Duke of Bedford, then

MR. .TAMKS TOMKINSON — MAJOR TOMKINSON'. 319

master of the Oakley, and one of tlie best sportsmen of mo-
dern days. He was a beautiful horseman, and had his health
admitted it, would have been as signal a sportsman as any
of his compeers in the field, and particularly well adapted
for the mastership of a pack of fox-hounds. That was an un-
lucky day for Bedfordshire in which his lordship gave
them up.

Mr. Thornhill of Oxfordshire was a good rider to hounds,
and I understand that his namesake, once the master of
the Warwickshire country, was quite an out-and-outer !

Cheshire has given birth to two very eminent horsemen
— Mr. James Tomkinson of Dorfold Hall, near Namptwich,
and Major Tomkinson, his brother. I believe I may say of
the former, that he was not only the very crack man
of Cheshire for upwards of twenty-five years, but that there
have been but very few better men over a country anywhere.
Some years back he made his appearance in Leicestershire,
and so brilliantly did he go, that he attracted the notice of
the " nobs." It so happened, that the morning being wet,
he had a silk handkerchief about his neck, and according to
the costume of the Cheshire, was breeched in leather — then
the type of a slow one. The red coat also being wanting —
my old schoolfellow's colour is hlack — he was not taken for
what he is, and was asked by several if he would sell his
horse? That not being his object, we may presume he had
an answer at hand, although he could not but consider the
question as complimentary.* His stud generally con-
sisted of from four to six of the very best sort, money not
being a consideration. Major Tomkinson was also a brilliant
horseman, but not perhaps so well mounted as his brother.

The West of England produces three very good riders.
Imprimis — the well known George Templar, one of the
cleverest sportsmen of the age ; and his friend, Mr. Henry
Taylor, who officiated as whipper-in to him when I visited
his country. He was a surprising man, as the saying is, to
get across that awkward country — Devonshire. Mr.

* He afterwards appeared often in Leicestershire, always going well.

320 HUNTING REMINISCENCES

Tatchell,once a raasterof fox-hounds, in Dorsetshire, was quite
an out-and-outer, and fit to go into any country. He was
nothing: short of sixteen stone, but the character he bore was
that no man could beat him in Mr. Farquharson's or Mr.
Yeatman's hunts. He was singularly fortunate in purchasT;
ing a black Sultan horse, out of the Duke of Beaufort's
country, supposed to he a roarer, which carried him
brilliantly several seasons, and I must say I never saw a
more complete hunter — up to every difficulty, and fast
enough for any hounds. Mr. Tilbury of London is a prime
horseman ; as well as Dr. Trotter, whom I saw it the North of
England. He was well bred to ride, being the son of the
very celebrated Mr. Trotter of Staindrop (called by his friends
Jack Trotter), who, the late Duke of Cleveland told me,
was the best horseman he ever saw in a field. " He has not
only," added his Grace, " been a most superior rider over a
country, but he has ridden with admirable temper and judg-
ment, and never pressed upon hounds," Though then I
believe in his seventy-fifth year, he was still well able and
willing to go, and it is not very many seasons back
(twelve, I believe), that mounted on one of Mr. Spiers's
horses, he led the Lambton hunt, in a very fine run in the
Sedgefield country ! Well done threescore years and ten !

I am old enough to remember the celebrated Mr. Vernon
— commonly called Harry Vernon — of Hilton, Staffordshire,
the great dandy of the last century, and perhaps it is enough
to say, that he wore ear-rings. Notwithstanding this, he
could ride to hounds, and was an accomplished sportsman —
and particularly so, if you believed all he told you. He was
in Leicestershire to Mr. Mey nell's time. And so was the Hon .
Joshua Vanneck, afterwards Lord Huntingfield, and right
well he went. He was a steady, good horseman, with what
may be called a snug seat on his saddle, and quick enough
for anything, when he liked. In short, the circumstance of
himself and his " wonderful mare," not being able to live to
the end of the Coplow run — immortalized in verse by Mr.
Lowth — is produced as one proof of the severity of it. Mr.

THE REV. JOHN VEXXOK. 321

Frederick Villebuis, now at the head of the Craven hounds
is an excellent hand over an awkward country. In a beau-
tiful run of an hour, with Mr. Warde's hounds, I had the
pleasure of being led by him over an extremely difficult
country, on his old white-nosed horse, and I thought I never
witnessed a more workmanlike performance. This was the
horse which was never well till lie was nine vears old, and
never ill afterwards.

Mr. Vausittart was in great repute for may years in Lei-
cestershire ; and is one of the fi_,ures represented on the
snuff-boxes, as going " swish at a rasper." There was a fine
horseman in Herefordshire, by the name of Vevers, who was
famous for making raw horses into hunters, but was better
known on the turf than with hounds. He was however a
perfect schoolmaster, and I bought one of the most accom-
plished hunters from him, of his own making (Bolus, the
race horse), that was ever taken into a field. I hear a very
good account of Mr. Villiers, Lord Jersey's second son,
whom I only saw in his boyhood. I shall not, however,
forget the fears of Ransom (Lord Jersey's second horse
rider, of whom I have before spoken,) that he might lose
his taste for hunting, when his father sent him to the Con-
tinent. " I liave taken a deal of pains with him," said
Ransom, " and now they have sent him abroad. What a
pity !"

The Rev. John Vennor was one of the best men over
AVarwickshire in the early part of Mr. Corbet's hunting it.
He particularly distinguished himself on a little horse called
Hero, which I sold him when in my teens. He was got by
Hero, a son of Herod, out of a Welsh pony, but was so restive
that no one would venture on him, at thirteen pounds, when
four years old. Putting little value on neck or limbs in
those days, I became his owner, and after much trouble, his
master; but throwing himself down one day in his ill
humours, and blemishing himself, I sold him to Mi'. Vennor
for twenty-eight pounds. He was the sort of animal which
we very rarely see — showing a deal of blood, with much

Y

322 HUNTING REMINISCENCES,

bone and great length, although very near the ground, and
as stout as steel ; indeed requiring a great deal of work to
keep his temper down. In short, he was what was called in
the language of the old stud book, " a little horse of very
high form," and will be remembered in Warwickshire for
many years to come.

I shall conclude this list with a very good man for his
weight — good eighteen stone — and I am sure Sir Bellingham
Graham and Mr. Osbaldeston will confirm what I say of
him. I mean Mr. Vaughton, who resides near Coventry,
a very thrusting rider.

Now comes the who-whoop — W being my last letter,
but it appears to favour hard riders, there being a very
long list. I will begin with some of the old ones.
The late General Sir Harry Warde — brother to the non-
pareil of that name — was one of the clippers of his day both
as a horseman and as a sportsman. I well remember
seeing him sailing away on his famous horse, Star, a
roarer for which he was offered 500 gs. He was undoubt-
edly one of the ablest and best riders of his day, and had
a remarkable eye to a country. When his brother hunted
Northamptonshire, his hounds had a magnificent run from
Marston Wood, in Northamptonshire, to Skeffington Park,
Leicestershire, where they killed him. The distance, as the
crow flies, cannot be less than twenty miles ; yet I saw a
map of the general's on which he had marked every parish
through which the hounds ran — and there were many acute
angles in their course — himself being with them to the last.
Mr. Henry Waller, the well known " Plarry Waller" — was
an excellent rider for a long series of years, in the Duke of
Beaufort's country, although labouring under the disadvan-
tage of deafness. Ditto Mr. Worrall (not deaf) of race-
riding, celebrity, who long hunted with his Grace. I
liked to see Mr. Worrall at work ; the position of his hands
well worthy of remark and imitation. Mr. Wharton — com-
monly called "Jerry Wharton"— used to go well over
Oxfordshire, in Sir Thomas Mostyn's days, but some years

MR. REGINALD WVNNIATI JACOB WARUELL. 323

afterwards he divided his time between Yorkshire and
Melton. He was a good horseman, and a hruiser over a
country.

One of the strongest horsemen I knew, was Mr. Reginald
Wynniatt, of Guiting Grange, Gloucestershire, well known
with all the packs in his part of the world. I have seen a
great deal of this gentleman's performance with the War-
wickshire, and the Duke of Beaufort's hounds, and although
he had not the tender hand of a Worrall or a White, he had
that which could lift a horse over, or support him in strug-
gling through rough fences, and deep countries, equal to
any man that ever sat in a saddle. Some years back, he
particularly distinguished himself in a run with the duke's
hounds from Snell Gorse to Woolford Wood, the pace and
country being unusually severe. Mr. Wroughton of
Wroughton — in the Craven country — was an eminent horse-
man, and has had experience in better countries than his own.
He was among the welters, but was always well mounted.

Perhaps not many of your readers remember the renowned
Jacob Wardell in the field, but I do ; and I also remember
that it took a very good man to beat him over Leicester-
tershire, where he hunted in Meynell's time. In fact, he
appears in the Coplow poem, but not to advantage, having,
it seems, not realised on the morrow what he threatened
over night. But Mr. Wardell was a horseman, and very
good at water, of which he cleared eight yards on his famous
grey horse that he sold to the Duke of Rutland for eight
hundred guineas. He was likewise a better than common
judge of a hunter, and long after he declined hunting his
opinion was sought for in London, when large sums
were to be given. For my own part it always gave me
pleasure to see Jacob Wardell in the field. There was
something straight-forward, hard, and business-like in his
appearance, and his seat on his horse was sportsmanlike and
good. He generally rode with a large hooked stick, instead
of a whip, which he carried high in his hand — as if a means
of defence — which he found useful in pushing ojien gates ;

Y 2

324 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

and, in fact, the cane-handled whips of modern days were
introduced for that purpose. When I knew him in Leices-
tershire, he was in the spring of life and so was I ; but each
may now say — " Non sum qualis eram"

Mr. Willan — better known in the sporting world as
"Jack Willan" — must have a good word here, being a
top-sawyer and a heavy weight. I have often lamented
that, like Mr. Wardell, he preferred other pursuits to fox-
hunting, for I considered him a slashing rider, and I am cer-
tain both these gentlemen might have enjoyed hunting
gratis. But to speak seriously — I consider Mr. Willan a
very fine horseman, and I once saw almost the largest and
most difficult fence taken by him, on his famous sprig-tail
horse, that I ever saw taken by any one. It was one of a
peculiar description, and might be produced in proof of the
wonderful powers of a horse, wider weight. There was, first,
a brook, then a naked space of ground, quite sufficient for
his horse to have alighted upon previously to his taking his
second leap at the rails which were beyond it, and which
his rider intended him to do. Old sprig-tail, however, was
up to trap ; he had his suspicion of the ground not being
firm enough for himself and his load, so he cleared the
whole at one spring ! It must moreover be told, that he
was going up hill at the time, and was ridden slowly
at the fence, with the expectation of his doubling it, which
made the clearing of such space and height, still more
remarkable ; and also spoke much for the hand of the rider.
It was with the Duke of Beaufort's hounds, about fifteen
years back.

Decidedly the best man Warwickshire ever saw, next to
Mr. Robert Canning, was Mr. Henry Wyatt, a native of that
sporting county, six feet three inches high — Mr. Canning-
beat him by an inch — who w^as chiefly conspicuous in the
periods of Lord Middleton and Mr. Shirley hunting that
country, although he commenced in Mr. Corbet's time. A
more daring rider than Mr. Wyatt there not only could not
be, but there need not be ; for if it were within the powers

MR. HENRY WYATT. 325

of his horse to cany him to hounds, there was nothing want-
ing on his part. I speak of him now in the past tense, be-
cause he has given up hunting ; but it is due to him to say,
that a more gallant horseman England never saw. From
his pace and weight — fifteen stone — the casualties of his
stable were considerable, and every now and then smashing
was the order of the day. On the other hand, several of his
horses stood proof, and of course commanded high prices.*
He had, however, a singular piece of ill luck with his famous
grey mare, for which he had refused three hundred guineas.
She got cast in her box in the night, and was found dead,
from a ruptured blood vessel, in the morning. But I cannot
quit Mr. Wyatt yet. As my eyes become spell-bound when
looking at such a workman as he was — and I saw much of
him — so does my pen stick to my fingers, as if unwilling to
drop the subject. I could, indeed, dwell for an hour on the
scenes I have witnessed in his presence ; and were it not
that I might be suspected of a desire to extol myself by
sharing his fame, I would relate a few of his master-strokes.
I have seen him in all situations with hounds. I have
seen him on the wrong side of a large cover, at starting,
and I have seen hounds slip away from him owing to
other causes. I have known him meet with falls and per-
plexities, and appear in his place again in a trice, as though
he had been dropped from the clouds ; but I never heard
of, or saw a good run that, if Henry Wyatt was out, he did
not see the best part of it and make his appearance at the
finish. Neither shall I ever forget one fence I saw him
ride over, after his horse had been going some time. It was
a hog-back oaken stile, quite as high as his horse's back, on
a narrow slippery footpath, and on a considerable ascent. I
certainly did not consider it a practicable fence, situated as
it was, and was surprised to see him well landed in the next
field. To be sure he was upon a rare bit of stuff — his
Morgan Rattler horse, long and wide, but not tall.

In an account in the New Sporting Magazine for March,

* Mr. Maxse gave liim either 300 or iOO guineas for one.

326 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

1833, of a capital run with Lord Forester's hounds, I observed
that the names of the three leading men out of four all began
withW; namely, White, Willerton, and Wing. This Mr.
Wing was a famous old sportsman of the late Lord Forester's
time. I remember him well ; he was a great grazier,
and it was he who followed Lord Forester over the
Bel voir brook, when his horse cleared the amazing space
often yards. The brook itself measured twenty-one feet six
inches, in the clear. It wa? in a run from the noted Jericho
cover. The well known Bill Wright, of Uppingham, who
rode Mr. Patrick's mare in the great Leicestershire steeple-
chase and was so near winning it was in high repute at the
same time, and has ever been considered one of the very best
men with the Cottesmore hounds. Indeed, at the end of
their famous run, some time ago, from Woodwell head
to Barkby, he was said to have taken such a desperate
fence near Gaddesby, that he was for some time alone
with the hounds. This leads me to the mention of Tom
Wingfield, so many years whipper-in at Quorn, and after-
wards huntsman to Sir Thomas Mostyn, a horseman of great
merit. On that celebrated occasion when Messrs. Smith
and Lindow ran away from the field on Jack-a-Lantern and
The Clipper, one man was visible, and only one, and that vvas
Tom Wingfield, who was sinking the wind to reach some
earths that were open. Few men could ride better than
Tom could before Old Time laid hold of him, and although
he himself is fast (tempus/?/^J^, says the proverb) he makes
others slow. Mr. Whitworth, the Northampton draper,
must not be overlooked. He was a good rider, and so was his
son. The former once sold a hunter for five hundred gui-
neas, and several others for large prices — a certain test of
their having distinguished themselves. There was a very
sporting doctor at Shrewsbury, of the name of Wynoe. He
weighed heavy and rode hard, so that a bad horse was never
long in his stable. He has bred and sold soiTie good ones.
I saw a quick yeoman in Holderness — Mr. Watson, of
Wandby ; and having got so far to the northward, I must

COLONEL WALLACE. 327

not overlook the renowned " Matty Wilkinson," as they called
that good sportsman, who owned the Hurworth hounds. It
is all very fine talking of going " best j^ace up wind, with
your twelve stone men, with twelve thorough-bred ones in
their stables." It reminds me of" the charms of a cottaa-e,"
but of a cottage with a double coach-house. The rest, as
Crabbe says, is a phantom. So give me a man who mounts
his horse eighteen stone, good weight, as Mr. Wilkinson
does, and is able to live with hounds best pace, down wind,
I followed this gentleman for an hour one day, over a very
cramped country, as the term is, and I never saw any one
handle a horse better than he did his.

I will now make one more cast into the midland counties.
There was a fine rider some ten or twelve years ago in
Oxfordshire — I mean Mr. Webb, of Kiddington House,
well known before in the Old Berkeley hunt. We may
put him down as one of the very best going in his part of
the world, and I have been pleased to hear some good
accounts of his late performance with Mr. Drake's Jiounds.
Barring accidents, he will be " with 'em." Mr. Wight-
wick, of Staffordshire, goes well — at least did when I last
saw him, and he had a capital grey horse which he sold to
Sir James Musgrave for three hundred guineas. Colonel
Wallace, of the 5th Dragoon Guards was a fine horseman,
and thought much of in the North when I was there.
One of his stud was picked out at £400 by Lord Kennedy,
for the great steeple-chase between himself and Mr. Ross,
but he was superseded by Radical. The Colonel had an
awful fall when I was in Yorkshire, having been dragged in
his stirrup and badly kicked by his horse. When I was in
Surrey, Mr. Edward Wooodbridge appeared to me almost
the best man in that country. At least he was reputed to
be the best in Colonel Jolliffe's hunt. Mr. Richard Wil-
liams— better known as Dick Williams — son of the general
of that name, was a proper dare-devil over a country, and a
very good horsemu.j withal. The last time I saw liim wns
in Warwickshire, about six years ago, when he Ava^ going in

328 HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

his usual dread-nought style. But do I not remember see-
ing his father doing the same thing ? To be sure I do, as
the hard riding " Harry Williams" of my boyish days, and
to whom I looked up with, I fear, more reverence than to
any other being, because I had heard he had swam the river
Severn, when bank-full, after hounds. General Williams
was, however, one of the best, as well as boldest, riders of
his day in Shropshire and the counties neighbouring to it.

Mr. John Wormald — much heavier than he looked to be,
possessed all the attributes of a horseman. As for nerve, I
can only say I was shown a ravine that he had ridden over in
Leicestershire, which I think even Mytton might have
declined in his most daring moments. Had his horse fallen
backwards, inevitable destruction of his rider would have
been the consequence ; but he kept his legs. I also wit-
nessed another proof of nerve in this bold Yorkshireman,
when he was visiting Mr. Nicoll, in the New Forest.
Getting upon a horse of mine, he exclaimed — " I wonder
whether Nimrod's horse will jump timber?" and slapped
him at a new and high gate, out of a road, which, luckily
for his rider, he cleared ! His brother Henry I have
never seen with hounds, but they both had good studs at
Melton.

Mr. Wood, of Brixworth, in Northamptonshire, — a welter
weight — was a good man across country, when he liked his
horse, and he generally had a first rater or two. Mr.
Waters, the Veterinary Surgeon of Northampton and Clerk
of the Course there, was also a very good one across country,
and a useful man in the field, having a good eye to what
hounds were about.

I have never seen Williamson, the Duke of Buccleuch's
huntsman. His namesake Mr. William Williamson, brother
to Sir Hed worth, — better known in the North as " Billy
Williamson" — out-and-outer. This is the gentleman whom
I ventured to call the Ajax of the field when I saw him in
Durham. But in one respect he differed from that brave
man — he loas not invulnerable, which he ought to have been,

ijon WILLIAMS. 329

for the desperate manner in which he rode ; and I saw
him have all his upper teeth knocked out in a fall. I don't
wonder at the old Yorkshire farmer telling me, that " nought
but an iron nag could carry Muster Williamson." John
Winter, Mr. Ralph Lambton's huntsman and formerly his
pad groom in Leicestershire, had a very fine hand upon a
horse, and, though somewhat advanced in life, was still a
very good man across a country when I saw him.

The mention of Winter reminds me of two other very
celebrated men in the same line — Jack Wood, of the War-
wickshire ; and Bob Williams, whipper-in to the late Duke
of Cleveland, and previously to Sir Richard Puleston, but
commencing his sporting career as whipper-in to Sir Wat-
kin Williams Wynn's harriers — an artist of the first pre-
tensions. But, I fancy I hear you say, " no doubt Bob was
famously mounted in the stables of the great Welch
Baronet !" Not he, indeed ; Bob's stud would have
averaged about £40 a head, being for the most part cat-
legged, light-carcassed, bits of blood, either turned out of
the racing stable as good for nothing or bought from some
neighbouring farmer at the price above quoted. But Bob
soon made them fencers if he could make nothing else of
them, for he had good courage and a beautiful hand. As a
proof of these qualifications, if any friend of the Baronet's
had a young horse not quite au fait, a request was made that
Bob should ride him for a month. On my asking him in
Yorkshire how he had come off as to broken bones, &:c., lie
thus answered me, and I know he spoke the truth. " I
have broke three ribs on one side," said he, " and two on
the other ; both collar bones, and been scalped." Now I
know the horse* that scalped him, by kicking him on the
head after throwing him ; but Bob's description of the
accident was rich. " He tumbled me down as we were
coming away with our fox," said he, " and kicked me on the
head till the skin hung down all over my eyes and face ; and

* A vicious brute, called Valentine, that used to be ridden in winkers. No
servant should be put on liorses of that description.

330 HUNTING REMIXISCENCES.

do you know, sir, when I got to the doctor, I fainted for loss
of blood?" The last sentence was given in a tone indicative
of its creating surprise, that a whipper-in could faint,
I dare say Bob conceived that fainting was the peculiar
accomplishment of a lady. Bob was a great favourite with
the Duke, but was obliged to give up his situation as his
Grace's first whip, for reasons I need not state ; and when I
was at Raby my horses stood at his stables in Staindrop,
where he keeps a public house.

There was no finer horseman than Jack Wood — superior,
I should say, to Bob Williams, having a more graceful seat
and a still lighter hand. In fact Wood rode like a gentle-
man. But he had also been unlucky, having broken a leg,
a thigh, and his collar bone. Perhaps Dick Christian would
call all this " someihmg jMrticular," although he considered
his own fractured leg "nothing particular."

Were this worthy of being called the Temple of Fame, no
man would be more entitled to a niche than Major Wynd-
ham, of the Scotch Greys, or " big Wyndham," as he is
sometimes styled, to distinguish him from others of his
name known in the hunting world. Major Wyndham
rode over a country, as he fought at Waterloo, with the
courage of a lion ; and, to carry on the parallel, in an
account given of a run with Lord Lichfield's hounds, in
which the writer said " he rode to admiration," he was
compared to frying and heavy artillery, bearing every thing
beforehim by his velocity and weight. He was undoubtedly
a most wonderful man over a country — quite a Tom Edge,
or a Dick Gurney, though I should imagine never so well
mounted as either of them has been, which adds a feather to
his plume. He was the same man every where, with hounds.
He could go well over the grass, as he often proved in
Leicestershire. He could struggle through fallows, and he
could race over downs — which I saw him doing with the
East Sussex hounds, a short time before I left England, and
at a slapping pace too. But he was a horseman and a sports-
man, and I was greatly pleased with the general eulogium

MR. AVHITE. 331

passed on him in Nim South's Tour, of 1832. May I be
allowed to notice the way in which Major Wyndham buys
his horses ? Instead of giving £250 for one tried good one
— and he could not expect to give less, for his weight and
pace — he gave seventy or eighty guineas a piece for three,
out of which he is sure to have one turn up a trump, and
perhaps two. Indeed, it might he three. I have reason
to know that General Henry Wyndham is a prime hand
over a country (and he has hunted hounds over one of the
roughest in England), but I never saw him in the field, that
I am aware of.

Lord Waterford as yet I have not had the happiness of
seeing, though, from all accounts, he is cpiite first rate ; and
I now conclude my list with two celebrated Meltonians, the
Earl of Wilton and Mr. White. Of the former I have
seen more in the racing saddle than with hounds ; but, having
seen him in the field, I am at liberty to speak of Avhat I have
observed and heard. His lordship comes under the deno-
■ mination of a first-rate horseman, and on one or two occasions
— particularly in the Duke of Rutland's famous run from
Sproxton Thorns — has " out-stripped his fellows." But, as
the Quarterly says of Earl Jersey, Earl Wilton " does every
thing well," and he may be called the fugleman of the fashions,
at Melton. Then comes a fugleman of another description,
but one which, when the pace tells, not many can get a glimpse
of; for, as the song says,

" White on the right, sir, 'midst the first flight, sir,
Is quite out of sight, sir, of those in the rear."

Mr. White is now becoming an old Melton resident, having
spent at least seventeen or eighteen seasons there, and has
invariably been looked upon as a leading man with hounds.
Indeed, he may safely be placed amongst the hardest and
best riders England ever produced ; and, taken in the double
capacity of a rider of races and a rider to hounds, is de-
cidedly the very best. I consider him the exemplar of horse-
men, for he has every requisite attribute. In addition to an
elegant seat, he has fine hands, a quick eye, good temper,
and undaunted nerve — despite of the awful falls he has had

332 HUNTIXG REMINISCENCES.

I am happy to pay this warm tribute to his talents, because
it delights me to see a man excel in what he undertakes ;
and as Hudibras says —

" He who excels in what we prize,
Appears a hero in our eyes."

Mr. White's character as a rider to hounds is thus put
before us, in a very few words. " He was never out in his
life," says one who has seen much of and well able to judge
him, " whether he liked his horse or not, that he did not
try to get to hounds." It will be remembered that this
gentleman also once played a duet over the country with
Mr. Assheton Smith (as was Lindow's case), every other
man being beaten. I allude to the run of nineteen miles,
point blank, eight or nine years back, with the Duke of
Rutland's hounds, which was commemorated afterwards as
" the Belvoir day."

The letter Y affords me but one solitary name, but that
is a good one. I mean Colonel YateSj, who used to go so
well — and particularly so on his famous stump-tail horse —
in the Atherstone country, some years back. He was one
of the welters, but a right good man to get to hounds — a
first-rate workman, indeed.

I now conclude my Hunting Reminiscences, and hope
it may have amused my brother sportsmen. To make a
portrait perfect, shades as well as lights should be intro-
duced, and consequently mine is in this respect deficient, for
the bright side only is presented. " Comparisons are odious,"
says the proverb, and as such have been avoided ; and the
negative praise of pretty horsemen, or neat riders, I have
for the most part thought proper to withhold, how much so-
ever the mention of such might have swelled my list. A
slow man with hounds, how good soever his horsemanship, is
little thought of in these days. Quickness is the character-
istic of the modern horseman, and I have only noticed a
few slow ones. I have also omitted many fast ones, because
they have not come under my personal observation ; and so
Farewell,

NiMROD.

A CATALOGUE

OF

SPORTING AND FINlE PRINTS,

PUBLISHED BY

RUDOLPH ACKERMANN,
Wit if)t Hccli^H ^portitts ^alUrg,

AND ■ .

NEW SPORTING MAGAZINE OFFICE,
191^ REGENT STREET^ LONDON.

N.B. The Measurement given is the size of each Print, exclusive of either Blank Margin

or Inscription.

PORTRAITS OF THE WINNING HORSES OF THE

GREAT ST. LEGER STAKES AT DONCASTER,

AND THE DERBY STAKES AT EPSOM,

From Paintings by Mr. J. Ferneley, of Melton Mowbray, and Mr. Charles Hancock, at

Messrs. Tattersall's.
Price 15s. each, coloured, or 21s. mounted and varnished; size, 17 inches by 12^, viz. —
Rowton Cadland Chorister Dangerous Queen of Trumps Elis

Priam Spaniel St. Giles Glencoe Bay Middleton Mango

Velocipede Riddlesworth Sultan Mundig Phosphorus Amato

Charles the Twelfth Bloomsbury Deception Harkaway Little Wonder

Don John Launcelot Coronation Satirist Attila

Lately Published, a beautiful Coloured Print,
THE RETURN FROM ASCOT HEATH RACES^

FROM A PAINTING BY C. HENDERSON.
Price 30s. Size, 32 inches by 14§.

R. ACKERM ANN'S COSTUMES OF THE BRITISH ARMV^

FROM PAINTINGS BY H. DE DAUBRAWA, ESQ., AND THE LATE MR. HEATH,

THE WHOLE REPRESENTED IN THE MARCH OR REVIEW ORDER.

Price 5s. highly coloured ; or 9s. mounted and varnished for the Barrack Room.
The following feegiments are now published, viz. —
The 2nd Life Guards - Trumpeter — the Blues 11th Hussars

Royal Artillery Rifle Brigade , Royal Horse Artillery

Royal Horse Guards, Blue, OflBcer 42nd Highlanders 15th Hussars

Ditto ditto Private 2nd North British Dragoons 12th Lancers

and Corporal 4th Royal Irish Dragoons 1st Life Guards

The 9th Lancers will be shortly ready. — Size, 14 inches by 9|. — To be continued.
Just Published,

A HUMOROUS PAIR OF PRINTS,

AFTER DRAWINGS BY MR. R. SCANLAN,
COCKTAILS AND T H O R O UG H - B R E D S

RUNNING FOR THE GARRISON AND DERBY STAKES.

Price 3s. 6d. each, highly coloured. Size, 14J inches by C.

Also lately published,

THE MONKEV DUELLISTS,

FROM PAINTINGS BY BRISTOW,

REPRESENTING HONOUR AND SATISFACTION.

Price 3s. 6d. each, coloured. Size, 9 inches by 6.

THE DERBY DAVj

Or, TITS AND TRAMPERS, A SCENE ON THE ROAD TO EPSOM.
Price 3s. 6d. coloured. Size, 11| inches by 8J.

THE IiXFE OF A SPORTSMAN^

BY NIMROD. With Thirtv-six Coloured Plates.

THE PACK IN FUI.I. CRV,

BY W. HEATH.

A VERY HUMOROUS DRAWING OF A PACK OF CARDS AFTER A PURSE OF MONEY.

Price 7s. 6d. coloured. Size, 19 inches by 13.

MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF

THE LATE JOHN MVTTON^ ESQ.^

Of Hahton, Shropshire ;
With Notices of his Hunting, Shooting, Driving, Racing, eccentric and extravagant exploits,

BY NIMROD ;

WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS

BY H. ALKEN AND T. J. RAWLINS.

Second edition, reprinted, with considerable additions, from the " New Sporting Magazine."
Roj'al 8vo. Price 25s., handsomely bound in cloth.

GAM ONI A 5

OR, THE ART OF PRESERVING GAME.
BY LAWRENCE RAWSTORNE, Esq.

A PANORAMIC VIETV OF A FOX-CHASE.

BY H. ALKEN.

Coloured, and fitted into a Roll-up Case. Price £1 : lis. 6^?. Nine feet long.

THE QUORN HUNT,

IN A SERIES OF EIGHT PLATES, BEAUTIFULLY COLOURED.

FROM DRAWINGS BY HENRY ALKEN, ILLUSTRATING

NIMROD'S

Celebrated Article on English FOX-HUNTING, in the " Quarterly Review."
Size of Prints, 20^ inches by 12^. Price £4 : 14s. 6d.

FOXHOUNDS RUNNING IN COVERT,

FROM A PAINTING BY R. B. DAVIS.
15| inches by 11|. Price 15s. coloured, 12s. plain.

HUNTING QUALIFICATIONS^

IN SIX PLATES,

BY HENRY ALKEN.

ACCOMPANIED WITH A HUMOROUS DESCRIPTION OF EACH PLATE.

10 inches by ()§. Price £1 : 10s. the set, highly coloured.
HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS^

IN SIX PLATES, HIGHLY COLOURED,

BY HENRY ALKEN.

10^ inches by 8J. Price £1 : Is. the set.

MY STUD,

IN SIX COLOURED PLATES.

BY HENRY ALKEN.
IDS inches by 8f. Price £1 : Is. the set

THE GRAND LEICESTERSHIRE STEEPLE-CHASE,

IN A SERIES OF EIGHT PLATES, BEAUTIFULLY COLOURED,

FROM PAINTINGS BY HENRY ALKEN, ENGRAVED BY BENTLEY,
WITH PORTRAITS OF THE HORSES AND RIDERS, AND REMARKS

BY NIMROD.
18 inches by 14. Price £3 :3s. the set.

THE HUNTING EXPLOITS OF COUNT SANDOR,

IN TEN HIGHLY COLOURED PLATES,

FROM PAINTINGS BY J. FERNELEY, ENGRAVED BY E. DUNCAN.

13| inches by 10§. Price £3 ; 3s. the set.

THE RIGHT AND THE TVRONG SORT,

A PAIR OF HUMOROUS SPORTING PRINTS,

FROM DRAWINGS BY H. ALKEN.
Price 25s. the pair. Size of Prints, 18§ inches by llj.

MR. DELME RADCI.ZFFE AND HIS HARRIERS.

lOj inches by 8j. Price 7s, 6d. coloured.

DEER STALKING^

IN TWO HIGHLY COLOURED PLATES,

FROM PAINTINGS BY J. FERNELEY, ENGRAVED BY E, DUNCAN.

24 inches by 18 j. Price £1: 5s. each plate.

The following HUREOROUS SPORTING ANECDOTES^ from Drawings
by Mr. H. Aiken, price 3s. 6d. each, coloured. Size, 13 inches by 8^.
The Sporting Sweep— The Sporting Miller — The Coach— Jorrock's Hunt Breakfast —
The Swell and the Surrey, two plates— The Hunting Tailor, Hastings and Lord Segrave —
The Hunted Tailor, or the Double Fracture— The Sporting Parson's Hunting Lecture — The
Sporting Grazier ; or, Fox-hunting i^erxi/s Politics — The Sporting Bishop — Fox-liunting in
Canada — The Hunting Sweep and the Duke ; or. Gallantry and Galloping.

Also just Published,

FOUR NEW SPORTING ANECDOTES, illustrating the Life of David Crockett.

David Crockett's Elk Hunt — David Crockett's Fight for Bear's Meat— How to get a Vote —

Don't forget that Vote.

SPORTS IN THE SCOTTISH ISLES.

GROUSE SHOOTING; OTTER HUNTING, SALMON FISHING^

AND DEER SHOOTING.

FROM DRAWINGS BY W. HEATH.
Price 20s. the Four Plates. Size, 124 inches by 8|.

Lately published. Four Prints, SHOOTING. Price £2 : 2*. highly coloured, from Paintings
by Henry Aiken ; viz. —

THE MOOR— THE FIELD— THE WOOD— AND THE WATER.

PORTRAIT OF HIS GRACE THE LATE DUKE OF GORDON'S
BLACK TROTTING MAREj

WINNER OF THE NORTHAMPTON TROTTING SWEEPSTAKES, MARCH 1S3(),

DRAWN ON STONE BY T. FAIRLAND, FROM THE ORIGINAL PICTURE
BY W. BARRAUD.

Size of Print, 14 inches by 11§. Price I2s. coloured; 8s. plain.

BEAUTY,

A celebrated little Trotter, the property of R. Lacy, Esq. Price 15s. coloured.

TOM THUMB;

THE CELEBRATED AMERICAN TROTTER.

19| inches by 15. Coloured, price £1.

A PORTRAIT OF

JOHN "WARDE ON HIS FAVOURITE HUNTER, BLUE RUIN,

FROM THE ORIGINAL PICTURE BY BAIIRAUD.
Price 12s. plain ; 21s. coloured. Size, 18f inches by 14^.

Also lately Published,

A fine mezzotint Portrait of that celebrated Sportsman,

GEORGE BAKER, ESQ.,

OF DURHAM.

Price 15s. Print ; 21s. Proofs ; 31s. 6d. Proofs before Letters.

T. GOOSEY;

A large Lithographic Print, with a Portrait of the above famous Huntsman to Lord Forester ;

and part of the Belvoir Hounds.

Price 21s. Print; and 42s. coloured. Size of Print, 22 inches by 17.

THE PIRATE DEFEATED.

Representing a gallant Action, between Mr. R. B. Crawford, of H.M.S. Esk, in the
Bight of Benin, March 20, 1826, beating off the Spanish Pirate, Carolina, commanded by
Capt. Antonio Soumath.

Size of Print, 17| by 11|. Price lOs. 6d. beautifully coloured, from the original Picture by

W. Joy.

THE V/'ATERFORD LINE SCHOONER.

A fine coloured Print representing the Schooners, " Alexander," Capt. Nicholls ; " Martha,"
Capt. Dwyre; and " Rapid," Capt. Miller.

FROM A PAINTING BY JOHN LYNN,
Size of Print, 21 inches by 12. Price 21s.

THE SOUTHERN V^HALE FISHERY.

Two Prints representing the above Fishery in the South Seas. The mode of attacking the

Whale and boiling it down on board ; in which, also, is displayed the hazardous mode

of pursuing the Whale.

Price 15*. each, highly coloured. Size of Prints, 20§ inches by 13.

A beautiful coloured Print,

THE MAIL AT THE TURNPIKE GATE.

Price 15s. coloured. Size, 20^ inches by 14§.

ALSO THE

TAGLIONI WINDSOR COACH.

Price 10s. 6d. coloured. Size, 18J inches by 12§.

HEADS OF SPORTING ANIMALS;,

Viz., the Fox, Bloodhound, and Newfoundland Dog,
FROM PAINTINGS BY C. HANCOCK, ENGRAVED BY BECKWITH.
6| inches by 5§. Price, coloured, 125. ; proofs, 10s. 6d. ; plain, 7s. 6d. the set.

SHOT,

A CELEBRATED POINTER,

FROM A PAINTING BY A. COOPER, R.A.
24§ inches by 19^, highly coloured. Price £1 : 4s.

DASH;

A CELEBRATED SETTER,

FROM A PAINTING BY AGASSE.

24^ inches by lOj, highly coloured. Price £l:4s.

A large Lithographic

HEAD OF A BLOODHOUND.

10s. 6d. coloured,
FROM A PAINTING BY AGASSE.

FOXES AND CUBS,

FROM A PAINTING BY BENNET,

20§ inches by 16|, coloured. Price £1 : 4s.

A PORTRAIT OF " CHANCE," THE FIREMEN'S DOG,

DRAWN AND LITHOGRAPHED BY WILLIAM HEATH.

9^ inches by 7|. Price 4s. coloured ; 2s. 6d. proofs.

BADGERS,

AFTER A PAINTING BY BENNET.

18J inches by 13|, coloured. Price £1 : Is.

HARES
AFTER A PAINTING BY BENNET.
19;J inches by 15. Price £1 : Is. coloured.

MAMALUKES AND COSSACKS,

IN TWO PLATES.

Highly coloured. Price 10s. 6d. the pair. Plain, on tinted paper, 7*.
FANCV BALL COSTUMES,

IN SIX PLATES,

DRAWN AND ETCHED BY WILLIAM HEATH.
Price, coloured, 2s. 6d. each.

KNIGHTS IN ARMOUR,

IN A SERIES OF TWELVE PLATES,

BY H. ALKEN.
Price, coloured, 18s. ; plain, 9s.

GAMECOCKS,

IN TWO SMALL PRINTS,

Neatly mounted and coloured. Price 5s. the pair.

FOUR SMALL HUNTING MEDALLIONS,

BY H. ALKEN,

Highly coloured. Price 6s. the four.

SIX SMALL HUNTING MEDALLIONS,

BY H. ALKEN,
Highly coloured. Price 8s. the six.

FOUR SMALL SHOOTING MEDALLIONS

BY H. ALKEN,

Highly coloured. Price 6s. the four.

FOUR SMAI.Ii RACING MBDALIiIONS;

BY H.ALKEN,
Highly coloured. Price 6s. the four.

SIX SMAIiI. MEDAIiIiIONS OF raAMAI.X7KES AND
COSSACKS,

BY H.ALKEN,

Highly coloured. Price 6s. the six.

THE FIRST STEEPIiE-CHASE ON RECORD^

Viz.: THE NIGHT RIDERS OF NACTON,

Lately Published,

FOUR BEAUTIFUL COLOURED PLATES,

BY H. ALKEN.

Price £l : I6s. Size, 14§ inches by 10§.

THE FOX AND PARTRIDGE^

A VERY SPIRITED COLOURED LITHOGRAPHIC PRINT,

FROM A PAINTING BY R. R. RENAGLE, R.A.

Dedicated by special permission to the Right Honourable the Earl of Kintore.

Price 7s. 6d. each, coloured. Size of Print, 14 inches by 11§.

TALLY-HO !

FROM A PAINTING BY MR. CHARLES HANCOCK,

Price 7s. 6d. coloured. Size, 15 inches by 10|.

2'wo very Humorous Coloured Sporting Prints, dedicated to the Crack Riders and Craners

of Englajid , viz : —

THE RIGHT AND "WRONG SORT

From Drawings by H. Alken. Price 25s. the pair. Size, \~% inches by 11 J.
PORTRAITS OF IBRAHIIMI .AND DRAMA PACHA.

LITHOGRAPHED BY GAUCI.
Price, each, Zs coloured ; Is. 6d. plain.

PORTRAITS OF GENERAL CHASSE AND MARSHAL

GERARD^

Price 5s. the pair, coloured; 2s. Gd. plain.

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT

BV FIRE,

DRAWN AND LITHOGRAPHED BY WILLIAM HEATH.

14$ inches by 10|. Price 7s. 6d. coloured; 5s. proofs.

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ROVAL EXCHANGE BV FIRE.

Price 7s. 6^. coloured; 5s. plain.

Just published, price 12«., neatly bound in cloth,

THE ART OF PAINTING^ IN OIL COLOURS,

PORTRAITS, LANDSCAPES, ANIMALS, DRAPERIES, SATINS, &c.,

Practically explained by Coloured Palettes.

By J. Cawse.

G. HARLEY'S RUDIMENTS OF LANDSCAPE DRA^W^ING

Complete. Price £l : 13s. ; the coloured part alone, £1 ; the sepia part, half-bound, or

three Numbers, 10«. 6d. The pencil part, half-bound, 9s.; or six Numbers

at Is. each.

G. HARLEY'S JUVENILE DRATVING-BOOK^

In twelve Numbers at 8(/. each.

G. HARLEY'S LESSONS ON DRA^UITING TREES.

Four Numbers at 2s. Gd. each.

G. DALMAINE'S DRATVING-BOOK OF CATTLE^

la six Numbers. Price Is. per Number; half-bound, complete, 7s. Gd.

ALKEN'S RUDIMENTS FOR DRATVING THE HORSE AND
OTHER ANIMALS,

In six Numbers at 2s. Gc/. each ; or the six Numbers, neatly half-bound, 20s.

6

The following very beautiful Works, hy eminent Artists, have been
lately published, and will be found very entertaining and orna-
mental for the Drawing Room Table.

HAY'S ILLUSTRATIONS OF CAIRO, on stone, by Haghe and Bourne. Imperial

folio, half-bound, £4 : 4s.

NASH'S ARCHITECTURE OF THE MIDDLE AGES. In twenty-five Plates.
Imperial folio, half-bound, tinted, £4 :4s. ; coloured, in portfolio, £10 : 10s.

NASH'S MANSIONS OF ENGLAND IN THE OLDEN TIME. Same as above.

NASH'S MANSIONS OF ENGLAND IN THE OLDEN TIME. Third series.
Same as the preceding.

BOY'S PICTURESQUE ARCHITECTURE IN PARIS, GHENT, ANTWERP,
AND ROUEN. Printed in Lithography with Oil Colours. Beautifully bound in morocco
and silk, jS6 :6s. ; or mounted in a folio, £8: 8s.

SCENERY OF PORTUGAL AND SPAIN. By G. Vivian, Esq.; on stone, by L.
Haghe. Thirty-five Views. Imperial folio, half-bound, jg4 : 4s.

SPANISH SCENERY. By G. Vivian, Esq.; on stone by L. Haghe. Twenty-nine
Views. Imperial folio, uniform with the above, £4 : 4s.

HARDING'S SKETCHES AT HOME AND ABROAD. In twelve Parts. Imperial
folio, 10s. Gd. each part ; or complete in fifty Plates, £,6 : 6s.

STANFIELD'S SKETCHES ON THE MOSELLE, RHINE, AND MEUSE. In
thirty Plates. Imperial folio, half-bound, tinted, £4 : 4s. ; coloured, in portfolio, £\Q : 10s.

HERRING'S SKETCHES ON THE DANUBE, IN HUNGARY, AND TRAN-
SYLVANIA. Twenty-six Plates. Imperial foho, half-bound, tinted, j64 : 4s. ; coloured, in
portfolio, £10: lOs.

RICHARDSON'S SKETCHES IN ITALY, SWITZERLAND, AND FRANCE.
In twenty-six Plates. Imperial folio, h.-b., tinted, £4 : 4s. ; coloured, in portfolio, £10 : 10s.

ROBERTS'S SPANISH SKETCHES. In twenty-six Plates. Imperial folio, tinted,
£4 : 4s. ; coloured, in portfolio, £10 : 10s.

LEWIS'S CONSTANTINOPLE. In twenty-six Plates. Imperial folio, tinted,
£4: 4s. ; coloured, in portfolio, £10: 10s.

LEWIS'S SPAIN AND THE SPANISH CHARACTER. In twenty-six Plates.
Imperial folio, tinted, £4 : 4s. ; coloured, in portfolio, £10 : 10s.

LEWIS'S ALHAMBRA. In twenty-six Plates. Imperial folio, tinted, £4 :4s.;
coloured, in portfolio, £10 : 10s.

HINTS ON LIGHT AND SHADOW, COMPOSITION, &c., as applicable to Land-
scape Painting. By Samuel Prout, Esq., F.S.A. Twenty Plates, containing Eighty-three
Examples, in the improved method of two tints. Imperial 4to. Cloth lettered, £2 :2s.

PROUT'S INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR BUILDINGS. Each Work complete in
four Numbers. Imp. 4to. Price per Number, each containing six Plates on India paper, 7s. 6d.

PROUT'S SKETCHES IN FRANCE, SWITZERLAND, AND ITALY. Contains
twenty-six Views, lithographed by himself. Imperial folio, handsomely half-bound, price,
tinted, £4 : 4s. ; coloured, in folio, £10 : 10s.

PROUT'S FAC-SIMILES OF FIFTY SKETCHES MADE IN FLANDERS AND
GERMANY. Folio, half-bound, price £6 : 6s.

T. S. COOPER'S NEW SERIES OF CATTLR GROUPS. Twenty-six Subjects
from Nature, on stone, by himself. Imperial folio, price, lialf-bound morocco, £4 :4s. ; or
highly coloured, and mounted in a folio, £12 : 12s.

T. S. COOPER'S DESIGNS FOR CATTLE PICTURES. In thirty-four Plates.
Imperial folio, half-bound, tinted, £4: 14s. : (yd.

HAGHE'S PICTURESQUE SKETCHES IN GERMANY AND BELGIUM, on
stone, by himself Price, imperial folio, half-bound, £4 : 4s.

BOY'S PICTURESQUE VIEWS OF LONDON. Price £4 :4s.

Shortly will be published, by R. Ackermann, a New Edition of
JORROCKS'S JAUNTS AND JOLLITI ES^

With numerous Coloured Illustrations by Alken.

R. ACKERMANN,
PRINTER, PUBLISHER, FANCY STATIONER,

MANUFACTURER OF SUPERFINE WATER-COLOURS,

TO HER MAJESTY AND THE ROYAL FAMILY,

Begs leave to recommend his Colours to the Nobility and Gentry, as being prepared with the

utmost care, and approved by the most eminent Artists of the United Kingdom.

SOLD IN CAKES OR BOXES AT THE FOLLOWING PRICES: —

£ s.d. £ s. d. £ s. d.

Highly-finished Mahogany
Brass-capp'd, &c., Jrom

525. 6rf. to 7 7 0

Boxes of Velvet Colours

complete, with directions 2
Ditto, ditto, ditto .... 1
Boxes of Body Colours . 2
Ditto of Colours for paint-
ing on glass 2

Ditto of Chalks, complete,

5s., 255., and ... . 220

Handsome Rosewood, In-
laid Brass, ornamented,
12 Cakes, fitted up complete . . 2 12 fi
Ditto, ditto, ditto, IS Cakes, ditto . .3 3 0
Ditto, ditto, ditto, 24 ditto, ditto .440
Ditto, ditto, ditto, 32 ditto, ditto . 5 5 0
Ditto, ditto, ditto, 30 ditto, larger

Box and Extras 5 15 6

10 10 0

13 6
3 0

12 G
2 0

1 11 6
1 1 0

0 15 0

In Boxes of Yew-Tree, Rosewood,
&c., ornamented and highly var-
nished, from £2 : 2s. to . . . .

In Mahogany Boxes, 45 Cakes, Pa-
lettes, Marble Slab, Pencils, &c. ,

Ditto, ditto, 36 Cakes, ditto . . .

Ditto, ditto, 32 ditto, ditto . . ,

Ditto, ditto, 24 ditto, ditto . . .

Ditto, ditto, 18 ditto, ditto . . ,

Ditto, ditto, 12 ditto, ditto . . .

Ditto, 12 Cakes, Lock and Drawer

Neat Mahogany Boxes, with a slid-
ing Top, 40 Cakes 1 16 0

Small

Ditto, ditto, 32 ditto ... 1 8 0 Cake>.

Ditto, ditto, 34 ditto . . 1 10—0 14 0

Ditto, ditto, IS ditto. . . 0 15 0—0 10 6

Ditto, ditto, 12 ditto . . 0 10 6—0 7 0

Ditto, ditto, 6 ditto. . . 0 6 0—0 4 6

SUPERFINE WATER-COLOURS
£ s.
1
2
5
5
6
7

2 0
4 0
2 0

2 0

10 10 0

Ultramarine .... 1
Ultramarine, Imitative 0
Ultramarine, Ash . . 0
Guimet's Ultramarine 0

Scarlet 0

Burnt Carmine ... 0
Imperial Permanent
Blue, equal to Ultra-
marine in tint ... 0
Platena Yellow ... 0
French Blue .... 0

Carmine 0

Victoria Blue .... 0
Permanent Crimson . 0
Purple Madder ... 0
Orange Vermillion . 0

Gallstone 0

LemonYellow ... 0

Intense Brown ... 3
Dahlia Carmine . . 5
Sm.ilt 5

Extra Madder Lake

Intense Blue . . .

Pink Madder . .

Rose Madder. . .

Burnt Lac Lake .

Cobalt

Lake, Crimson . .
Lake, Scarlet . .
Lake, Purple . . .
Brown Madder . .
Indian Yellow . .
Indian Black . .

Sepia

Roman Sepia . .

Ditto, ditto, ditto, 40 ditto, ditto
PER CAKE.
d.

Warm Sepia . .
Permanent White
Prout's Black . .
Prepared Black for In

layin
Ultramarine in Saucers,

5*. and 2

Scarlet, in Saucers . 1
Fine Chinese Gold, in

Saucers, \0s. 6d. and 2
Ditto in Shells . . . 1
Gold, Silver, and Cop-
per Bronze in Packets 2
Carmine in Powder . 1
Permanent White Li-
quid, in Cups ... 2
Do. in Bottles, 1 5. 6d.& 2

1 6

Ackermann's Yellow

Green

Antwerp Blue
Bistre
Blue Black
Blue Verditer
Brown Ochre
Brown Pink
Bronze

Burnt Italian Earth
Burnt Roman Ochre
Burnt Sienna
Burnt Umber
Chrome Yellow, Nos.

1,2, and 3
Orange Chrome
Cologne Earth
Dragon's Blood

All

ALL AT ONE

Dutch Fink
Emerald Green,

and 2
French Green
Full Red
Gamboge
Green Bice
Green Verditer
Hooker's Green,

and 2
Indigo
Indian Red
Italian Pink
Ivory Black
King's Yellow
Lac Lake
Lamp Black
Light Red
these Colours may he

SHILLING PER CAKE.

Mineral Blue
1 Naples Yellow
Neutral Tint
Olive Green
Payne's Neutral Tint

Grey

Prussian Blue
Prussian Green
Purple
Red Ochre
Red Orpiment
Raw Sienna
Raw Umber
Roman Ochre
Sap Green
Saturnine Red
Transparent Yellow
Ochre
had in Half Cakes, at Half

Varley's Green

Warm Grey

Purple Grey

Dark Green

Warm Green

Orange

Neutral Tint

Vandyke Brown
Venetian Red
Vermilion. Chinese
Vermilion Crimson
White

Yellow Lake
Yellow Ochre
Yellow Orpiment
York Brown

Price.

8

A CHOICE COLLECTION OF ENGLISH AND FOREIGN PRINTS, LIKEWISE

A GREAT VARIETY OF WATER-COLOUR DRAWINGS, &c.,

FOR SCRAP-BOOKS.

ALSO THE NDMER0U8 REQUISITES FOR DRAWING, A3 FOLLOW: —

Medium 22| ditto

Royal 24 ditto

Super-royal 27^ ditto

DRAWING PAPER.
Demy 20 inches by 15^

19

19^

22

23

23i

26

27

47

31

38

Imperial 30

Elephant 28

Columbier 35

Atlas 34

Double Elephant 40

Grand Emperor 65§ ditto

Antiquarian 53 ditto

Antiquarian, extra large 56 ditto

ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto

MAHOGANY DRAWING BOARDS.

Demy 4to, size, 8 inches by 6
Royal 4to 10§ ditto

Imperial 4to
Half Medium
Demy
Medium
Royal

ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto

9|...
11 ...

m...

15J...
17 ...

Folding Table Easels, Deal.
ditto ditto, Mahogany.

s. d.

4 0

5 6

7 0

8 0
10 6
12 0
14 6

Bristol Drawing Paper and Card Boards

Drawing Vellum

Wove Cartridge for Landscapes

Rough-grained Cartridge

Tinted Drawing Papers for Crayons

Fine White Velvet for Painting

Ivory for Miniatures

Writing Papers

Transparent Tracing Paper

Tissue Paper, Demy and Double Crown

Ditto ditto, Timed

Marble and Earthenware Slabs

Ivory and Earthenware Pencil Racks

Ivory Pallettes

Earthenware ditto

Ditto Saucers

Ditto ditto in Cabinets

Indian Glue

Black, Italian, French, and German

Chalks
Conte a Paris, glazed
Conte a Paris, square
Leather and Paper Stumps
Steel and Brass Port Crayons

R. ACKERIVIANN'S MOIST COLOURS FOR OUT-DOOR
SKETCHING^

Are more particularly recommended for their brilliancy and ready mixture, and supe-
riority to all others of this kind, as they do not rub up when washed over by other
Colours, which has been a great complaint by most Artists of those hitherto introduced.
Sold separate, or in tin japan Boxes, of diflferent Prices, with Cups and Bottles.

AI.SO HIS IMPROVED BLOCK SKETCH-BOOKS.

COLOURS FOR ORIENTAL AND POONAH TINTING, BRONZES, VARNISHED
PAPER, AND BRUSHES FOR DITTO.

MACPHERSON'S PERMANENT TINTS FOR MINIATURE PAINTING,

Price 31s. M. and 20s. per Box, containing Twelve Tints.

Or per Cake, Shade-Tint, Dark Complexion, Half-Tint, Flesh-Tint, Auburn, Yellow,

Blue, Maroon, Crimson, Deep Blue, Light Hair, and Intense Sepia, 2s. each ;

Carnation, 3s. — Half-Cakes at half-price.

Macpherson's Opaque Back Ground for ditto, ditto, 2s. 6d. per Bottle. — Prout's
Broun at 2s. per Bottle.

AcKERM Ann's Colours for Flower Painting, 24s. and 2ls. per Box.

J. D. HARDING'S ELEMENTARY ART; or, the Use of the Lead Pencil.
Imperial 4to. Cloth lettered, price £2 : 2s.

NEW HINTS ON MINIATURE PAINTING. By an Old Professor. With
Illustrations. Cloth gilt, 5s.

BARRETT'S THEORY AND PRACTICE OF WATER-COLOUR PAINT-
ING. Price 10s. Gd.

With numerous Lithographic Drawing Books, Landscape, Flowers, and Figures.

Sketching Books, Plain, Various Sizes and Bindings. Portfolios of all Sizes.

A'\'iieht and Co., Printers, 76, Fleit Street, U

f

I

/ Yad/

^^JJniversitv of British Columbia Library

CcK»ks DUE DATE

FORM 3IO

I..' 1
I'.. ■■ 1

Of

AGRICULTURE

FORESTRY

LIBRARY

J