Introduction 



For some time previous to our marriage, when I carried the 

 horn, he had taken the keenest interest in the breeding and 

 management of hounds, and, as Mr. Collins justly remarks in 

 his well-known book, " The History of the Brocklesby Hounds 

 from 1700 to 1901," "the Brocklesby Hunt is very much 

 indebted to him (Mr. J. Maunsell Richardson) for his labour of 

 love on behalf of the historic pack" (p. 215). 



His handling of hounds was, indeed, no amateur huntsman- 

 ship. When he took the horn and undertook to hunt hounds, 

 he determined that he would show as good sport as any 

 professional huntsman. He certainly showed a great deal 

 better sport than many huntsman can show ; and what strikes 

 me most forcibly as I look back on the happy bygone years of 

 our life together, was my husband's all-round ability. I am 

 very sure, and many of his friends — men who have succeeded so 

 splendidly in their special line, such as his lifelong friend, the 

 Earl of Minto, late Viceroy of India — would have agreed with 

 me to the full in this thought, that in any career he had chosen 

 he would have made his mark. 



He had the power of giving his whole mind to whatever he 

 undertook, and if, as a very clever writer has said, " genius is 

 the power of taking infinite pains," then, indeed, my husband 

 possessed true genius, and in a most remarkable degree. But, 

 like all true genius, he was intensely, almost to a fault, humble- 

 minded, except in the matter of sport and all that belongs to it, 

 which was to him simply second nature, and he required the 

 greatest encouragement to undertake anything outside, such as 

 politics, etc. 



Indeed, it was only in response to my earnest entreaties, 

 that he consented to contest that most Radical of all the 

 Lincolnshire parliamentary divisions, viz. the Brigg division of 

 Lincolnshire. That he, a strong Conservative, should win the 



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