94 MEMORIES OF THE SHIRES 



Mastership. This was, of course, before he had the 

 accident to his leg, which affected his grip of the 

 saddle, and he was very hard to beat across country. 

 I hear he was going as well as ever last season, 

 hunting hounds himself and always with them. 

 Yet it is over thirty years since that day from 

 Sproxton Thorns with the Belvoir. 



I cannot remember now the exact year Count 

 Zbrowski came to Melton, or how many seasons 

 he was there before migrating to the Atherstone 

 country, but can recall his face and figure in many 

 good hunts during the next five years. His hunting 

 education had been begun in America amid the 

 stiff timber of Long Island, where the drag plays 

 a prominent part. With all due apologies to my 

 many friends across the water, I must here say that 

 they begin the education of the fox-hunter from the 

 wrong standpoint. The fence and the getting over 

 it appears to come first, whereas they should only 

 be looked upon as affording additional pleasure and 

 excitement to following hounds. 



Count Zbrowski in this school acquired the 

 knowledge and ability to cross a country which with 

 his naturally fine hands enabled him to find his 

 way across Leicestershire. It was not known until 

 he had gained considerable experience in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Melton that he developed the habit of 

 watching the hounds, and now let me say that no 

 one can become a really first-class man without 

 keeping his eye on the pack. Without providing 

 anything sensational, November was a month of 

 consistent good sport, and scent improved towards 

 the end. There was one day when the Quorn hounds 

 had a ring in the Hoby Vale practically to them- 



