EARLY DAYS 5 



destinies of this interesting pack, retiring when the 

 Duke of Rutland resigned the mastership in 1896. 

 The form of the popular Belvoir huntsman is 

 familiar to two and three generations of Leicester- 

 shire sportsmen, and regarded as the pink and the 

 pattern of his calling, a gentleman of his profession, 

 whose authority on hound - breeding was nulli 

 secundus, and his ability to judge young hounds 

 was sought by every kennel in the kingdom. 

 Frank Gillard spent such a long tenure of office 

 under the shadow of Belvoir Castle, that he seemed 

 to form a feature of its surroundings a typical 

 Duke's huntsman, with the manners and bearing 

 befitted to so high an office. A plucky horseman, 

 he had a marvellous knack of always keeping with 

 his hounds in the field, his head ever accompanying 

 him over the fence, at which his heart had preceded 

 him. For twenty-six seasons he led a hunt remark- 

 able for its size and zealous riding, with nerve un- 

 shaken or ardour abated by many accidents and 

 reminders of time. No day's sport was too long 

 for him ; he maintained all the traditions of his 

 predecessors, Goosey, Goodall, Cooper, and Lord 

 Forester, drawing covert just so long as daylight 

 lasted, no matter what the distance back to kennels 

 might be. Strength of constitution has ever been 

 a characteristic of Belvoir hounds, and akin to it 

 their reputation for being able to put in better 

 work in late evening than in early morning. Ill- 

 bred hounds tire at four o'clock in the afternoon, 

 the tail is very apparent, and bad shoulders then 

 come to grief if asked to race over ridge and furrow. 



