SEASON 1876-77 89 



was by no means an easy place to get the entree. 

 No one could have filled the post of social whip to 

 a subscription pack like the Quorn as did the old 

 Earl, who successfully steered the hunt through 

 troublesome times. Lord Wilton kept a large 

 stud of hunters, and was the first to introduce the 

 Turkish bath in his stables, which is considered ad- 

 vantageous for conditioning hunters. Then there 

 was Mr. Little Gilmour, as cheery and full of spirits 

 as a schoolboy home for his holidays. He was a 

 great favourite at Melton as well as at Belvoir, 

 and nobody worshipped him more than his stud 

 groom, old Charley Wells, who used to swear by 

 him and his contemporary Sir George Wombwell. 

 The Prince of the Heavies, as Mr. Little Gilmour 

 was called, if we give full credit for the extent to 

 which he was handicapped by weight, surpassed 

 either Sir Francis Grant or Lord Wilton. These 

 were both large-framed, heavy men, but Gilmour 

 could give either of them a couple of stone at least, 

 and was always superbly mounted. The Messrs. 

 Behrens stabled forty horses, so Melton was full. 

 A well-known character of the Melton Hunt was 

 Morris " the butcher in blue," mounted on an old 

 hunter, going gallantly across country, thereby 

 winning all the custom from the hunting division. 



The most favoured sires among the stud hounds 

 this season were Why not 1870 in his eighth 

 season, a wonderfully good son of Senator 1862 

 and Woeful by Wonder Susan. His shoulders 

 were perfection and his wise gray face full of 

 intelligence. The seven-year-old Royal, son of the 



