SEASON 1876-77 95 



A note of regret stands against the day's sport 

 of December 6th, when Gillard had the misfortune 

 to stub his good horse Brilliant, and though lame, 

 he jumped the Melton brook. The floods were 

 out and Sir Beaumont and Lady Florence Dixie 

 jumped it well at a very wide place. This was a 

 period before Lady Florence wrote condemning 

 fox-hunting, and there was not a lighter weight 

 or more determined horsewoman in the shires. 

 Her mounts all had to go when she was up, and if 

 they did not know how, she very soon taught 

 them, being able to plant a refractory horse down 

 each shoulder with a hunting-crop better than many 

 men. 



The day before Christmas a fall of 13j inches 

 of snow occurred, but a rapid thaw setting in, 

 there was practically very little delay. In so 

 extensive a kingdom as that hunted by the Duke 

 of Rutland a soft spot could always be found 

 some locality where the going was possible, for the 

 nature of the soil varies so considerably that frost 

 will not touch the sheltered vales when the up- 

 land country may be hard as a road. Gillard 

 knew his ground well, and averaged less days 

 in kennel for a stop than any other huntsman 

 in England. Although snow blocked the fences 

 of Leicestershire, hounds had nothing to hinder 

 their sport over the barren tract of stone -walled 

 country out by Byard's Leap. 



Another good day was seen from Goadby, and 

 this time hounds ran from the Bullamore to Harby 

 Hills, where the fox dipped down into the vale 



