SEASON 1877-78 105 



his whip under the latch, Lord Rossmore, who was 

 a bruiser, jumped the gate, much to the astonish- 

 ment of the cheery old gentleman, who in his day 

 could find his way about a strongly-fenced country 

 rather better than most men. 



Amongst those who found it possible to have foxes 

 as well as pheasants were Messrs. James, William, 

 and Richard Hornsby, of Grantham, who rented 

 the coverts about Culverthorpe at this period ; and 

 though warm disciples of the gun, a blank day in 

 their coverts was unknown. A good story is told 

 of a stranger, at the end of a run, who noticed 

 that out of eleven at the finish, nine bore the name 

 of Hornsby. " I knew they had made the town 

 of Grantham," he said, "but I did not think 

 they made the Belvoir Hunt as well ! " Harking 

 back to the Rector of Colsterworth, whose name 

 we mentioned in the famous gallop from Coston 

 Covert to Woodwell Head, we note his head-gear 

 as being the style of hat worn by the Cottesmore 

 Hunt in 1826. A good description is given by Mr. 

 C. T. S. Birch-Reynardson in his pleasant anecdotes 

 of bygone days when he says, " The tall chimney- 

 pot hats had as much nap on them as there is wool 

 on many a Southdown sheep's back. The hat of 

 those days was very unlike the light silk affair that 

 we cover our brains with in these days. But in 

 spite of this the servants of the Cottesmore Hunt 

 preferred them to caps, and were allowed to wear 

 hats, making an excuse that with caps the rain got 

 down their necks." 



The incidents of a hound day as recorded in 



