32 THE WARWICKSHIRE HUNT. [18O& 



indeed, at such speed as to show that he had considerable 

 nerve to be after to do it. 



Amonijst the best riders of the Hunt in Mr. Corbet's 

 time were the brothers Canning-. ]Mr. Francis Canning, 

 of Foxcote, the elder and the heavier of the two, had a 

 constitution which enabled him to reduce his weight by 

 taking severe exercise on foot on every non-hunting day, 

 and in summer he walked extreme distances on most days 

 and in any weather. On a hot July day he walked thii-ty- 

 five miles clad in Hannels, and on the occasion of a tour 

 with friends in the Highlands, made chiefly by them in 

 carriao-es, Mr. F. Cannino- walked 1000 miles, and even 

 then he could not ride less than 15st. Mr. Kobert 

 Canning,* of Hounds Hill, was considered the crack 

 rider of the Hunt. He stood 6ft. 4in., and rode nearly 

 as heavy as his brother, and w^as better mounted, and 

 notwithstanding he always rode the same horse all day he 

 invariably got to the end of the most severe runs. His 

 two best horses were a chesnut horse called Favourite 

 and a stallion called Knowsley, but neither appeared to 

 be up to his weight. 



Mr. Boycott, of Eudge-Hall, Shropshire, \\as for many 

 years a leading man in Warwickshire in Mr. Corbet's time. 



Mr. Charles Boultbee was a first-rate rider of great 

 weight, and Mr. H. Eol^erts was another very heavy man 

 of 20st. who rode hard to hounds. 



Mr. John Hawkes, of Snitterfield, was one of the first 

 to ride thoroughbred horses in the hunting field, and he 

 rode them with practised skill and judgment. 



Mr. Lockleyt was a very fine rider, and was fond of 



*Mr. R. Canning had a hoise called Conjuror which could jump anything. On 

 one occasion when the hounds met near him he went to see them find on a little four- 

 year-old mare that he had bred, up to lOst., and which had never seen hounds. 

 Nevertheless he rode her during a sharp burst of half an hour, with his legs almost on 

 the ground, and jumped a brook and a new oaken stile just before the fox was killed. 

 Mr. John Lucy gave him 80 guineas for her. 



t Mr. John Lockley was born at Barton Hall, in Derbyshire, once the residence of 

 the Protector Cromwell, and from thence he went to Boscobel, in Salop, named from 

 the Italian words hosco hello — beautiful wood. It was at this place that Charles II. 

 and his friend secreted themselves in an oak tree after he had been defeated at 



