1876] LORD WILLOUGHBY DE BROKE. 3- 



and judgment, he was always with them, and it is not too 

 much to say that he hecame one of the best, if not the 

 best, amateur huntsman in Enghmd. To such a pitch of 

 perfection did he bring the pack of hounds, that people 

 often came long distances from other countries to see 

 what he and his hounds could do. As years went on, 

 they made for themselves a famous name. The Peter- 

 borough Hound Show became a meeting of the first 

 importance, like the Derby or the Liverpool, and at this 

 show the Warwickshire hounds, for many years in 

 succession, took all the best prizes. 



To Lord Willoughby de Broke it came by nature to 

 think that there is no other sport except hunting — the 

 sport which gives the greatest pleasure to the largest 

 number — and with enthusiastic devotion he gave up every- 

 thing else for what he thought the noblest sport and 

 science. At the same time, he never neglected the call 

 for duty, and has regularly attended meetings, either in 

 defence of the Church or in support of the Conservative 

 cause ; his speeches were always telling, and he had a 

 peculiar pungent style of his own which amused and pleased 

 his audience. He has often been known to attend a 

 meeting even after a hard day out hunting. Lord 

 Willoughby's determination to show sport caused him at 

 once to receive the warmest support on every side, and 

 particularly from the farmers. By degrees, as the number 

 of the pack was increased, a very large number of hound 

 puppies were w^alked — at one time as many as eighty 

 couple — for several seasons. It was soon found that a day 

 with the Warwickshire hounds meant hunting, and 

 nothino- else but huntinp- from the time of throwing off 

 until as late as it was possible to see. Lord Willoughby 

 retained Charles Orvis as huntsman, with W. Shepherd as 

 first, and Jack Boore as second whip. His men were 

 splendidly mounted, and the turn out was as smart as 

 possible. 



At a meeting at Wellesbourne, when Lord Willoughby 

 was elected as master, he agreed to hunt the country four 



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