176 



The Chase 



he lived chiefly through his senses. His passion 

 for fox-hunting was unbounded. He hunted the 

 country from the Clee Hills to the Wrekin in 

 Shropshire, with the famous Tom Moody as 

 whipper-in. The hospitality of the Willey Squire, 

 as he was called, was unbounded. His home at 

 Willey has been immortalised by Dibdin as 

 " Bachelor's Hall." It is no exaggeration to say 

 that few names are better known in the annals of 

 fox-hunting than those of the Willey Squire and 

 Tom Moody. 



Was it not Thackeray who wrote " The England 

 of our ancestors was a merrier England than the 

 island we inhabit " ? In many respects it was a 

 healthier England, in spite of the hard-drinking 

 customs of the age, as can be proved by the statistics 

 of longevity. Mr. Forester belonged to the old 

 school of fox-hunters. On hunting mornings he 

 never breakfasted later than four a.m., and would 

 be in the saddle at five a.m. ; then home again to 

 dinner at three p.m. After dinner, eaten with an 

 appetite which only fox-hunting can produce, the 

 carousals were often long and deep. 



Hark away ! Hark away ! While our spirits are gay, 

 Let us drink to the joys of next meeting day! 



was his motto. But it must not for a moment be 

 supposed that Mr. Forester was what would be 

 termed in these days a drunkard. He only drank 

 after dinner, and not always then, as the following 

 incident will prove. On one occasion Mr. Dansey, 

 Mr. Childe, and Mr. Stubbs were staying with him 

 at Willey, and they had arrived home earlier than 

 usual after their morning's sport. Dinner was 

 served on their arrival, and Mr. Forester proposed 

 an after-dinner run. Needless to say, the proposal 



