IO 



INTRODUCTION 



before my time. The man whose riding- I admired most of 

 all was the late Colonel Forester. Although he was old 

 and nearly blind, he never minded what he faced. The 

 story is told that one day a friend of his, who had seen him 

 going over the most appallingly big and stiff fences as 

 if they had been mere ridge and furrow, remonstrated with 

 him after the run about his rashness. " I know nothing 

 about the matter," replied the colonel laughing. " The 



Phoi 



FIG. 2. Thorpe Sachville Beagles. 



fact is, I lost my glasses at the start, so I let my horse 

 take his own line." I believe that Colonel Forester, who 

 was known among his intimate friends as " The Lad," 

 was the original of Whyte Melville's "The Honourable 

 Crasher," whom we all have had the pleasure of meeting 

 in the delightful pages of Market Harborough. 



On off-days we had many a pleasant trot on foot after 

 the Thorpe Sachville beagles (Fig. 2), which were hunted 



