116 RECORDS OF THE CHASE 



has not yet come to pass, and many very great changes 

 must take place before it does. There are doubtless 

 many accommodations to be met with in a large town, 

 which Leamington has now become. Family men may 

 find it suit their convenience to make it their winter 

 residence ; but men of family will generally prefer 

 Melton as hunting quarters that is if hunting in a good 

 country is their motive. 



Mr. Hay only continued to hunt the country three 

 seasons, and it is somewhat singular that his four suc- 

 cessors respectively held it precisely the same time ; 

 they were Mr. Fellowes, Mr. Russell, Mr. Thornhill, and 

 Mr. Granville. Boxall was appointed to the office of 

 huntsman on Mr. Hay's retirement, and continued till 

 1835, when he was succeeded by Thomas Day, who had 

 previously turned the hounds to him. 



At the time Mr. Thornhill hunted the country, when 

 the hounds were drawing the gorse coverts or small 

 plantations, it was the custom for all the field to 

 assemble on one spot, to avoid heading the foxes, and 

 a most excellent precaution it was ; but on one occasion, 

 I remember, the hounds, Mr. Thornhill, and his men 

 alone got a start, which was not quite fair. They were 

 drawing Watergall Gorse, and a large conclave of 

 anxious sportsmen were quietly stationed in the field 

 above it. The hounds found their fox very silently, 

 and he immediately went away on the lower side, 

 pointing for Burton Dasset, and they had nearly 

 reached the canal bridge before any one was aware 

 they had found. Although it is nearly twenty years 

 since, the circumstance is fresh in my recollection. One 

 gentleman, seeing the master and a whipper-in riding 

 across the country, dashed off in the same direction ; 

 others followed his example, but as the hounds went 

 away mute at a great pace, and neither a halloo nor 

 touch of the horn was heard, they were not fairly 

 overtaken till they came to a check. 



After Mr. Corbet declined, a portion of the country 

 fell into disuse, or was only hunted occasionally. The 



