150 RECORDS OF THE CHASE 



What was Cheltenham when Earl Fitzhardinge, then 

 Colonel Berkeley, first hunted the country ? And what 

 would Cheltenham now be, compared with what it is, 

 had it not been for his lordship's patronage and in- 

 fluence, and the attraction of his lordship's hounds ? I 

 can remember the place when, as a schoolboy, I spent 

 part of the mid-summer holidays there in 1816, which 

 was a few years after his lordship commenced hunting 

 the country. The High Street formed the principal 

 portion of the embryo town, and, with the exception of 

 a few small, straggling houses, did not extend, in the 

 direction of the London road, further than the Plough 

 Hotel. It is not necessary to describe Cheltenham as 

 it now stands ; neither will I go so far as to assert that 

 it would not have increased in size very considerably 

 even if Lord Fitzhardinge had not given it his support ; 

 but it certainly would not have increased to anything 

 like its present extent, or with equal rapidity, had it 

 not been fostered by his lordship. As it became a 

 hunting quarter, many gentlemen made it, if not their 

 usual, at all events their winter residence. Thus society 

 increased ; and the town, which, as a fashionable 

 watering place, was only frequented during a few 

 months, in course of time was made a place of resort 

 throughout the whole year. Here all classes, from the 

 peer to the retired tradesman, may meet with society 

 suitable to their condition. 



At all times considerate of the welfare of Chelten- 

 ham, Earl Fitzhardinge has countenanced a pack of 

 stag-hounds, to fill up the interregnum when his own 

 hounds are absent, and has always been very liberal in 

 supplying them with deer. This year they have been 

 discontinued. His lordship never kept racehorses, 

 although friendly disposed to the race-meetings, and 

 strongly opposed to the tenets of those who at one time 

 denounced them, and, in fact, all other manly and 

 national amusements. The Cheltenham Steeple Chases 

 were formerly sanctioned by his lordship giving several 

 cups to be run for, with the view, no doubt, that it 



