138 CENTURY OF ENGLISH FOX-HUNTING 



fall from his horse, and his whippers-in were Edward 

 Bates, son of Sir Richard Puleston's huntsman, and 

 Richard Jones. During his Mastership he hunted 

 five days a week, and constantly rode fifty miles 

 to covert. 



It is from the day of his first marriage that the 

 decline and fall of John Mytton, both in and out of 

 the hunting field, must be dated. Miss Jones was 

 only in her eighteenth year when she married the 

 Squire of Halston, but she was a recognised beauty 

 at Almack's. This, be it remembered, was in the 

 days of the Regency, when ladies preferred the ball- 

 room to the hunting field, and bestowed more favours 

 upon a fop, like Beau Brummel, than upon the best 

 man who ever rode across Leicestershire. Yet Miss 

 Jones understood the character of her husband, and 

 tried to reform him. What was Mytton's character 

 at this time? Educated, owing to the insane in- 

 dulgence of a fond mother, amongst grooms and 

 gamekeepers, and surrounded by boon companions 

 who only cared to ride his horses and drink his wine, 

 Mytton still retained the instincts of a gentleman in 

 regard to the lady whom he had made his wife. He 

 refused to introduce his boon companions to her. 

 Mr. Apperley writes : " The first Mrs. Mytton con- 

 ducted herself with coldness to her husband's old 

 friends and companions." The true version of the 

 story is that the first Mrs. Mytton did everything 

 in her power to save her husband from his old 

 friends and companions. Mr. Apperley further states 



