68 ikings oX tbe 1buntino=;lFiel^ 



who, on his marriage to the Hon. Elizabeth Ingram, 

 daughter of Viscount Irwin, added the name of Ingram 

 to his own. 



Hugo Meynell seems to have been the model of 

 a Master of Hounds, and a perfect English gentle- 

 man. 'He was indeed' says one of his friends, 'as 

 much at home at St James's as he was at Ouorndon 

 or at Ashby Pastures.' Though he did not own an 

 acre of land in Leicestershire, he found his way at 

 once to the hearts of the sportsmen of that fastidious 

 country, which he was the first to render famous among 

 the hunting countries of the three kingdoms. ' He was 

 doubtless,' says * Nimrod,' ' the most successful sports- 

 man of his time, nor has he been surpassed by any 

 who have trodden in his steps. . . . He was a man of 

 strong and vigorous mind, joined with much persever- 

 ance as well as ardour in his favourite pursuit, and 

 bringing faculties to bear upon sport as a science which 

 would have distinguished themselves in any walk of 

 life to which he might have applied them.' 



There are some ignorant persons who take it for 

 granted that a man who devotes his life to sport must 

 be a creature of low intelligence. The characters of 

 such men as Peter Beckford, Assheton Smith, and 

 Hugo Meynell give the lie direct to that ridiculous 

 notion, and prove conclusively, if proof were needed, 

 that to the composition of a first-rate sportsman there is 

 necessary no mean quantity of — what Etty said he mixed 

 his colours with — brains. 



