136 Mms ot tbe 1[3untino=:lfielb 



Colvvick Hall, where Mrs Musters (her husband had taken 

 his own name again) and her daughter were then living. 

 The terror-stricken mother and daughter were compelled 

 to take refuge and shelter from the violence of the rioters 

 in the shrubbery, where they lay hidden during a long 

 cold November night. The shock and the exposure 

 proved fatal to Mrs Musters ; she died at Wiverton Hall 

 in the following February, and so closed this dark page 

 in Jack Musters' life. 



Jack Musters' career as a Master of Hounds, if bril- 

 liant, was certainly erratic. He was one of those rolling 

 stones that gather no moss. He never could settle down 

 for any length of time in any hunting country, no matter 

 how good it might be. When he became Squire of 

 Annesley by his marriage to Miss Chaworth, he hunted 

 his own hounds there for several seasons, and an ex- 

 cellent pack they were. An enthusiastic admirer of his 

 describes him at that time as being ' top full of good 

 nerves, a firm hand, a sure seat, and a constitution which 

 could stand any amount of wear and tear, he could go 

 across country well, and knew the run of and could kill 

 a fox better than most huntsmen going.' 



But Jack went the pace in other respects with a ven- 

 geance, and finding himself hard up, sold his horses and 

 hounds in London. The splendid pack fetched a big 

 price, and his favourite hunter, Brutus, was knocked 

 down for 500 guineas. 



The Squire of Annesley, however, was too fond of 

 the sport to give it up entirely, and in 181 8 he got 

 together a .scratch pack ' from everywhere and anywhere,' 

 and a very unsteady lot they were, killing not only sheep 

 but the deer in Colwick Park, despite all the efforts of 

 Musters' men to restrain them. Yet in the end, Jack 



