XTbe Bavl of Milton its 



knew the value of a good start or was more determined 

 to get it. He was not, indeed, a reckless rider, but he 

 was a very jealous and a very crafty one. Some 

 dunderheads who could not understand his style of 

 riding questioned his pluck. ' Never saw him jump a 

 gate in my life,' said a carping Quornite once. ' No,' 

 retorted another, who knew the Wiltonian touch better, 

 ' but you've seen him creep through the bars when you 

 were half a mile behind.' Age did not seem to 

 diminish his nerve or impair his wonderful hands. In 

 1863, when I more than once had the pleasure of seeing 

 him ride to hounds, he went with all the spirit and 

 dash of a youngster, though then in his sixty-fourth 

 year. 



It was only in harmony with ' the eternal fitness of 

 things ' that one of the best and hardest riders and one 

 of the most enthusiastic lovers of the Chase that ever 

 lived should breathe his last among the scenes most 

 dear to him. Not many months before his death, when 

 it was evident that his fourscore years had at last robbed 

 his knees of that firm grip of the saddle for which he 

 had been so long renowned, he said, whilst announcing 

 his intention of spending some portion of each winter at 

 Egerton Lodge : ' At least if I can no longer ride to 

 hounds as of yore, I can die at the place which I love 

 best on earth.' That wish was gratified, and his long 

 life closed at Melton, hard by the scenes of many a 

 hunting triumph. 



Few men, probably, have ever extracted so much 

 enjoyment out of existence, at any rate in its purely 

 material pleasures, as Thomas Egerton, second Earl of 

 Wilton. He possessed everything that could render 

 the world enjoyable to him : perfect health, an ample 



