224 ikinas of tbe lbimttna*3fiel& 



three capital runs in succession. ' In fact,' says one who 

 had many a fine day's sport with ' the Squire ' at that 

 time, ' his hounds were really wonderful ; in proof of 

 which it may be mentioned that, although only then 

 numbering about fifty couple, he killed over sixty brace 

 of foxes in one season. Dick Burton, who acted as 

 whipper-in — for Mr Osbaldeston was always his own 

 huntsman — said : " The pack was the best I ever saw or 

 followed over any country ; they were as stout as the 

 day was long — there was no tiring them." ' 



The same remark as to endurance might with equal 

 truth have been applied to their master. For, during 

 the time of his Pytchley reign, he hunted the Thurlow 

 country in Suffolk for two seasons, when it was his 

 custom to meet the hounds on alternate mornings, after 

 travelling all night, and travelling a distance in those 

 days was no joke. Here is an instance of the toughness 

 and hardihood of ' the Squire's ' small but muscular 

 frame. One day, during his Mastership of the Pytchley, 

 he had had three good runs, and wishing to go to a ball 

 at Cambridge, he first rode to Northampton, then hacked 

 it to Cambridge, danced all night, rode back to Sulby 

 Hall, a distance of sixty miles, hunted the same day, 

 killing a brace of foxes, and rode fourteen miles home to 

 dinner — never having even closed his eyes for two days 

 and one night ! 



But the climax of all his feats of endurance and skill 

 in the saddle was his memorable match to ride two 

 hundred miles in ten hours. General Charriti^ made 

 the match, the stakes being i^iooo, and Osbaldeston 

 was to have as many horses as he liked. This was in 

 1 83 1, when ' the Squire' was in his forty-seventh year. 

 But, though he was no chicken, he went vigorously into 



