376 mms ot tbe IfDunting^jfielD 



into the iron-nerved ' Red Earl,' who has been aptly 

 described as ' one of Ireland's greatest Viceroys, and 

 one of England's most determined riders ' ? 



It was not until after he left Harrow, and went 

 to Cambridge, that the present earl showed even the 

 faintest liking for the sport of which he has since become 

 so distinguished an exponent. But it was in the political 

 arena that he first made a name for himself 



As Lord Althorp he waS, before the death of his 

 father, M.P. for the southern division of Northampton- 

 shire, and on the occasion of his first soliciting the votes 

 of the constituency in 1857, heavy odds were laid that 

 the youthful candidate would be 200 votes below the 

 lowest of his opponents, who were Mr Rainald Knight- 

 ley and Colonel Vyse. One old lady took the odds 

 extensively, and while he was canvassing, said to him 

 repeatedly, ' It's all right, my lord ; your friends went 

 before you.' And the old lady was all right, for 

 the result of the poll was — Viscount Althorp, 2107 ! 

 Mr Rainald Knightley, 1932 ; and Colonel Vyse, 1593. 

 So that instead of being 200 below the lowest, he was 

 175 above the highest of his rivals. 



His career in the House of Commons, however, was 

 but brief, for on the death of his father at the close of 

 1857, he succeeded to the title and a seat ' in another 

 place.' Meanwhile, the hereditary love of hunting had 

 been steadily growing in him, and the interest which he 

 took in the sport is manifested in the following extract 

 from a letter to a friend, bearing date February 1858. 

 He says : ' I was out riding on Friday, and knew by old 

 Sir George's excitement that hounds were near. I am 

 glad to hear of the death of one of the many Nobottle 

 foxes. The one you tell me of, came, I presume, from 



