3 i8 HUNTING PRELIMINARIES. 



pleasure that a deaf man would obtain from a well got-up 

 play. A season or two with harriers and provincial foxhounds, 

 preferably in that land of sportsmen, Devonshire, will give a 

 beginner an admirable course of preliminary drill. He might, 

 then try the Midlands. Even Leicestershire has a drawback, 

 namely, that it takes time to learn. Hence we find that no 

 matter how fine a horseman and how well mounted a stranger 

 may be, he has no chance of giving the lead to Meltonians of 

 the best sort, until he has made a careful study of the lie 

 of the land. It is impossible to imagine a more delightful 

 country to cross than that which is hunted by the Quorn, 

 Cottesmore and Belvoir ; but it has to be jumped. On the 

 other hand there are so many bridle-paths and the gates open 

 so easily, that a man who can harden his heart only now and 

 then, will be able to see more good sport, even at a distance, 

 than he would probably do elsewhere, supposing that he 

 knows something about hunting. Without that knowledge or 

 without the ambition to acquire it, he had better select some 

 district in the provinces where the obstacles are not very 

 formidable, the crowd not so large, and the foxes, like the 

 dingle breed, not too enterprising. Melton Mowbray is an 

 ideal centre to hunt from, because the respective countries 

 of three of the best packs touch that famous market town ; 

 there is practically no wire ; and the sport cannot be sur- 

 passed. Oakham has now become as fashionable as Melton 

 Mowbray chiefly owing to the good sport shown of late 

 years by Arthur Thatcher, huntsman of the Cottesmore 

 Hounds, and now, since 1907, huntsman to Mr. Fernie. 

 The Cottesmore meets are all very "get-at-able" from 

 Oakham, as are the "Quorn Friday" meets, and "Belvoir 

 Wednesdays," which means hunting over the best country 

 of each of these packs. Market Harborough is at the 

 junction of Mr. Fernie's, the Pytchley and Woodland 

 Pytchley countries, and was formerly Melton's great rival 



