188 



Mr. Meynell lived at one time, and who is often men- 

 tioned in the accounts of Mr. Meynell's sport, and as 

 one of the first subscribers to his hounds. 



" The name of Mr. Boothby is still had in reverence 

 in the parish of JPeckleton. It is even said that he was 

 the donor of the present peal of Church Bells belonging 

 to the place, and that he had them so pitched and tuned 

 as to resemble the cry of a pack of hounds. Certainly 

 the said bells are of a very melodious and cheery kind 

 in their music. The horn to which you allude is also 

 knowQ by tradition in Peckleton, and the inscription on 

 it has probably given rise to the saying, that Mr. 

 Boothby was the first person to introduce the foxhound 

 into England, whereas most likely it is intended to con- 

 vey the idea of the great excellence of his pack. It is 

 also said that Mr. Boothby altered the pattern of the 

 hunting horn, which, until that time, was of the shape 

 seen in old pictures slung around the body." — Letter 

 from the Eev. the Hon. Augustus Byeon. 



Hugo Meynell, of Bradley, 1753 to imO.—Born 1735 ; 



died 1808. 



Mr. Boothby having died in 1752, the following 

 year, 1753, Mr. Meynell, then only eighteen, began his 

 long and successful hunting career, which ended in 

 1800, when, in consequence of his son's ill-health, Nicholl 

 says, "It was thought advisable to dispose of Quorndon 

 Hall " to Lord Sefton, who also bought the foxhounds 

 and kennels. Mr. Meynell married first, at the age of 

 mineteen, Miss Gell, who died in 1757; and in 1758, 

 being then a widower of twenty-three, Miss Anne 

 Boothby Scrimshire became his second wife. Among 

 the many anecdotes recorded of Mr. Meynell, and the 

 universal tribute paid to him as the great master of the 

 modern style of foxhunting, I think no one has 



